About a month ago, I talked about wanting to have a ‘babymoon’ (Planning a Babymoon). What with moving house and Christmas between then and now, time – and money – have been somewhat lacking so I’ve not properly looked into it. With time ticking, even though my bank balance is teetering on the verge of nothingness, I’ve started looking into a few options.
As much as I like to think I’m an adventurous traveller, I’m really not. I’ve always fancied myself an explorer, and I love the idea of going to new places and experiencing new things, new cultures, new sights… but when it comes to holidays, I shame myself with how much of a creature of habit I am. Honestly, it’s terrible. I always roll my eyes and laugh at my parents for having booked the same campsite for their main holiday every year for the past 25+ years, but then I see myself falling into the same trap. I’ve given it some thought and I think my tendency to want to go to the same place is for one simple reason: reassurance. If I’m spending what could end up being a significant amount of money, I want to be able to reassure myself that the place is going to be good. If I know it’s somewhere that I’ve enjoyed before with good facilities, it’s less of a risk.
Hark at me, trying to justify my boring holiday choices.
Although I talked previously at booking a little cottage somewhere, I began my search by looking on Groupon to see if there were any good hotel deals on offer.
First up from Groupon: Rowton Hall Hotel, Chester, Cheshire
Immediately, this photo caught my eye – I haven’t been swimming at all since I’ve been pregnant and all of a sudden, the idea of taking a dip in the pool is the most appealing thing ever. This gorgeous pool can be found at Rowton Hall Hotel in Chester, and Groupon have an offer for £99 a night stay (maximum of 2 nights), which includes breakfast for two and access to the spa. You can also pay an extra £20 for the two of you to have an evening meal in their AA Rosette restaurant, complete with a glass of wine each (if you’re not pregnant, that is).
Yep, you’ve guessed it. We’ve holidayed to Chester before. Shocker. Little Pickle’s Dad (LPD) arranged a surprise trip there for me so that we could visit Chester Zoo which I absolutely loved! And I’d love to go there again. Definitely the best zoo I’ve ever visited. If I remember rightly, he’d booked some kind of Groupon deal then as a birthday present for me before realising the voucher wasn’t valid anywhere near my birthday! Well done LPD! It made for a nice belated treat though.
Our day out at Chester Zoo in early 2013. This coat no longer does up over my bump… gutted.
The next option that caught my eye was £69 for a two night stay, including breakfast and dinners at The Breadalbane Arms Hotel in Aberfeldy. This seems like ridiculously good value for money. For dinner, you each get a £20 allowance to be spent in the hotel on both nights. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what a bargain this is.
The Breadalbane Arms Hotel, Aberfeldy, Scotland
The only issue is, that it’s right up in the middle of Scotland, which is a fair distance from our West Midland’s home. So why would a journey of that magnitude catch my eye? Because Aberfeldy was where we spent our wedding minimoon! We had a glorious midweek stay up here straight after our wedding which without a doubt has been one of the happiest week’s of my life. This was, of course, less than a year ago so perhaps it’s a bit soon to revisit this particular haunt but I certainly recommend it for anyone else who’s a bit closer and fancies a getaway. There’s some gorgeous walks to be had up there, Loch Tay is simply beautiful and you mustn’t miss out on a visit to the Dewar’s Aberfeldy distillery (again, probably better to go when not pregnant!).
Our visit to the Aberfeldy Distillery in April 2015. I’m not usually a whisky drinker, but loved it here!
I think I want to prove to myself that I can take risks and try somewhere new so these probably won’t end up being offers we take up for our babymoon, but I’ll certainly chat to LPD about them tonight anyway. Maybe these deals might take the fancy of one of you lovely readers instead!
The babymoon planning continues…