Birthday weekend away

[Gemini]

Following quite close on the heels of our holiday we have a weekend away coming up!

One of our close friends G, will be 60 towards the end of this month.
She has very kindly invited a group of friends to a house in Richmond for a long weekend, from September 29th to October 2nd. There will be five couples.

We are looking forward to it. It is eight years ago, for OH's and my 60th that we all went away together like this. There were eight of us then. One couple have separated in that time and are now happily with new partners.

We are all taking different foods to contribute for the meals we eat in, and one couple have offered to cook a full English one morning and another an Indian meal one night. Two dogs are coming so I'm not sure we will get out for an evening meal to celebrate the birthday but I hope so!
I am hoping one of the dog owner couples will stay home as designated dog carer

The dogs are from different households and haven't met as far as I know, so I hope that goes well.

To be brutally honest and not to offend dog owners who of course love their dogs, I would be happier if there were no dogs going.
The birthday girl doesn't a have dog (although her parents do and she is very fond of her) It is very kind of her to find somewhere big enough for us all that also accommodates the dogs I think. She is a very kind person.

[Nanto2girls]

I bet you will have a great weekend.
Are you sure its not September 29th.

[Gemini]

LOL Nan2, yes!!!

That would be a very long weekend wouldn't it?!
I'll edit

[Plantaholic]

Sounds great Gemini.

[Gemini]

We all had a lovely weekend. A very nice 5 bedroomed house in the centre, with a bathroom for every bedroom.
Only one of the dogs came in the end, and he was very good, apart from slipper stealing!

Unfortunately as I have said elsewhere I ended up having a tooth out due to an abscess, on the afternoon we were to go away for the weekend. We still went but a bit later than planned. Fish and chips that night but I just had a few chips and tiny bit of fish, no batter, from others plates. I did enjoy 2 helpings of trifle however, to make up for having almost no dinner!

On Friday we went into Richmond and did the guided tour of the Georgian Theatre Royal, which was very interesting. It was raining when we came out, and we found a nice cafe for lunch. We all split up and looked round the shops. OH and I went back, followed by everyone else over the next half hour or so. Each group arrived back increasingly wet! We played board games with a couple of our friends.
The remaining couple and their dog arrived late afternoon and we had birthday cake and fizz. One of our friends cooked a curry for us all that night. It was lovely and as mine had no chili, I could enjoy it without fear

The following morning we had a delicious breakfast cooked for us. I discovered it's impossible to chew bacon when you have an extraction site you are avoiding on one side, and 2 teeth missing (Since 2021) on the other. I managed the rest though.
We all went out again, some to the castle and all of us to the river we all ran into each other several times

All home for cuppas and TV or board games until it was time to go out for the evening meal. We had booked at the local pub as it allows dogs. When we arrived the bar area was very noisy. We couldn't be moved into the restaurant due to the dog. Luckily the noise was a group of loud young men who left after a while to move on elsewhere, so at last we could hear each other!
The following morning was time to leave. We were given a late check out time of 12, so were able to enjoy breakfast and some more time together before we all went our separate ways.

OH and I decided to stop for lunch at local farm shop cafe on the way home and ran into 2 friends we hadn't seen for a long time. We all sat together and had good catch up.

So a very social weekend, and we all said how nice it was to be able to do this after all the restrictions of recent years.

[Daisy]

Gem, it sounds a really lovely week-end, apart from your poor sore mouth, and perhaps the rain.

I thinks with a group of that size it's best to plan your activities together and time to do your own thing, just like you did.

Noisy groups in pubs etc are difficult, aren't they. It's hard for the staff to tell them to quieten down, but it can spoil everyone else's evening. Thank goodness your young men didn't stay long.

I wonder when your next trip away will be?