There’s been a few polls running on Twitter recently asking what people considered to e a ‘staycation’. The options being a holiday where you go places from home or a holiday in this country.
I am clearly at odds with the results of this poll as I consider a staycation to be being based at home with trips out. However, based on this poll, it looks like I am definitely on staycation this week.
Had things been different we would have been in Boston, MA right now for New England in the fall instead we are in Dorset for Old England in the fall. When we knew that the US holiday wasn’t going to be doable we looked for somewhere to visit in the UK and settled on Corfe Castle. Even a week ago we didn’t know whether that we would actually get to go though as the current situation is so fluid. As it was the new restrictions, having to leave the pub by 10pm, weren’t going to affect us so we came away.
It’s a couple of hours from Reading to Corfe so we decided to find a National Trust property to visit on the way. Turns out that there is only one that makes sense and that’s Kingston Lacey so we booked up for that. We both had a feeling that we had been there before but on arrival nothing seemed familiar so maybe not.
Like the late middle-aged people that we are we had brought a packed lunch and some scones we had made yesterday and sat in the picnic area in front of the house to eat them. It turns out that Kingston Lacey was once owned by the same family that owned Corfe Castle and then donated both along with large areas of coastline to the National Trust thereby giving back what was taken away from the people hundreds of years previously.
After a lovely three mile walk around the perimeter of the grounds we were ready to move on.
Corfe is a beautiful place and you can see why people flock here. Dominated by the castle on the hill the buildings surrounding it are just a pretty too. Our hotel was equally as attractive. I had a vague recollection of when we booked making a decision not to be in the main house but in a separate building across the car park. I can’t remember what led us to that decision but I am imagining that it was money related! It was only when the receptionist said that she would walk us over to our “accessible” room that I wondered exactly what we had booked. Turns out that the room is exactly as she described “accessible” and would be perfect for someone that needed that but to me the room just reminded me of my grandmother’s sheltered accommodation!
In the evening we went for dinner at the local pub which proudly proclaimed that it was the “most photographed pub in Britain” a claim that is clearly impossible to substantiate. Even if it were true would only be because the pub is smack in front of the castle and it is impossible to take a picture of the castle without also getting the pub! Food was good though.