Search This Blog

Sunday 24 February 2008

The Birthday Treat.

We arrived at the Inn at Whitewell, in the Trough of Bowland Lancashire, to a very warm reception. It was bitterly cold outside but on entering the Inn we were immediately warmed by the blazing log fires, a large pot of coffee together with, warm home made scones and clotted cream, accompanied by a Cognac, (for medicinal purposes only)!
Our room was delightful, furnished with a large Four Poster Bed and a roaring Peat Fire. The room has spectacular views of The River Hoddle, which is surrounded by glorious rambling hills, and edged by The Forest of Bowland.
Charles Bowman is the owner and his ancestors date as far back as the 15th Century. One of the ancestors was a Bowman at the Battle of Agincourt, it is believed that his bows were made from the wood of a local yew tree.
After 'sprucing ourselves up', we wandered down to dinner. What delights awaited us! We decided to eat in one of the many cosy rooms spread around the bar area, each room complete with a huge roaring log fire.
DT dashed to the bar, with indecent haste, I may add, to order his favourite ale, Blonde Witch, which, for some unfathomable reason, he calls it 'Blonde Bitch' and then looks at me with a mischievious glint in his eye. Bearing in mind, I am indeed a 'Blonde', I wonder, "whatever can he mean"? He thinks this is all very funny and has a jolly good chuckle to himself. Oh well, he is actually, quite funny, often unwittingly so. I settled for a Gin and Tonic.
We dined on sweet juicy scallops followed by venison in a wild berry sauce for DT, and duckling breast in a red wine jus for me. To complete our feast we had creme brulee. I have to confess, when having three courses, I usually get quite full half way through the second, so, I usually, surreptitiously, slide what I can't eat on to DT's plate.
It was a wonderful evening, recalling times with our parents, three darling daughters, friends and family. Sadly the parents have all died now, so, we are officially the 'Oldies' although I don't feel 'that' old.
Eventually we toddled off to our lovely warm room and settled down for a good night`s snooze. The temperature outside, was minus 4 degrees, so the peat fire was more than welcoming.
We awakened in the morning to the thickest hoare frost I can ever remember. The trees looked enchanting and part of the river was frozen over. Every thing was quiet and still. A Winter wonderland indeed !
Breakfast consisted of porridge, poached haddock with poached egg for me, and the full English Breakfast for DT. All was going well until, I again, surreptitiously, slid half of the poached haddock onto DT`s plate, when he announced in a rather loud voice to a very quiet breakfast room, to quote, " You know Darling, I think I`ve reached an age when I really should eat less". He is a joy to cook for and appreciates good food. Being of medium height and quite stocky, he takes some filling, a bit like a Rugby Prop Forward but minus the cauliflower ears and bent nose.
Well, you can imagine my reaction by this public statement, after all he`d dispatched in the past 24 hours. I dissolved into helpless fits of giggles, which were accompanied by puzzled looks from the other very quiet diners, the more they looked, the more I laughed. "What have I said, he enquired innocently", "Nothing Darling", I replied, not wishing to hurt his feelings. I just wondered who he was trying to convince? He really is such a "Sweetie".
After all that food, we decided to have a walk in our 'Winter Wonderland', so we set off to a delightful little village called Wray to walk along the river. As we walked , the sun came breaking through the mist, causing the frost on the trees to glisten. It is a long time since I've experienced such gorgeous Winter weather. Magic!
We spent another evening at the Inn, again enjoying the ambience and eating more delicious food. This was a lovely Birthday treat and I returned home refreshed and Happy.

29 comments:

  1. Happy birthday, Trubes! What a lovely description. You must have had a wonderful time. I love the sound of the menus and can imagine the "Winter Wonderland" - and a real fire too! Love from Sicily x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy birthday.

    That all sounds blissful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a delightful way to spend a birthday! It is the Tuscana's day this week, and plans are afoot, though what she'd like best is to go where you went...!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Welshcakes; thanks for the Birthday wishes. We did have a wonderful time. It's such a change to get away from City life, although we live in the leafy suburbs, (not exactly in the heart of the city). You can't beat the real English countryside, particularly on a crisp Winter day.

    Hi Kevin: Thankyou also for your Birthday wishes. It was blissful. Nothing better than the sound of silence.
    Love your new flag, very 'Colleenish' (as in Chavess Mme Rooney. to be.)

    Greetings Tarf , thanks for e-mail address and Birthday Greetings.


    Di.xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. oh trubes what a wonderful retreat! your description was lovely and i have found we have the same taste in drinks...dinner...however i would have picked your husband's breakfast...thank you so much for sharing your trip...you did get me to escape a bit and i will probably reread this post when i need to escape again...xxx Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  7. Old Tarf...

    The Inn at Whitewell is in Lancashire, in the Trough of Bowland, to be precise.

    But it's a great place to spend a birthday, all the same.

    Happy Birthday, Trubes!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your writing is so descriptive, I almost felt uneasy, as though I were right there with you! The meals sound delicious, the ambience cosy, and the winter wonderland stunning! So happy you had a wonderful birthday.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Daisy:
    Hi. Glad you enjoyed my little yarn, it is good to get away for a few days, just to recharge 'flat batteries'. The Inn at Whitewell is so welcoming and comfortable that, even if the weather is dire, one can quite happily sit in front of the roaring log fires and read etc. I know we've only just come back but I'm already P+S'ing the next trip.(Plotting and Scheming as DT calls it)!
    Incidentally I had the English Breakfast the second morning of our stay, that too, was delicious.
    Thanks for the Birthday wishes.xx



    A Resident from the Lakes said....

    Thankyou for mentioning the location of 'The Inn', to Tarf, I totally missed that. I have now amended my post.
    You seem familiar to me...hmmm...Could it be my dear friend..JH or Mr Lakelander(RIP)..perchance? I do hope you`ll be back soon if it is you.(2 weeks to go).
    Thankyou also for the kind birthday wishes. xx



    Leslie:
    Hello to you. I suppose you are quite used to lovely crisp frosty mornings, these days, where we live, it is quite a treat.
    I am determined to motivate myself into getting out more often, I seem to have ground to a halt since incurring this wretched back problem. I do try to exercise sensibly, as directed by my Physio, but have to be patient until I can have the steroid injections. I mention this only because I know you have a serious on-going back problem also.
    Thankyou for the birthday greetings.xx


    Di.

    ReplyDelete
  10. - Resident of the Lakes-It seems Either my memory is going faster than I thought or I need another drink.

    Next time I am over to the England- I must try and find this place. thank you for directions.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ah well, all good things must come to an end! Sounds like the trip lived up to your expectations.

    Now: Welcome back to the real world!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Grumpy Granny(and him)said:
    Hello Grumps, Nice to hear from you again. Back to the real world indeed: Washing, cooking and cleaning, (my daily has thrown a 'sickie'). I don't mind the cooking, but the other duties I can do well without, thank you!
    Hope you are well and not too Grumpy today. The sun shines here and I am happy.

    Di.xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Trubes: Yes tks, we are fine and dandy. Himself is happily pottering around putting up some new shelves for me (Sooo useful having a competent handyman who knows about decorating, tiling, electricity, carpentry, plumbing etc around the house! Sshh. On the downside, he's no good in the garden department - that's all mine!).

    Otherwise only mildly grumpy today! Our local shopping arcade/mall/complex (whatever the right word is these days) has closed over the weekend for the next 2-3 years for "redevelopment" which probably means 20 storeys of offices/shops etc etc. So now all our little handy shops for hardware, sewing requirements, computer bits, groceries, books, papers, birthday cards, an excellent and reasonably priced restaurant which has been feeding us on and off for over 20 years, have all gone leaving a huge hole in our until now fairly easy lives. We'll now have to go much further for all these litle daily necessities - but the biggest loss is actually the 10 levels of car parking which the building incorporated. The local streets are now jammed solid with cars circling round and round looking for somewhere to park; utter uncontrolled chaos! The local meter maids just look on in disbelief... and of course do nothing to help [which is perhaps just as well!]

    Ah well, we always said we needed to get out a bit more and so now we'll just have to! Silver linings everywhere if you just look, aye?

    GG

    PS: Word ver: dad gg chn. Very odd!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yup
    Its nice up there.
    Was part of my "patch" when I worked for Rank Xerox

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a fantastic lovely trip Trubes :-)) Mmn the food and, well everything sounds yummy (the company too :-) it's so nice to be able to share moments like that with a loved one. What a smashing birthday treat!

    Sorry I haven't popped by sooner I've been running around like an undone balloon but so glad you understand and pop by my place. In all my errands I've been gearing up for getting away too and hope to take off for Easter and then come summer.. whoohoo, we're away, hopefully! Not in such posh surroundings but our own little petit palace. Complete with live-in rodent now - daughter won't leave her hamster, Emmelina.

    So glad you had a great birthday Trubes, actually I did post a happy birthday before but can't see it - I've lost comments all over the show and think they must be with my sons socks. Anyway, happy birthday x

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Phillipa: Thanks for your Birthday greetings. Actually, The Inn at Whitewell isn't too posh, it's just a comfy homely Inn in wonderful surroundings.
    The staff there are very professional but friendly, without being intrusive. Children and Pets are made very welcome, including Hampsters, I should think! I can`t abide large Hotels with 'stuck up' staff.
    We used to have a Guinea Pig called Gilbert who used to share a Hutch with a tiny Rabbit called Benjamin. We had to seperate them because Benjamin used to do unspeakable thing to him !

    Di.xx

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Grumpy Granny:
    Sorry to here about the loss of your Shopping Mall and Car Park. We used to have a good little Shopping centre just down the road from where live.
    There was a Butcher, Bakery, Greengrocers, General Store, Fishmongers, Chandlers, now sadly replaced by a Betting Office, Bargain Booze Store and a Bicycle Shop.

    Happy Days !
    Di.xx

    P.S.I don`t understand Word verification, Can you enlighten me please?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Trubes: Word verification is the littled random jumble of letters which appear below the comment writing box. It is an anti-spam security measure. These characters, never the same combinatiion repeated, are generated randomly to ensure that whatever is sent to your blog is from a real person and not some remote spamming machine. It is thought that zombied computers cannot recognise the characters (which is why they appear in all sorts of wiggly, thick/thin fonts and colours) as only humans can interpret them and type them into the word verification box. Without the word verif box being completed, the message will not go through. Just occasionally the random letters form some sort of word which looks like it might have a connection with what has been typed. In my earlier example the letters were dad (as in grumpy gran...), gg (my abbreviated initials I sometimes use and chn (meaningless). Just a joke really! Hope that helps?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Trubes,

    "Chandlers?" FFS when was that?

    But do you know the history of the former very high class dress shop in your nearby shopping centre...owned by a sometime girlfriend of a former Toffees manager...who is no longer mentioned in polite Liverpool society?

    E-mail to the usual suspect if you want a local history lesson, please!

    ReplyDelete
  20. The only thing 'missing' is the photos, but you've written your post in such a lovely way that I can actually picture the setting:-)

    Belated happy birthday Trubes :-D

    ReplyDelete
  21. exl16said: The Chandlers used to be a DIY store between Owen`s the Butcher and Cubbins cake shop in about 1987. Wii e-mail you soon. I`ve been a bit unwell but on t`mend now.xx

    GG thanks for the explaination, I`m even more confused than I was before.

    Di.xx

    Jayne; Thankyou for your kind words and..... Welcome to my site. I`m still on a learning curve re pics and graphics but will get there soon. Glad you liked my description.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Belated birthday greetings from me too. It sounds like you had a great time.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Treat to hear from you too Trubes!

    Hope birthday is still a good rune with you - they can be buggers sometimes!

    Mrs S and I are vanishing for hers this year - and taking little dog for the longest walks away from everyone; just to make it different!

    Keep in touch eh?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Happy belated birthday trubes! What a lovely romantic evening that MR Trubes treated you to! Even if he does like a little tipple of 'blonde witch'... perhaps you should do some more spellin!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi Ellee Thanks for your good wishes. I do pop over to your site from time to time, I believe we have similar political interests !

    Di.xx

    Yo Scrobs: Good to hear from you too! Does Mrs Scrobs know about her birthday treat or is it a surprise ? You woll have to write about it when you return.

    Di.xx

    Merms: Hurrah you`re back in Trube`s Blogoland. Yes darling trubes is very naughty likening moi to a 'Blonde Witch'. I don`t take him up on this comment,I just leave him to enjoy his little joke, whilst he`s chuckling with his head buried in his pint of Ale!
    Silly Sod!
    Will you kindly let Old Tarf know, next time you speak to him, that I will be dropping him a line soon, I`ve been a bit busy with the Medical Fraternity. (thanks).
    I have about six letters to write to fellow Bloggers. I love the way 'Blogging' enables one to make friends from all over the world.
    Hope you are well and happier,
    Love Di.xx

    ReplyDelete
  26. Oops....TYpo Alert.... Mean`t to say 'will' to Scrobs, not 'woll'.
    Where`s Professor Hemlock when I need him?
    He is sorely missed, he`s probably hurtling around country lanes in his wife`s new motor, scaring the life out of grazing sheeps and cattleand his poor wife. The 'good lady Doctor' will be wishing she`d bought a Reliant Robin GT.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hi Trubes, sorry to hear you're not feeling too good. Hope all sorted soon xx

    ReplyDelete
  28. globus likes the way you write. eloquent post!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Globus: Thank you for those few kind words and welcome to World of Trubes.x

    ReplyDelete

I usually like to reply to your comments but for some reason when i do post a reply it just diappears, any advice would be most welcome,Thanks Di x

Random Z's