Postcards From Across the Pond

After all this time in Britain, I finally stayed overnight in a castle. You’d have thought I could have managed this sooner as you can’t swing a cat without hitting a castle over here. There are eleven within a 20-mile radius of my flat but, alas, they don’t all allow you to sleep over. Not legally, at least.

The castle we stayed in—Amberley Castle—is a mere half-hour drive away, and our visit was precipitated by our 25^th wedding anniversary, which is not this year. This year is only our 24^th but I had been thinking of a castle-stay for our 25^th while my wife was thinking of a city break in York. In comparing notes, York seemed a better 25^th occasion, so the castle-stay was relegated to the lesser- portentous 24^th even though it probably cost more than the four-day city break will.

This all seemed for the best until we realized that our 25^th Anniversary falls, not near, not within the same weekend, but bang on Easter Sunday, making a city break a bit of an issue. Even moving our celebration a few days either side would still coincide with Easter Break, a traditionally frantic fortnight, holiday-wise.

But we have a year to sort that out, and the castle was lovely, despite the £38.15 per hour price tag, which jumps up to £43.62 per hour when you add in the wine, service charge and an £8.00 bottle of water we enjoyed with dinner. On top of that, we inadvertently booked our stay on the very night we switched to British Summer Time, meaning we lost an hour by turning the clocks ahead, so make that £45.90 per hour.

We told the young woman at reception that we had been there before. We had dinner there shortly after I arrived, so long ago that, after dinner, we retired to a sitting room for drinks and a cigar (I had the cigar, my wife just had a drink.) The young woman mused, “Smoking? Inside? I think we can offer you a seat on the patio.” She was likely not even born at that time, or at least she was still getting about on all fours.

Money aside (my bride is worth every penny) it was an amazing experience. The room was very Olde Worlde and the grounds were lovely. The dinner was also something special: a five-course meal of artfully presented sustenance served by attentive, and attractively attired, waitstaff.

The bedroom was large enough to fit both our bedrooms in, with plenty of room left over for a full-sized bath, and came with a king-sized, four-poster bed and canopy which, when I sat on it (the bed, not the canopy) left my feet dangling six inches from the carpet. The mattress was comfy enough but, truth be told, I’ve slept better in a Premier Inn.

The fact of this being our 24^th Anniversary should prepare you for a year of 25^th Anniversary milestones, such as this being 25 years (and six weeks) since I escaped from She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Along the way there will be 25 years since we met, kissed, got engaged, yadda, yadda, yadda, ad nauseum. There may also be another surprise but that’s still in the works and I’m not sure if I can pull it off so the less said at this time the better.

I will note that 25 years ago I was a newly minted bachelor and planning to stay that way, and if anyone had told me that, in a year’s time I would not only be happily married, but living in another country, I would have told them they were dreaming. And yet, here I am, 25 years later, living the dream and finally (belatedly, in my view) enjoying an overnight stay in an authentic, 12^th century castle.

Life can certainly throw some curve balls at you, and my advice is to catch them if you can and run with them. They might not always bring you toward your dreams, but unless you try, you will never capture the castle.