Weekend retreat à la Bridget Jones (Day 1)

It was now several weeks ago that Joe took me to the Ashdown Forest Hotel for a lovely weekend retreat. 
In the infamous words of Bridget Jones, 'A mini-break means true love', hopefully in my case it really does. I can happily inform you that I didn't return from a Tarts &Vicars party, having been humiliated by a miscommunication of the theme, to find my boyfriend with an American 'stick insect'. Instead I enjoyed one of the very best weekends of my life.

We woke up to find that Joe had even gone to the trouble of assuring us a weekend's glorious sunshine. 

First we organised a little picnic to eat before checking into the hotel. We ended up in Sheffield park where we enjoyed sandwiches, pea and mint salad, crisps, strawberries, and, in Joe's case,

a large pork pie

Looking slightly more civilised after his yummy lunch.

We rested in the sun for a while. 

This photo was never intended to turn out to be quite so cheesy, but it is the natural result of Joseph trying to be very naughty. Try not to imagine what the photo would have been of had I not moved my head!

I make no apologies for how absolutely posed this photo is!

 Then it was time to head to our hotel. After quickly depositing our bags in our room we took a walk around the grounds.

We got lost a couple of times, Joe *acquired* some golf balls from the driving range, we saw a family of deer, and amused ourselves with games that Joe contrived for us. This one consisted of throwing our golf balls towards the hole, winner being the one who succeeds in the fewest attempts. I did not win.

My heart skipped, my eyes smiled, and my face shone as we wandered through the woods and around the beautiful grounds together.

Then we enjoyed a drink on the terrace before dinner, (the highlight of which was a superb bowl of mussels that we shared)

After a very enjoyable day it was time to snuggle up into bed gowned and eagerly anticipating what tomorrow had to offer!

Day two, by the way, has a classic Bridget Jones moment and is the particular reason for my title!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, what will you be up to?