Thurnham Hall Lodge | Roadtrip!

Back in February my boyfriend and I took a little adventure to Lancashire for a 2 night stay at Thurnham Hall Lodge. This idea all sprouted from a "Buy a Gift" voucher. Luckily, we received one of these vouchers as part of a present from my Dad and Step-mum at Christmas just gone. The voucher we have is the "2 for 1 night stay at a hotel". They, my Dad and Diane (step-mum) have used one of these vouchers themselves and therefore generously gave myself and 3 siblings each one of these amazing treats. Once on the website you have the choice of hundreds of different hotels located all around the UK and even some abroad in counties such at Spain, Italy and France. On this particular occasion we opted for a beautiful little hotel/lodge up North in Lancashire.

Day 1 | Tuesday 14th February On the Tuesday we arrived around 3:30 in the afternoon and had check in at 4pm. The main building was a beautiful manor with medieval decor and pleasant surroundings. The rooms, located to the left of the main building, were again surrounded by trees and peaceful fields. With a well equipped apartment this lodge was everything we could of asked for for a 2 night getaway. Our first night we decided, seeing as it's Valentines Day, that we would book a restaurant near by and go for a loved-up-sickly-soppy-couples meal! We managed to book a table at The New Holly Bar. Along with a bottle of prosecco (our favourite) we only had 2 courses as neither of us could manage a 3rd but I really wish I had the room- as those who know me, dessert is my favourite course of all (I have a mega sweet tooth!). I opted for "Satay Chicken Skewers" to start and "Chicken Supreme" with sweet potato risotto for my main meal. Angus chose "Chicken Liver Pate" for his starter and his main he had a steak. It's safe to say we both thoroughly enjoyed our meals.

We then got ourselves another expensive taxi back to the lodge before enjoying one last drink in the manor bar before heading back to our apartment to get cosy with a film, champagne and some sweet snacks. Day 2 | Wednesday 15th February After what felt like a nights sleep on the sun (the room seemed to trap the heat, despite having the window open), I earnt myself some top girlfriend points by making Angus breakfast in bed. I mean it seemed only fair considering he did for me the morning before, complete with a cuppa and bacon and sausage sandwichs. Today we decided that we would venture into Lancaster and attempt to be top tourists! We'd both had an interest in going to the Lancaster Castle and just have a little wander round to see what we could find... It's safe to say we were a little disappointed when getting to the castle, seeing as that a majority of it was covered in scaffolding. However we could go through to the main courtyard area, where we decided against an hour and 15 minute tour guide- I think we were lacking the mental concentration on this day and were up for more a relaxed mooch about.

Angus decided to channel his inner Viking in the gift shop. We were sensible, honest! After seeing on a street map that it wasn't too far, we decided to find the Lancaster Cathedral and (depending on if there was a service on or not) we would have a little wander. Luckily for us, after venturing up the hill to it, there wasn't any service taking place at the time. In fact there was nobody to be seen, which felt a little eery I must admit! However, it did still also have a peaceful atmosphere, not that I'd expect anything less.

There's always something so beautiful and amazing about a church/cathedrals interior. I'm not sure whether it's the meaning of what these buildings have to people, or that you know it's a place where many feel safe and feeling of faith and belief within the walls. I, myself am not religious. This however doesn't mean I don't believe that there is a God of some sort or that I am against religions, I'm not from a religious family and I just never really looked into any religions. I do however believe and think that each person has their own right to follow a God and religion that they choose.

The designs and images on the stained windows never cease to amaze me.

After a little exploration at the Cathedral, we ventured back down into the main centre and chose to go to the City Museum next. Here, taking photos wasn't allowed but it was pretty interesting to learn about the different wars and all about lifestyles in the 1800's. After overloading our brains with information and me grabbing a Nutella crêpe from the local food market, it was time to grab a few little bits from the supermarket for our movie night back at the apartment. But first we decided to go for another drink in the cosy manor bar...

Movie time, fully equipped with 2 pizzas, sweet potato fries, prosecco, duvet, pjs and of course the chocolates and films!

Day 3 | Thursday 16th February Check out! 10am! No chance of a lazy morning lie in on our last day! Luckily we didn't have anything to pack as we hadn't unpacked anything really apart from the food.... oops! After being a top girlfriend again and making some breakfast before washing up and making the apartment look as clean as it was when we arrived. Which the latter part of the morning was a joint effort, I can't take all the credit for that! There's not much left to say about the final day as all we did was drove home and then crashed and had a lazy day at home. But overall we both had a great few days in Lancashire for our first Valentines together and we would definitely recommend to any of our friends or family to take "Buy A Gift" upon on this amazing deal!

Until next time Love H x