My bestest J and I try to go away every year for her birthday - it's too expensive to go away for mine seems as it's in the Summer bank holiday and one of the most popular times to go away! In the past, we've been on a spa break, to Skegness, and a shopping trip / stayover in Birmingham, bringing us to year 4 this year.
So this year we had a spa break at the Chevin Country Hotel & Spa in Otley, Yorkshire. We booked it back in January and were looking forward to it for forever. There is a choice to stay in either the hotel rooms, or in a self catering log cabin. What could be more fun than that? So the log cabin it was.
We left my house on Tuesday around 8am to drive to Sainsburys to stock up on food. Bearing in mind this was meant to be a weightwatchers, pointed spa break, that went out of the window the moment we got to the cheesecake aisle. Not to mention we ended up buying more food and spending more than I usually do on my weekly food shop!
It took a couple of hours to get there - 90 odd miles up the motorway - so we found the spa around 12 midday but couldn't check in until 3pm so we made our way into Otley and had some grub at a Wetherspoons - not much to report there am afraid, not really the best food is it! But it was the only option we had to pass the time.
When we checked in we were so happy with our gorgeous cabin. The décor inside was modern but completely fitted with the cabin vibe. We had a big kitchen and lounge area, and two bedrooms. It was J's turn to rock the double bed (yes we take turns!) so I took to the two single beds.
We chilled for most of the evening, and jumped into our complimentary dressing gowns straight away.
Before we started to cook our meal we realised we didn't have a frying pan - we knew we wouldn't get much of a meatball dish with two small saucepans and a huge stew pot - so we called Reception from our cabin and two minutes later there was a knock at the door, the Operations Manager with frying pan in hand - excellent service!
Our first meal of meatballs and garlic bread was yum, and of course we brought along our own wine for a nice relaxing evening. We couldn't actually get to fan oven to work for ages before we started cooking, and dreaded calling Reception again as we were certain it was something we were doing wrong, but it ended up that the lovely Operations Manager came back to check the outside of our lodge and we had a fuse tripped outside. So we weren't being ditzy after all!
We ended up watching Pitch Perfect, which we bought from Sainsburys along with the food. I was so disappointed! Maybe I was too tired watching it but I thought it was supposed to be "the new Bridesmaids" and everyone said how fabulous it was, but I obviously wasn't impressed as I fell asleep before the end!
I have to admit that I'm quite a scardy-pants and being in the lodge at night in the pitch black, in the middle of the woods and around a five minute walk away from another human being, made me quite apprehensive and I had to sleep with the hall light on for the first night!
We woke pretty late on Wednesday morning and cooked a fab healthy fry up to kickstart our day.
And then made our way over to the spa.
J & I are quite different in that she loves massages and me, I wince at the thought of skin contact with a stranger, so whilst J was relaxing with an indian head massage, I was knocking out 6km on the gym treadmill.
I've never taken any gym clothes on a holiday break with me before, let alone even opened the gym door! But I was so pleased I took my things along and managed to get a run in. I hadn't run on a treadmill for quite a few years, and I forgot how hot you get running in a confined space instead of outdoors! But it felt great.
We spent a couple of hours in the swimming pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room before heading back to the cabin for lunch. We then made our way back over to the main hotel for a drink in their snuggle lounge.
How amazing does this look? It was sooo comfy!
I surprised J with a mini birthday cupcake - I realised I couldn't do this in the lodge as I had no matches, so the bar staff helped me out with this one!
And then we played Yahtzee and had a couple of drinks, all cosied up in the lounge. It was GREAT.
Our second evening dinner was fajitas with sweet potato wedges, garlic bread and salad (carb fest - I warned you the weightwatchers plan had completely gone out of the window!
A notice in the lodge informed us that there were DVDs available to rent in Reception, so we went to grab some but it was the most awful collection ever! The best one was About a Boy, which neither of us had seen, so we watched that after dinner, complete with wine and hot choc of course!
(There was also cheesecake included in this trip but it was eaten too fast to photo!)
The morning after, J booked herself in for another massage, so I found the gym again for another perfect opportunity to run.
I managed a 5km during the time that J was away, and then we showered and got ready to leave in the baking hot changing rooms - two minutes after putting my make up on it was literally melting off of my face!
We just had enough time for J to open her presents from me, before we had to leave.
We were really sad to leave our lovely lodge, and made a drive into Leeds city centre for some lunch and a little mooch around the shops, before leaving for home. We arrived back around 3.30pm, just in time for a dismal weigh-in!
I would definitely come back to this lodge again. It was quiet when we were there and the weather wasn't exactly excellent but I can imagine how lovely it would be in the summer. J has a bad back but if I was to go here with DC it would be the perfect setting for long walks - set in 44 acres of land, there would be no reason not to take a look around!
Dans
