Warner Weekend 2025 – Return to Holme Lacy (Day 3)

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The Northants Nutters (aka, Paul & Sue, Geoff & Rhonda and us two, plus ‘Honorary Nutters: Richard and Nicki) are at Warner’s Holme Lacy House. Last time were here was in March 2020 – just prior to COVID – it was therefore good to be back under less threatening circumstances.

This is our last full day here. We’ve had a lot of fun, but Holme Lacy seems have lost some of its magic in those intervening years. Currently, I don’t think any of us are inspired enough for another return!

Day 1 Post is HERE.

Day 2 Post is HERE.

Good to see that if the forecast is accurate, we’ve got less rain and a warmer day than yesterday! 😉

Welcome to Sunday! Axe-throwing is OFF (was it ever ON?) 🙁. The rest of Herefordshire can now rest easy knowing that my attention is now in the direction of Trivial Pursuits or Shuffleboard! 👍. Staff members, Jack and Hannah are doing a great job this weekend, as they seem to running everything here – they sing too!!

8.02am: Ann, Sue and Nicki headed for the Pool whilst I nursed a slightly scratchy throat! (Uh-Oh!) 😬

10.03am: For Breakfast, we were all back at the Market Kitchen – and the free-for-all that is ‘self service’! Or were we? Actually, no! The system seemed to be slightly confused as to exactly where the eight of us should be. The staff did their best to be helpful, but ‘computer said no’ thinking the 8 of us had somehow been reduced to 6, and where the table had been set accordingly! Doh! 😠. Eventually they ended up re-locating us to the (slightly more sedate) Brasserie32.

There, the food was tasty and on time, but for some, the hot breakfast was anything but. We got there in the end, but buried deeply amongst the wide range of food options was a sense of confusion and communication challenges! (‘nuf said!) 🙁

11.00am: Today’s Trivia Quiz was hosted by Jack. Decisions, decisions! Should we ‘throw the game’ so that we’re not insulted by the prizes? (as experienced yesterday HERE) or play like our lives depended on it. We chose the latter, as we once again split into ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ for our teams.

Today there were about 30 teams all chasing the prize (a discounted hot drink and a slice of cake), where the topic was ‘General Knowledge’.

Fifteen questions followed, and just like yesterday’s challenge, in our team, we were confident with the majority of our answers, but there were a few, where guessing was the name of the game.

When the answers were declared, we’d scored a respectable ’10’, whilst the girls topped us with ’12’. Sadly, even 12 wasn’t good enough to win, where another team scored an impressive ’13’. Our team were thwarted by the following five questions*:_

• Who voiced ‘Woody’ in Toy Story?
• How many time-zones in Russia?
• According to a recent Film poll, who is the ultimate villain?
• In what year was Queen Elizabeth born?
• Name ALL the members of the ‘Jackson 5’
  
  *Answers on request

11.35am: It was games time and today, we chose Shuffle Board. Most of us (including me) had never played before, and it therefore turned out to be typically, a game of skill and luck. Not played before? Think of it as a table-top version of Curling where instead of ice there is a marble tabletop with a sprinkling of silicone-based powder.

This ‘powder’ was amazing stuff, where it gave the puck a somewhat unpredictable journey from one end of the board to the other. More often than not, the puck’s speed was too high, and we all learned to be much more gentle with the launch sequence. Even with just a gentle push, sent it hurtling towards the end of the playing area, benefiting from the lack of surface resistance. To add to the fun, it didn’t always travel in a straight line either! For many of us, it was a very enjoyable ‘new skill’. We let battle commence, and after a few rounds, the result was Boys 25, Girls 24 – a close match!! 👍👍

Surely the most accurate shot must have gone to ‘Nutter Paul’, who managed to steer his puck over the maximum distance, where it therefore scored maximum points, balancing perfectly 50/50 on the edge of the playing area! Impressive!! 👍

12.45pm: Time to battle the elements! Our daily walk was hosted by Jack and Hannah. It was at least a dry day, if a little windy and cold.

The walk lasted around 40 minutes as we took a gentle stroll around the grounds of Holme Lacy House.

It was good to be out in the fresh air, and our small group of around a dozen meant we were kept moving as Hannah continued to tell us about the history of this grand old property. Today’s factoid? Holme Lacy is the ONLY Warner’s property that’s leased.

2.30pm: It was games time again, and we returned to the old favourite that is Trivial Pursuits.

Our natural deadline for completion was around 4.15 (some of the Nutters wanted to see the Soccer and/or Rugby on TV). The two-hour Boys vs Girls battle commenced, where after two intensive games, the result was just as it should be – a draw!!

Snooze/Soccer and Rugby filled the remaining time, where our next ‘official’ engagement, where we’d all be together, was the daily pre-dinner drinks! Yes, it’s a tough life! 😉

6.15pm: It was our turn to host, and after popping a few corks and taste-testing the crisps, we were ready!

7.45pm: Yes, more to eat! 😋😋. Our (final) evening meal beckoned from a return to Brasserie32. This time, it all came together in that they knew we were coming AND they set the table for the right number of people!

With ice-cream to follow, the food certainly hit the mark tonight! The Service was sharper too, meaning we had more time to chat and make our way to tonight’s entertainment! 👍

9.05pm: We headed off to the now-familiar Pavilion for tonight’s headline act – The Everly Brothers & Friends.

Again, a full house tonight and again, the Nutters were split across the room. We all found good seats where the now very familiar Hannah had been warming up the audience with her singing. Judging by the applause when the Band came on stage at just after 9.30, this felt like this was the performance that the majority of the audience had been waiting for all weekend. In front of us were the ‘Everly Brothers’ (obviously), ‘Buddy Holly’ and ‘Jerry Lee Lewis’, supported by their Drummer and Double Bass player. The Band itself were very well rehearsed and engaged the audience pretty much from the off. It was a full-on sound that more than filled the room, and their energy levels were off the scale – especially ‘Jerry’ who probably deserves a show all of his own.

I wouldn’t say I’m particularly a fan of this kind of music, but the Band’s enthusiasm, stagecraft, banter and most of all, musicianship was to be admired. We didn’t stay for the whole show (it was a generous TWO-hour affair), but what we saw was impressive, where one track followed another with hardly a pause. All-in-all, great stuff! 👍

10.50pm: Well, that’s it for this, our latest Northants Nutters adventure. The disappointing and lack-lustre Holme Lacy Hotel didn’t stop us from having a great time together, where we’ve already come up with a few ideas on where we all get together next time.

All the photos and
none of my chat HERE

An early start on the road tomorrow after breakfast should get us back to Kettering by around 1pm. See you on the other side! 👍😉