We'd decided to go out somewhere today, as it was our wedding anniversary, and also to get away from the house for a while and have a break, but where? We live so far from the coast that it takes us over two hours to get to the seaside, and that's on a good day! The east coast is the easiest to get to, but the roads can be busy and apart from the A14, it's mostly single lane highways, so frustrating if you get behind something slow, like a tractor, which is very likely at this time of year!
We then debated going to Oxford or Cambridge, Stratford-upon-Avon or even Lincoln, but in the end, I suggested Southwell again, as it's only about an hour and a half away on the M1 and A46, and there were some nice shops.
We set off later than we intended, after opening cards and wishing each other a happy anniversary - we celebrate 29 years today! The A14 was very busy, as was the M1 but once we turned off onto the A46, the traffic became lighter. We made it to Southwell in good time and managed to park right outside a pub called The Admiral Rodney. As we needed to use the facilities, we had a drink and looked forward to walking around and looking in the shops. I am after some pretty bottles for the kitchen to keep detergents in so I was hoping there would be some antique or charity shops open.
Imagine our disappointment, then, when we left the pub and absolutely nothing was open, not even the little deli/cafe nearby where we had hoped to buy some treats to take home! There were a fair few people walking around looking in shop windows but everywhere was closed. The wine shop we had visited before was all shuttered up and we were very disappointed - we had come here to visit the shops and then have a meal!
We got back into the car and found a pub I'd been looking at on the internet, The Hearty Goodfellow. It was on a pretty street on the outskirts of the town, and we walked in full of trepidation, as we were fully expecting them to be full with no tables available.
Luckily, we were able to sit at a table by the window and order within half an hour. We all fancied fish and chips and the food was very good indeed. Light, peppery batter, delicious chunky fish and fat chips accompanied by mushy peas, which Sophie now loves!
We were going to have dessert but the service was slow, so we decided to call at an ice-cream parlour we'd seen on the road to Southwell. It was due to close at 4pm so we hared off and made it just in time! It looked like part of a dairy farm, and there were lots of people sitting outside enjoying their ice cream. We queued up and ordered three ices and ate them in the car. I had a scoop of banana which started to melt on the way back to the car, and I realised I was wearing the same top when we had had the frozen banana at Naples Pier four years ago... today I was soon covered in banana ice cream again!
The journey home was quick and uneventful and the M1 was very busy again, but then it is the holiday season! Back home we relaxed for an hour and then it was time to resume our Scrabble game of yesterday and I beat Sophie! She beat me when we played again, though, so she had her revenge!
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