I have had the most wonderful extended birthday this year. It started on Thursday when P and I travelled to Bristol for a luxurious two-night stay at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel. It was sheer luxury all the way, from the air-conditioned room (that was SO nice) to the wonderfully comfortable bed, the breakfast buffet, the relaxing G&T on the terrace before bed and the splendid hotel swimming pool - which we had practically to ourselves. Add to that two wonderfully indulgent evening meals in local restaurants (yay! no cooking or washing up) and the two day break made me feel as relaxed and pampered as if I'd been away for a fortnight.
Originally, we had decided to go to Bath Spa on the Friday and try out the roof-top pool at the Thermae Bath Spa but it was so hot that we decided sitting in the full sun in a thermally heated swimming pool might not be the best of all ideas. So, being ever flexible, we changed tack and headed instead for Weston-super-Mare (known locally and more accurately as Weston-super-Mud.) True to form the sea was nowhere to be seen, just miles and miles of mud stretching, so it seemed, all the way to the Welsh coast. Every summer a few twits think they can walk to Wales and sure enough I saw on the local news that the Coastguards had had to rescue 8 people from the mud this weekend and warn of a further 30!
Weston has A LOT of charity shops so I was quite happy to work my way through at least eight of them. Sadly, I didn't find anything for myself in but I did score a few bits and bobs for my nephew. We had a bit of a walk along the front and were very pleased to see the new pier is well on the way to completion. The old pier burnt down a couple of years ago and it's great to see the owners have rebuilt it so quickly. As it got hotter and hotter P and I retreated to a cafe with outdoor tables in the shade and had a spot of lunch whilst watching The Wurzels being interviewed for local radio. When the radio presenter began making the rounds of other diners, asking them how they were enjoying their day in Weston, P and I beat a hasty retreat.
On Saturday, my actual birthday, we had a lovely buffet lunch at my Mum's house, followed later on by a slice of birthday cake and a nice cup of tea sitting in the garden. It was really relaxed and chilled-out and the ideal way to round off a wonderful few days. I had some gorgeous presents and this particularly wonderful card from my sister.
We were both very fond of this book when we were children and I was really touched she'd found this card for me.
So many thanks to my Mum, my sister, brother-in-law and nephew and especial thanks to P who 'played a blinder' by giving me such a relaxing stay in a wonderful hotel. Here's to the next half century!!
This was a lovely read and we are so pleased that you had a wonderful birthday. I bet your family really enjoyed making the arrangements to make sure you would have a time to remember. It seems that summer came at last on your birthday!
Posted by: Wendy | 06/30/2010 at 12:25 AM
Ah that sounds like a truly lovely birthday celebration! Glad you had a wonderful time! :)
Posted by: Bexando | 06/30/2010 at 10:38 AM
What a lovely card! I was thinking of this image the other day for some reason or other.
Glad to hear you had a lovely birthday away from home.
Posted by: sharie | 06/30/2010 at 03:44 PM
Mmm, that cake looks scrumptious!
Glad you had a good time with all the ones you love.
Posted by: Maureen | 07/01/2010 at 06:08 AM
What a wonderful relaxing time you've had. I loved the Ladybird stories as a child and I remember this one clearly. It was my sister's birthday recently and I gave her a card of an illustration from the Rapunzel story where the witch is cutting off her hair (my sister works in a hairdressers)!
Teresa x
Posted by: Teresa | 07/02/2010 at 11:17 AM