Afternoon Tea

When we were in the UK last year we went for afternoon tea to The Inn on The Lake, in Glenridding (click on the name of the hotel to go to their site), in the Lake District.  We went on the day of the Queen's funeral.  Most places were closed, but they were open.  It was a once in a lifetime treat for us.  It was such a lovely place.  A place we will probably never ever stay at.  We had a wander around the grounds before we ate.  It's all very lovely.

 As the name suggests it's right beside Lake Ullswater.

Everything was so green and lush.

My mam and the kids (grown adults by the way!! but will always be "the kids") decided they wanted Pimms first.  Hubby was driving and I don't like Pimms.  Everything was lovely, I think the Scotch Egg was the favourite in the savory section, although that cheese thing beside the sandwich was really good.

Now on the sweet side, the scones were the best ones I had all through the trip.  Every one of the desserts were good, though we ended up taking most of them home as we were full.

There was unlimited tea and coffee as well. When I booked it they asked about dietary restrictions; now although we had none, we don't like dried fruit (sultanas, currents, raisins etc), so nothing like that was included. It was served in the Orangery and we did all dress up.  However, everyone else there was in regular everyday clothing!

As we all said we were there for the whole experience and it was a super experience.  Next time we go to the UK we will do it again at another hotel as we thoroughly enjoyed it and we waddled out of the hotel, stuffed full.

The mystery of the elevators.

I swear some things just puzzle me and then get on your nerves..........

At the hotel we stayed in there were two elevator doors in the lobby:

When we left our room on the 7th floor, there were three elevator doors:

Never noticed or thought much about it to start with but I did eventually notice how odd this was after going up and down a couple of times.  Just could never figure out where the third door went too.  Then add in we are going senile and couldn't remember if we had got on all elevators; we swore we had, this was turning out to be a puzzle.

Finally asked the guy behind the desk and the door furthest away in the photo above, is not in use.  The hotel has 9 floors and only floors 3 through 9 are in use and floors 1 and 2 have not been renovated yet.  They have put a false wall up on the ground floor so you only have access to the two doors and the third elevator doesn't work at all.

We then got talking to one guy and he said had we noticed how the middle elevator door always stopped at the first floor, which is where the hotel admin is at the moment.  I said I had figured it was ghosts or something???  He said that floor was where the old lobby was.  It is now on the ground floor.

Glad I got all this sorted out as it would have driven me crazy!!

Back in Canada..........

Had a good drive home yesterday. It was an easy 7 hour drive with a couple of short stops.  At the border we were first stopped by the US border guys, as they were looking for someone/something.  We weren't it, so they waved us through; wonder what they were looking for?  We then answered a couple of questions with the Canada border guards and they waved us through.  Oh and then we paid our $3.25 CDN to get back into Canada!  We crossed over at Fort Erie, haven't been at that border crossing in a few years.  Windsor is generally where we cross over.

We had a good time.  Probably won't go back there again.  As usual ate too much and suffered for it!!  Had fried chicken on the last night and I had chronic heartburn all night.  I know better.........but I just had to have some of that chicken and I HAD to eat the skin as well!!!

For the first time ever we were very pleased with the hotel.  It was lovely and clean, the staff were so friendly and pleasant.  The breakfast provided was good and filling.  The only negative thing if I had to pick something, was the sofa in the room was uncomfortable.  A couple of big squishy chairs would have been better.  The hotel was called The Wallhouse Hotel in Walnut Creek, Ohio.  It is actually like what the photos show you.  It is very modern and totally the opposite of what you would expect in "Amish Country," but I would highly recommend staying there if you decide to visit that area.  I slept like a log there, despite there being a relatively busy road opposite the hotel and the bathroom was roomy with a huge walk-in shower, which was perfect for us.  It is a big more expensive than a regular hotel in that we paid on average after all the taxes etc., around $150 USD per night.

So now we are back at home and back to normal.  Ploughing through the laundry.  Catching up with everything that has happened and getting on with things.  It was nice while it lasted and it was the break that we wanted and needed.  Glad we went; shame the shopping wasn't better, but great on my pocket book I guess!!!

Busy, busy weekend......part 1

So on Saturday we went to ds convocation. The doors opened to the hall at 12:30pm, so we were there just after 12:30pm, by 12:45pm, there were no seats left. There were 1,200 graduates, and each graduate was allowed two guests. It started at 1:30pm and it finished around 4pm. It was a lovely convocation and Ken Shaw was the master of ceremonies, and was so good.

We were staying at the hotel where all this was at. We had checked into our room before the ceremony. Now this hotel is a fancy dancy one, not one that we would normally stay in. So we pull into the unloading area and the guy came up and asked us if we wanted to valet park so we said yes, as we were unsure about it all, we asked how much and it was $40, which would be added to the bill. I go over to get a cart to put our luggage on, and the guy comes rushing over and said you can't do that, I'll get a bell boy to take your luggage??? So I say fine and go and check in. I ask about our luggage, and they say it will be upstairs in a few minutes, and sure enough a couple of minutes later, there is a knock on the door and there is our luggage, had to give him a tip, another $5 spent there. So we have been in the hotel 15 minutes and it has already cost us $45!!!

Anyhow, after the convocation me, dh and ds all go to our room to catch up, and then ds goes to his room to change and we change into our evening wear. There was a drink's and canapes reception for the company ds works for between 6pm and 8pm. So me and dh sit in a quiet place and eat the delicious canapes while ds networks with everyone.

At 8:30pm, we finally go into the ballroom for dinner. There were three ballroom's as there were 3,300 people attending the dinner dance. The menu for the dinner was:

Roasted Pear and Winter Squash Bisque with Chive foam - it was yummy

Baby Spinach, with fresh berries and goat cheese, with a port vinaigrette, again this was really good, and I think I will make this one in the future, and I don't normally like spinach.

Chicken, with mushrooms, potatoes, veggies and au jus (fancy dancy gravy!!), I have had worse, but it was nothing exciting.

Chocolate silk, with berry compote, and vanilla coulis. It was like two brownie's, cut in triangles with a fruit sauce and a custard swirl through the berry sauce. It was actually very sickly.

Coffee or tea.

By the time we had finished it was 10:45pm, which is way, way too late to be eating if you ask me. Me and dh left the ballroom, at 11pm, as we were tired. Ds then went to meet up with accounting friends, and to cut a long story short they ended up crashing the BDO Dunwoody party, as they had free booze, plus they knew people who work there. Ds finally got to bed at 2am, but had, had a super time. Now as an example on how overpriced the booze was, it was $9 for the cheapest glass of wine!!!

I will post photos and it could only happen to me story, which is really quite amusing tomorrow, as I am pooped