This time last week we were making sure our bags were packed for what was to be, for me anyway, a mystery weekend away for my 40th.
I may do a wider post on the weekend soon because, quite frankly, "The Taming of the Shrewsbury" is too good a blog title to not use, but for now I'll just focus on where we stayed. Located on the hills above Shrewsbury sits the Hencote Estate and Vineyard, an amazing family-run estate overlooking the Shropshire countryside.
There are a few accommodation options but we stayed in the glamping lodges which was a first for me but perfectly matched home comforts with the great outdoors.
The lodge is fully equipped with hot and cold running water and electric appliances, as well as being fitted with a wood-burner, complete with lighters, kindling and logs to burn. Nothing like making fire to ignite those primal tendencies! Even though fire lighters and lighter were supplied, but we'll ignore those!
Attached to the lodge was our own private wood-fired hot-tub, which the staff had very kindly lit before our arrival so we didn’t have to wait long before we could get in once we’d arrived. Of course, the only downside of a wood-fired hot-tub is you can't just turn it on next time but get it fired up about two hours beforehand, but then again that's part of the fun!
The first evening we were booked into The Balcony restaurant – attached to the main restaurant but as we arrived before 17th May we couldn’t yet eat inside. The food was delicious, the wine was excellent and the views over the vineyard and Shrewsbury beyond were incredible - even though the rain could only be considered as torrential. Even with the rain hammering down on to the canopies above, the atmosphere was a wonderful mix of class and tranquility, but without any sense of pretentiousness which has come with other vineyards I've visited.
On our second day we went on the wine tour, which wasn't much of a tour but rather a talk with Mark, the General Manager of the estate, who was incredibly knowledgeable, as you'd expect, but more importantly very patient when I pushed the boundaries of his policy that "there are no stupid questions"! This was a fascinating insight to the background of the vineyard and really helped us connect with what the family were achieving. We then moved into the brewing room for a tasting. where we tried five of the wines the estate produce, paired with some local cheeses that really brought out the flavours and complemented each other wonderfully.
This was a wonderful weekend in a beautiful setting, the only improvement that could have been made was perhaps less inclement weather but hey, we can't have everything!
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