Warner Weekend 2025 – Return to Holme Lacy (Day 1)

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With apologies to Dean Martin: “The weather outside is frightful, but heading away for the weekend is delightful!“. Time for the self-titled Northants Nutters (aka, Paul & Sue, Geoff & Rhonda and us two, plus ‘Honorary Nutters: Richard and Nicki) to re-assemble and head for Warner’s Holme Lacy House.

The last time the Nutters were here was back in March 2020 – just prior to COVID – it was therefore good to be back under less threatening circumstances. We’re here for a long weekend, sampling everything that Warner’s has to offer – food, entertainment, outdoor ‘pursuits’ and maybe even some alcohol! 😉

There’s plenty to keep us occupied including Crossbow Shooting, Pitch ‘n’ Putt, Rifles, Swimming, Trivia Quizzes, Tai Chi, Gym and much, much more! But if that all sounds a bit too energetic, there’s the vocal harmonies of ‘The Simon & Garfunkel Story‘ as the headline act tomorrow night and ‘The Everly Brothers‘ on Sunday.

11.25am: We set off from a very cold Kettering at just before midday. The day hadn’t started well, as Ann headed for the local hotel’s swimming pool just before 6.30am for her daily workout – only to find it closed due to ‘high PH levels’. C’mon, who’s been weeing in the pool? ☹️

Next stop? Paul & Sue’s, so we could travel in one car all the way to Holme Lacy.

11.47am: We’re off!

1.35pm: Here we are at Strensham Services South, plugged in for a top up for EVie and a roll and coffee for us humans!

Welcome to Holme Lacy

Holme Lacy is a Grade I listed mansion, completed in 1674 and was reportedly visited by Charles II. Set in 20 acres of the Wye Valley, it looks and feels massive and is one of Herefordshire’s treasures. It’s now managed by Warner’s and offers mid-week/weekend breaks that are great value.

3.16pm: With check-in from 3pm, our arrival was what to be considered perfect timing! It had been a good journey except for the last 30-40 minutes, where the route consisted of minor back roads that twisted and turned to keep us on our toes. I don’t recall the route being this ‘adventurous’ last time! We were greeted at the Gatehouse and given all the necessary paperwork that would be our constant companion for the next few days.

Holme Lacy House is a sizeable pile and even though it was our second visit, the long corridors and the slightly haphazard signage kept things interesting and promoted a sense of mystery 😉.

With the car parked and plugged in to their free EV charging, we headed for our room.

Hello room 308! 😊👋. Like the House, itself, our room was a generous size with all we need for our short stay. The WiFi is good, making up for a flaky mobile signal, and it was good to see a TV aerial again after all these years! 😂😂

4.30pm: With all the Nutters assembled, we met up at Reception, and then (purely by accident) drifted into the nearby Bar! 👍. And there we stayed for the next hour catching up with everyone’s news and making plans for the weekend. It certainly looked like a packed programme where, since we were last here, they appear to have boosted the amount of entertainment – Think of it as like a Cruise but without the ship and the sea. I think we’re going to be busy!👍

5.45pm: After a convivial get-together and some initial planning in the Bar, we next agreed to meet at Geoff & Rhonda’s room for the now-familiar pre-dinner get-together.

7.40pm: Off to The Market Place for our evening meal. As is our style, we were later eating than many other guests here. Consequently, although we didn’t have a problem making our choices from the Buffet, it was clear that arriving early had its advantages! 🤔

We found our table for eight (after a bit of re-configuring) and settled down to some very tasty food!

9.02pm: With our evening meal over, we headed for The Pavilion Theatre. We were probably one of the last to arrive, where we invented a new pastime called ‘hunt the chair’. The result? The Nutters were distributed around the venue. The Resident Band, ‘The Symphonics’ kept us entertained up until the main act.

Lorna Adams was the headline act tonight. Well, she certainly had a powerful voice. It was probably a good job there were no windows, otherwise they may have been a casualty of tonight’s performance! 🫨

In her 60-minute performance, Lorna covered a vast range of musical styles, where some landed better than others. She certainly belted out the tunes – and for me, maybe that was the issue, as for once, it was good to be seated at the back. “Panis Angelicus” probably wasn’t an obvious track to kickstart the performance, but it certainly got most of the audience sitting up and paying attention! 😉. From Cezar Franck, Puccini to Freddie Mercury via Meatloaf and Lady GaGa, the regular and rapid switching of musical genres was, for me, a tad confusing (but I am easily confused these days!). But it did certainly demonstrate Lorna’s vocal capabilities, and she never dropped a note throughout the fifteen-or-so numbers on her playlist. I’m probably being a bit over-critical, and the rest of the audience seemed to enjoy Lorna’s talents, even though the volume was most often around the 10.5 mark!

Lorna returned for a family-friendly encore – You’ll Never Walk Alone – before exiting stage left. By now, most of us were done, leaving Paul & Sue to fly the flag for the Nutters whilst the rest of us headed for the duvet!

10.50pm: That’s it for tonight. See you Saturday! There’s a new activity since we were last here – axe throwing! Got to try and have a go at that! 😉