DAY ONE:
It started the way all good holidays do: with a stressful preparation, anxiety filled packing session and an early morning get up. We had to be out of the house by 7.30am at the latest, if we were to fill the car up, buy naans from morrisons (yes, they are a necessity) and pick up Alice and Helen before the work traffic hit.
What made it worse for Sam, was that he had to do all this rushing around in a suit because he had an important meeting, at midday and in Stoke, which he had to see to before his holiday could truly start. Suited and booted, with his man bun, cufflinks and matching tie, Sam was prepped and primed. We only had to stop at the services once, but as we hit a lot of traffic on the motorway, we still arrived in Stoke 40minutes later than planned. It was all okay though, we had enough time to find the indie cafe I wanted to go to, order breakfast and a drink, and enjoy these whilst Sam went to his meeting.
At 1.45(ish), Sam picked us up. There was a problem with the pickup point, we’re going to called it “the gravel problem” and, no I won’t elaborate, we’re just all going to laugh and move on and pretend I didn’t cry out of stress (hahahahahaha I wish I was joking).
Anyway, then we went to the monkey forest, where there were over 140 free roami g maquettes. We saw them being fed, playing with each other, grooming the furs of their groups and generally just being cute and wonderful. We even saw a baby that was only 2 weeks old! The monkey place was so incredible. Knowing there was all this space just for this critically endangered species to wander round, live and thrive in was just… Beautiful! I definitely would like to get an annual pass if we’re over in Stoke more (which it seems like we will be as of July – of you know, you know ha). The monkey forest is a non profit which spends the money taking care of these creatures and protecting their original habitats in the hopes that the species does not go extinct in the wild – it certainly is a wonderful cause! Amazing!
After spending a few hours longer at the monkeys than planned, and the gravel problem earlier, it meant we had to start our 2 and a half hour drive to our holiday home/cabin/cottage/Lodge at 5pm instead of 3.30pm. This me at that we finally got to sit down for the first time that day at like 7.30pm and, even then, we hadn’t ate and needed to go do the shopping so we only got to sit down for a matter of seconds. It was fine though, we powered through. The lady who owned the cottage came by to show us how the hot tub worked and we got our shopping bags ready afterwards and then drove to the nearest tesco Superstore and did a huge shop full of treats and good food. We finally got back at 9.30pm, cooked a quick vegan naan pizza with sweet potato fries, and raised a toast to Sam, our wonderful driver who had gotten us to our lodgings, and also to his last day of being 23.
It is also to note, our lodging is literally STUNNING! The hot tub was top class, with lights and jets and comfy headrests and speakers and everything. The cottage itself has beautiful wooden floors and ceilings and views out of the window to DIE FOR! Really, really breathtaking! (side note: I will upload pictures of the cottage and hot tub at some point, hopefully, as will I add pictures of the monkeys, just for a record of their beauty)
Anyway, back to the day… After our late night dinner, where we put all the food in the middle and all just ate what we wanted on our little plates, we decided to have a late night hot tub session to wind off the day. All getting into our swimsuits, we got im to the beautiful spa pool at like 11.30pm and took in the warm water, massager jets and the stunning star-filled night sky. Helen used her Bluetooth speaker to play music and we all just took some, much needed time to destress. Now, we’re taking it in turns to shower off. I went first, so I’m writing this post as the others have their final minutes in the hot tub and each get their showers. It’s now half past midnight, so it is officially Sam’s birthday. We’re all absolutely exhausted but so so ready to see what the morning brings! We have a day at the beach, a vegan cafe, a steam train ride and another hot tub session planned, so it really is going to be a day of celebrations for Sam (which of course, he truly deserves)!
Hopefully I’ll keep this up this week, but we’ll see what the future brings!
-Alice