A Weekend Away | Lifestyle

Hello, everyone!

As you may know, last week I was stressed and emotional about pretty much everything. Ready to explode. And without this weekend just gone, I would have been a right mess. 

Mamma (Tom's Grandma) very kindly organised a trip to Sherwood Pines for herself, Tom, Elliot (Tom's uncle) and me. We stayed in a gorgeous cabin and were surrounded by the beautiful tranquility of the forrest. And get this, we even had a hot tub to ourselves!

One of the days provided a lot of challenges for me too, where I wasn't quite so relaxed at first. You can read on to find out what happened...

Looking up, from our porch...

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Day One

It took two hours or so to get to the cabin, because of terrible traffic and we also decided to stop off at Tesco and get some bits.
As soon as we got there, Tom insisted we all went into the hot tub. It was glorious. None of us wanted to get out. The tranquility of the forrest was also beautiful. Not being able to hear traffic, but just birds and a bit of wind. The occasional squirrel popped by to say hello, too!

After a busy day of travelling with a bit of relaxing, we sat down for a meal. Honestly, I can't remember what we had, but I know from this picture that it was accompanied by a cider. Any meal accompanied by a cider is a good meal!

We then all sat down and relaxed for a little, watched some television and discussed what was going on in the news. This was followed by a few more visits to the hot tub (which looked gorgeous in the dark with a few lights. Hate myself for not getting a photo!), and then it was time to get some sleep for cycling the next day.

Day Two

Morning!
We started off with breakfast, followed by the hot tub. We were up very early and had some time to kill before we went and hired the bikes. So Elliot and I sat down to do some colouring in, then Tom and I took a trip to the shops to get some more dinner.

The cycle ride was somewhat eventful. We ended up on the wrong path when taking our bikes back to the cabin, as a load of really athletic and advanced cyclists were racing towards and past us, jumping over uneven bits of ground and swerving over rocks. I am a very cautious person as it is (and a rubbish bike rider), so I found myself climbing off my bike and walking most of it. Tom's dad, however, is a very avid cyclist so he didn't really have any qualms with it.

After that little battle, there came another in the form of an argument about directions. I said the way to our track was one way, Tom thought it was the other and we all ended up going separate ways. Until I gave in and just followed Tom.
Dinner that evening was a lovely joint of lamb with asparagus and potatoes. Followed by a slice of my mum's lovely chocolate cake she made for us to take, and more cider!


Day Three

One of the biggest days for me on this trip. I had been anticipating it for about two weeks. One word.

Falconry!

Many of you who read my posts will know I have always been petrified of birds. In fact, no. I have always had a phobia of birds. But I wanted to do this for Tom's family so they could enjoy themselves. The activity was run by two guys from a company called Hawkes of Steele, and they were amazing, catering for all our needs and comfort zones. 

The first bird we met was Rosie, who was a hawk of some sort. I tried to avoid holding her as I found her very intimidating, and I was extremely nervous and anxious at the start. She was also a very confident yet unpredictable bird and landed anywhere she chose, including the head of this bald man walking by. So I kept my distance, hoping she wouldn't land anywhere on me! But here is a photo I managed to snap of her flying through Mamma's arm to get a bit of chicken (You can see more photos at Olivia Marshman Photography). 

Not looking too sure of each other...

Then there was Wheezy the barn owl, who I just about managed to hold but was very timid in doing so. At one point, I managed to get a photo of Elliot holding her. I was just checking my DSLR screen to make sure it wasn't out of focus or anything and she swooped right above me, causing me to scream with terror. Barn owls are practically silent as they move and fly, which is probably the reason I didn't notice until I felt the draft and feathers on my head. 

What was really lovely was the fact that as everyone was holding the bigger birds, such as the eagle, one of the blokes came and brought out Wheezy again as I was much too scared to even go near the bigger birds of prey. I seriously recommend them for parties and events, whether you have small children or not, they have a ton of knowledge about birds and are also really entertaining!

Zorro was a funny one. Very grumpy looking and noisy. Because he was so tiny, there wasn't much trouble holding him, however his landing startled me a bit!

A massive owl came out after this, who I was encouraged to hold but I just found him too intimidating and overwhelming to look at, causing me to have a mini panic attack and accidentally made the guys feel really guilty! Oops, sorry!

And here's a snap of Tom looking like something from Game of Thrones, holding the Golden Eagle. No one was able to stroke this bird, only hold him as he was a bit feisty and could take out a terrier or sloth. Yeah, he was a scary guy! 

After all this excitement, there were a few more goes in the hot tub, a takeaway pizza and a film for me and Tom. We watched this incredible, yet underrated film, called Whiplash. There will more than likely be a review on this blog for it soon. But it was fantastic and marked the end to an amazing trip.

Day Four

We packed and soaked up our last few hours in the hot tub before checking out and heading home in the pouring rain. That was slightly depressing. 

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I hope you've enjoyed this slightly late post about last weekend. I enjoyed writing it very much, as I love reflecting on memorable experiences and happy times like this. I'm sure there will be many more to come. And I hope the same for you!

Happy Easter xo