So on to the castle...
The problem with any holiday destination such as this is you never know
if what you’ve found is something really good or just something cynically put
together to please the imperialist aspirations of Middle England...
Never confuse Middle England with Middle Earth, the denizens of Middle
England are far scarier and infinitely more numerous...
Cheerfully, there’s always Tripadvisor, and a whole bunch of people who
are perfectly happy under the guise of internet anonymity to say what they
actually think or what they want everyone to think about the place. The key is to take a look at the photos being
taken by the visitors and not the professional photos, you’re always going to
get one or two people trying to troll for freebies from the place, but for the
most part, the amount of good reviews give you the general idea, the amount of bad reviews get you the better idea...
In this place, I’ve had my eye on one of the rooms (the Radcliffe) for
a couple of years, because we’re back to Jude liking water and awesome looking
places, architecture is amongst those things, and so something where you can
sit in the window and write notes can’t be a bad thing...
And yes, that's the stairs leading to the window that you can sit in... Four poster bed, big enough for any ten people you care to mention, and
that includes people my size...
And then of course, the main reason for the room, the bathroom...
Bath big enough for me to go swimming in, Sauna, and shower, then on the other side...
Plenty of history in Langley Castle, got burned to the shell and was rebuilt at the beginning of last century and (for those with childish interests like me) presents the best example of medieval toiletry in Europe (Apparently)...
There are some who ask what’s the difference, why don’t you just stay
in a travellodge? The reason is simple, I’m not just taking Jude out for one
day, I’m making memories of things that we got up to, places we went to, and things
we did.
One day there may come the time that we can’t do these things any more,
either through lack of money or increasing age, none of us know what’s going to
happen in the future and it’s essential to do things while you can, because
sometimes life just snaps (plenty of evidence of that this year), and things
change in ways you can’t imagine.
So build memories while you can, take the time while it’s there, make
the effort, because these are the times that you get to live again and again, and the road isn't always before you...
Oh, and Gents?
If the Sky channel has Pacific Rim on and you proceed to stomp around
the room making Kaiju noises loud enough to be heard in the rooms above and
below, your lady may find it
amusing...
and those memories are worth keeping as well...
