With the young man away on his skiing trip, and the Dancing Queen at Uni, hubby and I found ourselves on our own for the first time in almost 19 years!!!! We decided it was time for a mini honeymoon. In August, I had purchased a book of vouchers from
Charity Unleashed. The idea is that local businesses donate goods and services for free (they usually have 2 for 1 offers etc) and the public pay £50 for the voucher book - with all the £50 going to Weston Park Cancer Hospital. Its great value as you only have to use 1 of the vouchers to recoup your £50 and the value of all the vouchers is around £1000. We had a voucher for a free night at the Maynard Arms in
Grindleford (should have cost £80) - so off we went.
The Maynard has changed hands over the last few years and they have slowly been refurbishing it. It is a lovely comfortable hotel just 20 miles from home, on the edge of the Peak District. We finished work on Tuesday afternoon, and arrived at 4.30pm
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We only had a standard room as part of the deal, but it was lovely and the bed was huge and exceptionally comfortable.
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They have decorated the rooms with a mixture of very old and very new bits and bobs. Hubby was delighted to find Sky TV in our room as we don't have this at home. He was a bit grumpy when I asked him to see what was on the Culture Channel, but he was utterly delighted to find an artist painting one of his crushes - Julia Bradbury - in the nude!!! (I think he only fancies her because she walks UP hills enthusiastically, whereas I complain all the way up hills!)
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We only got our room for free, we had to pay for our food. We decided to eat in the bar as I have got to that age where I can't sleep if I have a big meal at night!!
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The food was delicious and reasonably priced too - we will
definitely call back for a meal another time.
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I loved the old stained glass windows on each floor.
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The next morning, we had breakfast and then checked out. We
didn't talk about the kids as much as I thought we would, and we remembered what it was we loved about each other as this can often get lost in the whirlwind that is life, family and work.
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We had both booked the next day off work, so we togged up, and set off into the mists of the
Derbyshire morning for a long walk.
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I'll show you where we went
tomorrow.