Long Weekend Away – Day 1: Green Bough Hotel, Chester

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We left home around 10am and had a pretty good journey to Chester. By 12.35 we were parking in the Green Bough hotel and Ralph and Karen arrived not long after. We’re here until Sunday and aim to take in the sights, sounds and of course, the shops!

First impressions were superb. We were given a very warm welcome and after checking-in, we settled in the lounge. We were immediately treated to free tea/coffee and fresh scones with jam and clotted cream. Yum-Yum!

As we were going into town later, we asked the hotel to hold the free champagne (part of the package) until we got back.
We were upgraded to a junior suite – The Adlington. It’s very nice, well appointed and has everything we need.

We quickly unpacked and then took the bus into town – just a short ten-minute journey, after a short walk to the bus-stop.

The weather was a bit dull when we got there, and it looked like it was going to chuck it down with rain at any moment. Considering it was a week-day, the place was packed! We decided to walk round the town via the Wall – this gave us a great view of the surrounding area.

Chester isn’t the most obvious place to find rhinoceroses (or is that rhinoceri?), but the place was full of them! Albeit highly decorated ones!

We walked and walked – and then walked some more. We even got a great view of the race-course that was gearing itself up for tonight’s races. Ralph and I felt the need for a beer, and the girls were up for a break too! So, we headed back to town and settled for enjoying our drinks outside, where there were a couple singing live – nice!

Three Heinekens and a J20 later, it got very windy and looked like it was about to rain, so we headed back to the bus-station. Luckily, there was a bus waiting, and by 5pm, we were back in our room. We had a communal cuppa and then got ready for the gut-busting menu – not forgetting our complimentary glass of champagne. The plan was to meet at 7.30 for ‘champers’, then eat at eight. 

The evening meal certainly didn’t disappoint. The whole experience began as we were shown to the roof terrace where, as promised, the champagne flowed! Ralph’s not a big fan of the fizz these days, so he had a Speckled Hen – a nice touch by the waiting staff, who asked him whether he wanted it ‘room temperature’ of ‘chilled’. And this attention-to-detail continued throughout the evening meal where the various courses were served at a leisurely pace.

We decided to go for the a-la-carte option. The food looked beautiful – a work of art – and it tasted even better – in fact, the food was beyond excellent especially for a small hotel, and would easily have rivalled a top London restaurant. I had the veal.

Ralph stuck with his ale, whilst we three, sunk a bottle of red between us. By the time we struggled through dessert, we were all totally stuffed and couldn’t even manage coffee nor the cheese.

We collapsed in the lounge for all of five-minutes and then decided to call it a day. We staggered into bed around 10.45.

This has been an excellent day – the hotel certainly know their stuff and the food and the rooms are simply superb.

Roll-on Saturday!