Birthday treat - on a small scale
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 10 June 2008 17:11:39
My youngest son is a man of taste.
This weekend we celebrated his birthday (only a couple of weeks late) in style. Given the choice of a birthday party or a family treat, he asked very politely whether it would be possible for him and a friend to spend a night in a posh hotel. Hmmm... this, of course, meant that I had to spend a night in a posh hotel too. What hardship. The downside, of course, was that I had to share my room with two small boys. In fact, I had to share it with two small boys AND a smelly teenager! But luxury it was... and there was an extra treat.
A bit of internet searching and I came up with a rather marvellous hotel - the Crowne Plaza in Heathrow. I had decided to look for a mainland hotel as it added the excitement of going abroad and at no extra cost as I was taking Tiddles back to school anyway. Google it and have a look at the photo tour. We thought we'd died and gone to heaven! The food was delicious and in plentiful supply, and the boys were wowed at the attentive and friendly service. The bedroom was a little palace with everything we could possibly desire (well, not quite everything, after all I was sharing it with three kids and with only two kingsize beds there wasn't really room for anyone else ;o) ). And the swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room... well, I am surprised we didn't turn into prunes. Utter bliss. I introduced both my boys to the delight of a sauna and a steam room - needless to say, they both loved it, even though I only let them stay in a minute or two. They even loved the freezing cold plunge bath afterwards, though I must admit that I only managed to plunge to waist deep - there are parts of my body that I am extremely reluctant voluntarily to subject to low temperatures!
So why did I choose Heathrow, of all places, when Tiddles' school is so far in the other direction? Well, that's where the extra treat comes in. Legoland! Can you believe I got a deal which gave us two days at Legoland and a night in a 5* hotel with breakfast for only £50 a head? It was an offer that was far far too good to refuse, even if it did mean a 7 hour drive to take Tiddles to school. And despite the fact that I booked it for the boys and I went with the expectation of enduring the weekend for their sakes, I had the most wonderfully fantastically fun weekend.
My Flickr account has loads of photos, but here's a taster:
