England. Day 8. Giddy up!
Today we got up early and went to breakfast. Same as yesterday—still very delicious. We had to move quickly because we needed to be at our horseback riding by 10:00 AM.
Outside the hotel, a little golf cart took us a couple of minutes down the property to the stables. They must have at least ten horses there. We checked in, got fitted with riding gear—boots, vests, helmets. Everyone looked so cute in the gear. Then we met our horses. Tzvi’s horse was Nolton, a huge black and white horse. Mine was Elton, Madeleine’s was Scooby Doo, and Hallie’s was Blue. Everyone mounted up, and each of us was paired with a guide that was basically walking the horse, so we weren’t riding alone. They led us out of the stables and around the property.
It was so much fun. The girls did great and loved it. I loved it. We all did. A few of the horses stopped to poop along the way, which was pretty gross, but still—we had such a nice time. Afterwards, the girls said they wanted to keep horseback riding when we got home, though there isn’t really anywhere nearby that does it.
After riding, we lingered at the stables for a bit, looked at some of the other horses, then took the golf cart back to the hotel. We wandered around the property for a while. We stopped at the orchard, which was small and had some pear and apple trees. We ran into the pastry chef who was picking apples for some desserts. We tried the apples, which were pretty good. We also tried the pears, which were not. Then we passed the tennis courts and even played for a minute before moving on. Further along, we reached fields and then found beehives where the hotel harvests their own honey. Hallie was nervous about getting stung.
From there we made our way to the playground, where the girls ran around for a bit before heading off to the kids’ club. I stayed swinging for a little while, then met them at the kids’ club, where they were doing some coloring. The club closed at 12:30, so we walked back to the hotel for lunch.
Lunch today was at the spa restaurant, which was Asian-themed. Tzvi, Madeleine and Shir all had noodles with tofu, and Hallie and I had teriyaki salmon. The salmon came with rice and veggies and was honestly one of the best things I ate the entire trip. I could have eaten three bowls of it—it was that good. After lunch we wanted to go to the gelato shop, but it was raining so they didn’t open it today. That was unfortunate. Instead we sat at the bar and the girls had ice cream.
After that the girls went back to the kids’ club with Shir and Tzvi and I went to the pool. We swam alone a bit, and then Tzvi had a work call, so I swam laps. Later, the girls came to the pool and we all swam together until about 5:45, when it was time to head up, pack, and change for dinner.
When we checked in earlier in the week, the girls had gotten these little “kid passports” to collect stamps from different spots on property, but we lost those and forgot to get the stamps. So before lunch, the girls got new passports and then ran around getting all of the stamps. All of the staff were so nice helping them get their stamps and fill out their little books. It was so cute. Before dinner we made a stop in the lobby where they presented their passports and got to pick from a toy chest. Hallie got a plush Dobby (from Harry Potter), and Madeleine got a little ball that had a unicorn and slime in it.
Dinner tonight was at La Terazza, the hotel’s pizza place, right next to the main restaurant. They had a nice big wood-fired pizza oven. We started by ordering the crudite and humus from the kids menu, though that was more for us, and Tzvi had an eggplant parmesan appetizer that he shared with Shir. The kids’ pizzas came shaped like Mickey Mouse, which was adorable. The adult pizzas were stunning and also quite delicious. My pizza was cheeseless, with tomato sauce, zuchini, beetroot mayo, crispy onions and basil. It was so delicious I want to try recreating it at home. Tzvi and Shir also shared two pizzas. One with a “burnt multigrain” crust, tomato sauce, cheese, eggplant, confit tomatoes, ricotta and basil, and a second with tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, artichokes and olives. We also shared a Nutella pizza for dessert, because of course we couldn’t skip that. Tzvi had tiramisu and we all shared the estate honey gelato too.
I forgot to mention, every meal we’ve had at this hotel – afternoon tea, dinners – they’ve brought out candles with little chocolates or candies for Tzvi’s birthday, I guess because I told them at check in we were celebrating Tzvi’s birthday (which is in two weeks). Nice touch.
After dinner we went back to the room, packed more, and eventually got the girls to bed. Then Tzvi and I went down to the hotel bar for a drink. It was mostly empty, but after coming back from the bathroom Tzvi sits down and tells me, “Go to the bathroom and walk by that guy’s table. I’m pretty sure that’s Jeffrey Wright from The Hunger Games.” At first I wasn’t sure, but then on the way back from the bathroom we practically bumped into each other. I said, “You look very familiar.” He smiled and said, “Man of your dreams, maybe.” Then we sat down and I saw he posted pictures of sheep outside the hotel two hours ago. Definitely him.
Anyway, we enjoyed a lovely last drink at the bar, which was almost more like being in a living room. We sat on a big couch and enjoyed really delicious cocktails. I had an appley thing, and Tzvi had a drink that was like a rum and scotch old fashioned with banana syrup. Sounded gross to me but he loved it.
And with that, we wrapped up our last night in Hampshire.
Friday
Today we got up bright and early because our car to pick us up was coming at 8:30. Well, it was definitely early, but not so bright. It was a gloomy day outside, definitely the worst weather of the trip, which I thought was perfect for a departure day. I had originally booked the car for 8am, but Ian told me I could push it. There was another guy who wanted me to move it to 7am because of “traffic.” He didn’t know who he was dealing with. They also offered to pack us up a breakfast, but again, they didn’t know who they were dealing with. So, we got up a little earlier in order to make it to our last buffet breakfast. We ate all the things and then headed out.
As we pulled away from the hotel, a few of the staff members stood outside and waved us off. Tzvi said it felt like when people would come and go on Downton Abbey. I can’t say enough good things about this hotel, except for the moths. I’d love to go back one day.
The ride was about an hour. Once we made it to Heathrow we had to cross like three streets to get from the car to the actual terminal entrance, but at least the luggage carts are free. We checked in and got through security without issue. The terminal itself is very nice with a lot of high end stores. We walked around a bit and bought some snacks.
Next to our gate was a kids play area which the kids went to for about five minutes. At that point I realized we actually had no food for the kids for the flight so I went on a quest to find plain bread. For some reason I couldn’t get a plain roll at any of the food places. So, where did I end up but the Louis Vuitton café. They had bread and butter on their menu so I just asked if I could have the bread. They told me that generally they do not let people take away food, but they would make an exception for me. Apparently this was because they know people litter and they don’t want LV wrapping on the floor. It took a while to get the bread (because they were actually baking it), during which time Tzvi was standing at the gate waiting to get on the plane and texting and calling me, freaking out that he couldn’t go as soon as they started boarding. Glad I got to miss that.
Once I got the bread I headed back to the gate where boarding had already started. We got on the plain without issue. Once we sat we realized that behind us were four kids probably ages 6-16. Problem was their parents were in the back of the plane! I’m telling you, the whole flight these kids were alone and the teenagers were fine but the 6 year old kept kicking our seats! When we went to the bathroom we saw the parents each laid out across their own rows sleeping. I wish I were kidding. Also worth noting that a row behind the kids was this middle aged guy who was just playing reels out loud! I don’t understand. Like, do people just think everyone wants to hear their videos?
On this flight they actually had our kosher meals, but they were cold and inedible felafel pitas. Tzvi got the regular food, which was a weird croissant thing that wasn’t much better. They did give out good ice cream though, and with about an hour left in the flight they came through with mini margherita pizzas, which actually weren’t the worst thing I’ve eaten.
Needless to say the flight was LONG. It was 8 hours, which felt significantly longer than the 6.5 hours to get to England. I also don’t understand why it was 1.5 hours longer on the way home. I get the winds go the wrong way, but when you go to Israel the flight home is like an hour longer, and that’s almost double the distance. Anyway, did I mention it was long? The kids did well though. 8 hours of iPads.
We landed, went smoothly through passport, got our bags (probably in record time for JFK), and went home, with three hours to spare until Shabbos. Successful trip.