Our Fifth Wedding Anniversary 27 Sep 07
Continuing on the theme of writing about things that happened whilst we were away last week, I thought I’d better not let this one slip by.
Last Thursday was our 5th wedding anniversary and even though we were already ‘away’, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to spoil ourselves for just one night. So, with Ben enjoying the company of his Nana and Granda (my parents), we took ourselves off to the Beech Hill Country House Hotel, just outside Derry – Our second luxurious hotel break within two weeks, no less, but probably our last for a long, long time.
The Beech Hill hotel provides what I’d class as ‘old world’ luxury. Its rooms, rather than the perfectly polished suites of modern hotels, are more akin to something that you’d see at a National Trust property, full of period furniture and romantic charm. In our room, the beams in the floor were so old that they noticeably sagged from the outer walls to the middle of the room. It all added up to a feeling of great character about the building.
The hotel staff were, of course, excellent but a special mention must be made for Jake who, despite missing a leg, took us on a guided walk of the hotel grounds. Its a good thing that he still had 3 working legs because there were plenty of wooded paths for him to lead us along. Apparently, taking guests for a walk has been a popular past-time for Jake (a dog, if you hadn’t guessed by now) since he turned up as a stray and had to have a badly damaged leg amputated by the hotel owner’s Veterinarian daughter. Losing the leg certainly doesn’t appear to have slowed him down.
Our dinner at the Beech Hill hotel was quite simply superb. Not only had great care and attention obviously been lavished on the flavour and presentation of each dish, but the portion sizes were more than generous too. After dinner, we barely managed to climb the stairs and collapse into bed.
Its always nice to be able to treat yourself, but we really have been quite indulgent this month. Next month, its back to normality, frugality and cheaper ways of having fun.
I hear the autumn leaves calling already.
Posted by Nev in Life , Northern Ireland with tags anniversary, beech hill, derry, northern ireland
