A month or so ago Nick and I booked a last minute stay in the Yorkshire Dales - he'd just come back from a work trip to Australia (it's alright for some eh!) and I'd been really busy at work (in England, boo) and we both felt a little like we'd become passing ships at home, and hadn't actually spent any quality time together for a while so I made the executive decision that we were going away for a relaxing night in the heart of one of our favourite places.
We've been for weekends away in the Dales before, but usually either in summer or very late spring where we've gone with more of an 'outdoors-y' focus. This time I knew we wouldn't be doing that - I was very skeptical about the weather and although we've been lucky in the past, I don't think we'd ever be so lucky to just happen to arrange a late trip in March with glorious weather. So we decided to go for a slightly more upmarket hotel that we normally would - just because if the weather was so bad we didn't even want to leave the room, it'd at least be a nice room to be confined to! We ended up staying at 5 Grassington House, in (wait for it....) Grassington. And I'm glad we did, because it was totally gross weather.
One of the best things about Grassington is that it's big enough to have quite a bit going on for a village in the Dales (although by the Dales standard, it's more of a town) and you don't need to go out of the vicinity of the square for anything. Sometimes with little villages, you get a nice pub or inn and nothing else so you're stuck with pub food (don't get me wrong I like pub food and it's great after a day's walking but sometimes you just want a proper restaurant) but with Grassington there's more options which in my opinion is brilliant! It is honestly a beautiful place - it's the epitome of English country, full of little cafes, cobbled streets, cottages, rivers, waterfalls, old fashioned post offices and actual, real life bunting. So. Friggin. Cute.
The hotel we stayed in was lovely, it's AA 5* and I was very impressed, especially for the price we paid - £100 for the night and breakfast the next day (obviously reflective of the time of year). We ate in the restaurant after having a couple of drinks beforehand in the local pubs, and it was a lovely evening. Expensive, but good. The quality was top notch and the service was on point. I didn't take any pictures of the hotel, but if you are interested, the one's on their website are pretty accurate in terms of what to expect.
This particular trip was exactly what I needed - a bit of relaxation, an excuse to forget the outside world and chill out with some red wine and good food.
Now I'm just excited to go back at Christmas - I've just found out they hold a Victorian Chrismas Fayre each Saturday in December which just sounds amazing!
Until next time :)
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