Up in the treetops
Aug. 7th, 2022 02:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12Our wedding anniversary was on Friday, and Matthias and I had decided a while back that we wanted to do something nice. The idea was that we'd pick a nice hotel, somewhere within easy reach of public transport, and somewhere with the kind of rooms and other spaces that we'd enjoy hanging around in — as well as decent food. Basically we wanted to have a weekend away where we could relax and do nothing, in pleasant surroundings. We chose Tuddenham Mill, as we'd been there in the past for lunch, and enjoyed the food and venue.
It was a lovely little trip! The hotel has packages which include accommodation, a tasting menu in their restaurant for dinner, and breakfast the next day. Given the whole thing was already pretty pricey, we elected to stay in one of their nicest rooms, which had a private balcony up in the treetops, a gorgeous bathroom with a huge waterfall shower, a massive (and extremely comfortable bed), a living room with a huge TV (and a fireplace, although it being summer we didn't use it), and — the selling point for me — a giant bath. This wasn't a holiday where we were going to be out seeing the sights — we wanted to be in a space that would be pleastant to hang around in, and that room certainly fit the bill!
We arrived in the early afternoon, and spent a bit of time settling in, drinking tea on the couch and reading in the sunshine. Then we strolled around the hotel grounds, which are in the site of an old watermill, surrounded by farmland. We had a pre-dinner drink outside by the millpond , followed by the tasting menu for dinner in the restaurant. After dinner, I made use of the bath, while Matthias watched TV, followed up by a sleepy nightcap with the complimentary little bottle of sloe gin provided in the room.
After breakfast, we had time for a brief wander around the village where the hotel is located (a fairly standard East Anglian village, but it was nice to stretch our legs), before making the return journey.
This is where things started to get interesting. The trip is a fairly brief, uncomplicated train journey from Kennett to Cambridge and then Cambridge to Ely. On Saturday, we had looked up the times for the returning trains, to make sure that we arrived at Kennett at the right time. It showed a series of trains running every two hours, with nothing amiss. However, when we arrived at the station, there were no trains on that line at all due to engineering works, and they weren't even running a rail replacement bus! I spent ages on the phone fruitlessly to National Rail and Greater Anglia, both of whom swore that these engineering works had been planned for weeks and that they had been up on both websites for over a month. This was, obviously, nonsense.
However, fortunately the engineering works were actually happening in that very station, and the workers could see that we were very confused and stranded. They were about to finish up work for the day, and two different workers offered to drive us home (or to a station where trains were running). We gratefully took up one guy's offer, since he was himself driving to Ely, and we ended up getting a lift right to our front door — an unexpected kindness in a rather frustrating situation.
So, all in all it was an excellent weekend — relaxing holiday, delicious food, beautiful venue, and entirely undeserved kindness of strangers. The whole trip was such a restorative, restful gift. If you're local (or have your own car), I highly recommend![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
tuddenhammill if you want to have a similar kind of weekend away. Just don't travel via Kennett train station!
It was a lovely little trip! The hotel has packages which include accommodation, a tasting menu in their restaurant for dinner, and breakfast the next day. Given the whole thing was already pretty pricey, we elected to stay in one of their nicest rooms, which had a private balcony up in the treetops, a gorgeous bathroom with a huge waterfall shower, a massive (and extremely comfortable bed), a living room with a huge TV (and a fireplace, although it being summer we didn't use it), and — the selling point for me — a giant bath. This wasn't a holiday where we were going to be out seeing the sights — we wanted to be in a space that would be pleastant to hang around in, and that room certainly fit the bill!
We arrived in the early afternoon, and spent a bit of time settling in, drinking tea on the couch and reading in the sunshine. Then we strolled around the hotel grounds, which are in the site of an old watermill, surrounded by farmland. We had a pre-dinner drink outside by the millpond , followed by the tasting menu for dinner in the restaurant. After dinner, I made use of the bath, while Matthias watched TV, followed up by a sleepy nightcap with the complimentary little bottle of sloe gin provided in the room.
After breakfast, we had time for a brief wander around the village where the hotel is located (a fairly standard East Anglian village, but it was nice to stretch our legs), before making the return journey.
This is where things started to get interesting. The trip is a fairly brief, uncomplicated train journey from Kennett to Cambridge and then Cambridge to Ely. On Saturday, we had looked up the times for the returning trains, to make sure that we arrived at Kennett at the right time. It showed a series of trains running every two hours, with nothing amiss. However, when we arrived at the station, there were no trains on that line at all due to engineering works, and they weren't even running a rail replacement bus! I spent ages on the phone fruitlessly to National Rail and Greater Anglia, both of whom swore that these engineering works had been planned for weeks and that they had been up on both websites for over a month. This was, obviously, nonsense.
However, fortunately the engineering works were actually happening in that very station, and the workers could see that we were very confused and stranded. They were about to finish up work for the day, and two different workers offered to drive us home (or to a station where trains were running). We gratefully took up one guy's offer, since he was himself driving to Ely, and we ended up getting a lift right to our front door — an unexpected kindness in a rather frustrating situation.
So, all in all it was an excellent weekend — relaxing holiday, delicious food, beautiful venue, and entirely undeserved kindness of strangers. The whole trip was such a restorative, restful gift. If you're local (or have your own car), I highly recommend
tuddenhammill if you want to have a similar kind of weekend away. Just don't travel via Kennett train station!
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Date: 2022-08-07 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2022-08-07 04:34 pm (UTC)Oh wow! Glad that worked out so well.
And the rest of the trip, until the transit snafu, sounds lovely and relaxing. Glad you had a nice getaway!
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Date: 2022-08-07 04:54 pm (UTC)And yes, it was a fantastic weekend getaway, and I'm so happy we went!
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Date: 2022-08-07 06:27 pm (UTC)=^..^=~
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Date: 2022-08-07 09:00 pm (UTC)What a lovely anniversary treat! I'm so glad a stranger's kindness basically saved the day.
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Date: 2022-08-08 11:40 am (UTC)I am currently considering going away, since I saw this place with a heated plunge pool and then I saw the price. Well, got to use it for something right?
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Date: 2022-08-11 07:49 am (UTC)I am currently considering going away, since I saw this place with a heated plunge pool and then I saw the price.
Ooh, that sounds amazing!
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