Our God daughter got married on 19 March 2022. Her home church, where her father is the vicar, is in a little village in Warwickshire. Not too far away is Chesford Grange, where the reception was held. We travelled up the night before, the journey is about 120 miles. We took the ICE car (range >350 miles) as for the EV (range 100 miles) was not up to the task of getting us there in a reasonable time. The journey was uneventful, if a little slow in places, until we got near the M45 junction, where Google Maps on my phone decided to stop working. So, we missed the junction and left at the next one. After a short while we were in a multi-diversion system and almost totally lost. We seemed to be on the right road, but the restarted phone was now telling us to go in, apparently, the wrong direction. When we arrived, and the total distance we'd covered was over 130 miles. There was a charge point in the car park, only one, and it was out of service.
Booking had been painful, different options and different rules and rates for each night and a cut-off phone line, so I was hoping for a better experience. We queued for a short time for check-in. That's not really a problem, our room was the last down, one of the corridors. I, quite deliberately, chose not to set up an account at the hotel. We unpacked, and prepared for dinner. It was booked for 6:15, but at check-in we were told the restaurant didn't open until 6:30. Again, not a problem. It looks like a very nice restaurant and the prices reflect that. I started with the soup, which was delivered reasonably quickly, but without a spoon. I had to ask for that. Jo had her 2 courses as main and dessert. Her dessert was delivered without a spoon, I had to ask for that. I asked if we could charge it to the room, we couldn't, which was exactly what I hope I would hear.
The bed was comfortable, the shower was good, and the breakfast buffet was adequate, but not really worth the £15 you would have been charged if you didn't have the B&B deal. Several things were not working, or not available.
After breakfast, we took a stroll around the grounds and off down a footpath along the banks of the river Avon. Through some woods and out to a road.
 The Avon |
 A Celandine |
The wood we walked through was carpeted with celandine, and not too muddy for the time of year - we had not bought walking boots. Returning to the hotel, we did our best to remove the mud, and Jo took her shoes off, just to be sure we wouldn't make a mess.
 | Now it was time to get ready for the wedding. Here we are suitable attired, with me trying to take a selfie and smile. I'll master it one day, but for now, this is as good as it gets. |
The wedding itself was lovely, and the prayers I had prepared (stolen and edited) went down very well. The sermon was also very good, with a very clever illustration of married life - a pair of shears. I'll let you work it out. Our congratulations to Helen and Adam, and we hope they have a marvellous life together. We had a lovely evening catching up with friends and meeting a few new people.
The reception was also very good, and for all the little problems we had experienced, there was nothing wrong with the service they provided here, at all. Another night in a comfortable bed followed, and another breakfast. Then to check-out. It's a good thing we didn't use the fast check-out. Apparently, we had used the spa the previous afternoon. The receptionist could not explain it, nor how there could be a charge on our room when there was no account. She did assure us that we would not be charged, so far we haven't been. The hotel seems to be trying to be something that it isn't quite able to be, I hope they can improve their services.
We then attended the service at the Church, and spent a while chatting with the bride's parents (our friends), before making the journey home.
A very nice weekend away.
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