Every few months I like to book a weekend for my husband and I to get away together. We call it our date weekend!
We don’t have any children living at home although he does have a daughter living in Dublin. So most of the time its just the 2 of us and the dogs. We work for the same company so travel to and from work together most days, so you probably wonder why we need a date weekend!
As with most couples busy lives can just take over. Yes we see a lot of each other by most peoples standard, but how much of that is quality time? The problem is that we spend so much time together you forget to make it quality time. We come home every night and walk the dogs together and yes we do talk on that walk, but when we are home, I prepare and cook dinner, make breakfast and lunch for the next day and tidy house while hubby goes into his own study to listen to music etc.
We have been together for just over 10 years and married for 3. Both of us have had failed marriages before. We are both very happy and feel that finally we have met the right person. As my hubby says you have to kiss a few frogs…….. It is always good to remember why you fell in love with each other. I truly believe my hubby actually is my soul mate. We have so much in common and I don’t know anyone else who would do the tourist stuff together like we do! But neither of us want to take each other for granted, so the date weekends are perfect! Once every 3-4 months we go away on our own for a night. Not too far away but every time somewhere different. Great Little Breaks is my go to website for these. You can get some amazing deals which include hotel, bed, breakfast and evening meal. Sometimes its just afternoon tea rather than dinner. Whatever the offer, it means we can explore new places and spend time together. Both of us really enjoy them as its a great time to be together, enjoying our hobbies of walking and photography but also having a good laugh together.
It was my husbands birthday on Saturday so what a great excuse to do a date night! The destination this time was the Peak District. Its only 1.5 hours away so not too far. As with all our weekends away we make sure we have planned things to do! I book the hotel and leave hubby to sort out the activities.
We set the alarm for 7.30 but are actually awake for 6! How come when you don’t have to get up for work you wake up early?
Hubby has found a fabulous walk around Chatsworth Estate which he found in a walking book – Ordnance Survey Peak District Outstanding Circular Walks – Walk 4. It start at Baslow and is approximately 4.25 km and should take 2 hours. We both have an App on our phones so tracked it. Ended up doing 8.71 km and took us 2.23 hours. That’s fine as I’ve never done a walk with hubby where we haven’t gone a bit further (alright we took the wrong track!). It was a beautiful sunny day. Perfect to be out in the countryside.
This time of year is even more beautiful as not only are the trees and flowers coming to life, but the fields are full of lambs. These little chaps looked like they were enjoying themselves.
The walk takes you across Chatsworth Estate ending up walking past the house. If we had more time, we would have had a look around. Maybe next time!
As we go back to the car, we consider dropping off at Hardwick Hall before heading to our hotel! We put it into the Sat Nav, but it takes us to a back entrance where we can’t get through! We try alternative routes but fail. The rain sets in and its 4 pm so we decide its probably best to head to our hotel. Its been a great day and perhaps a bath and a chill is now in order!
We arrive at our Hotel for the night – Eastwood Hall. It’s a mix of old and new. We are in the new part. There is a wedding on and a rugby tournament for boys around 10 years old. Its all very noisy in a nice way but thankfully our room is away for all this.
We have 1.5 hours before dinner so decide to have a bath and chill. I say a bath but for a husband who is over 6 foot it’s a bit cramped. We have brought some drinks with us so he enjoys a few lagers – well it is his birthday while I have an alcohol free fizzy wine. Don’t turn your nose at the thought, it was actually quite nice!
Dinner is in the main restaurant. 3 courses including a bottle of wine. As my hubby has been having lager all night he continues with them, while I enjoy a bottle of white wine. There is a large party of ladies in the restaurant which my hubby decides are from the women’s institute. Who knows, but because of this the service is a little slow. We don’t mind as we are having a relaxing evening. The waiter though feels he must apologise with free beer and fizz for me! Oh well if he insists!
The food whilst slow is amazing. I had asked for dairy free and they gave me lots of choices. In the end I had fish cakes to start, steak for main and sorbet with fresh fruit salad for dessert!
I couldn’t finish all my wine over dinner so we retired to our room with the remaining wine and a pint of larger for hubby.
It had been a great day and tomorrow was still to come. Everyone thinks that exercise only happens if you do sport or go to the gym! I absolutely doesn’t. Today we have done 17,552 steps! Not bad for a day when we have seen so much and had such a good time!
Here are a few photos from today to tempt you to do this walk. Who knew exercise could be so much fun!! Not only that you get to see some amazing views and nature at its best!
Catch up later for what we did tomorrow!
Slimminginspirations4u 