25th Anniversary - What a Week!!!

 

I've just had the most amazing week.

My husband and I were celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary. No mean feat. About 5 years ago I remember us musing about how all of our friends had managed to make their marriages work. 5 years later and we are one of the only couples still together.

I very much hope that we manage to see our next big landmark anniversary, but only time will tell.....

On a brigher note, let's talk about all the amazing things we did this week. We still intend to do a river boat down the Nile. You will recall from earlier posts this was supposed to be our honeymoon, then 9/11 happened and then life took over. We then intended to do it for our 25th Anniversary, but what with school fees and all the other big events this year we just couldn't summon the energy to organise (including organising funds). We're now talking about doing it as a joint 25th anniversary/30 years together celebration next year. I wonder if it will happen.

So what did we do..... Despite the fact we didn't go to Egypt we did have plans, admittedly very last minute plans, but at least we got their in the end.

Friday night after work some rapid packing happened. Having just got back from holiday I really didn't have the energy to do more packing. Fortunately I had anticipated this and so for things like 'what we sit on on the beach' and medicines for holiday etc. I simply hadn't unpacked them after our summer holiday. So it was just clothes I needed to pack. 

You are probably looking at the photo of this week's post and thinking NOT APPLEDORE AGAIN!!! Well I'm not going to lie it was involved. It's a long drive from us so a bit of a commitment for a few days. But for us no celebration would be perfect without Appledore.

But on Saturday morning we got in the car and drove to Appledore, Devon. It took about 5 hours. We'd booked a very basic cottage in Irsha Street. It was really only going to be somewhere to rest our heads. 

We weren't sure if son would join us but in the end he did which made the weekend even more special. So on Sunday and Monday we went to the beach in Westward Ho! and the boys did some surfing. I'm not going to pretend it was great surfing, but there were enough waves for them to have a reasonable time. This was more successful than during our summer holiday (and what inspired the whole anniversary weekend). 

Then on Monday evening (the big day of the anniversary), we got into our gladrags and headed off in a taxi to Clovelly.

I don't know if you know of Clovelly. It's on the boarder of North Devon and Cornwall (Devon side I think). It's a tiny village with cobbled streets that is literally built down the face of a cliff. It's a private estate and so during the day many tourists pay to wander through the village. People really do live there and it must be a massive wind up. But I guess unless you were born and bred there, you live there knowing what to expect. However, at 18:00 the gates of the visitor centre shut and then only tourists left are those that are staying in one of the two pubs in the village, both of which have a few rooms.

We'd booked a supper at one of these pubs. Our taxi took us around the back of Clovelly so we didn't walk down the hill. It was really lovely being in the harbour without hundreds of people walking around. It was just a few locals doing some fishing and probably none to pleased that some tourists had just turned up. But we kept ourselves to ourselves.

We then went to the Red Lion (just to the right of the picture) for supper. We hadn't known what to expect and didn't have high hopes. The event was more about being in Clovelly when it was quiet and empty. However, we were pleasantly surprised. The restaurant was lovely and the food was amazing. I'd say it was close to being as good as Gingerman. Shame it's so far away as it could have been our replacement now Gingerman has shut (sad times).

When we turned up at the restaurant it wasn't packed. I'd contacted them in advance when I booked the table explaining it was our anniversary and asked if it was at all possible we could have a table with a view. We turned up at our allotted time and there was the perfect table, the last one free by a window. Before us were some people waiting to be seated. The waitress gave them the last remaining window table. I was very sad and had one of those moments where instinct takes over (not in a good way). I said to the waitress 'oh we specifically asked for a table by the window, it's our annivrsary'. I wish I wasn't that person, but it turns out I am!!!!

Anyway it was too late, so we sat down at another table, we'd only been there a few minutes when the waitress came to us telling us that a window seat had become free and she'd rapidly prepped it for us so we could move to it. How amazing. All this was done with good grace as well so I didn't feel too much of a prat.

My parents had given us a bottle of champagne for the meal as our anniversary present. This made the whole thing even more special. I'm not sure whether we'd have gone for the champagne otherwise.

Meal over we headed up the very steep road that runs through Clovelly. So steep that at the top they have a load of sleds so the locals and other deliverers can use sleds to get packages down the road (I kid you not about how steep it is). Full of food and champagne I didn't manage to make it up the hill in one go this time. We had to have at least 4 stops.

Once at the top we waited for our cab home and got back to Appledore.

The next day we were up early and had the long journey back home. As we'd packed in surfing and the visit to Clovelly it actually felt like we'd spent a full week away. Amazing.

Then on Thursday I was back at work again, but not too depressed because we had the third and final part of our anniversary. I'll keep it brief because I know I've wanged on about this in other posts. About 22 years ago for valentines I had the idea to have a meal in the tunnel of the Sealife Centre Brighton. I don't know if you've been there, but it's the oldest sealife centre in the world. It's under ground and it's a fantastic example of victorian gothic architecture. Quite something.

Aaanyway, the meail didn't work out but they agreed they'd stay open after closing and we could wander around with Champagne. I got in touch with them telling them about this and the fact it was our 25th Anniversary. Could we do it again.... they said yes!!!

And so the third and final part of our anniversary celebration was having the sealife centre to ourselves for 2 hours. This time accompanied by son. I wasn't sure that we'd use the full 2 hours, but we did. It was really quite magical.  It's changed a lot over the years. I used to work opposite and I'd go there to de-stress most lunchtimes. There used to be an octopus that really hated me. It would be there quite happily with a crowd of people around it. I'd turn up and it would go mental and try to get to me to kill me. I exagerate not. Lots of people didn't believe me, so I'd take them there so they could watch the wonder if my biggest hater trying to finish me off.

They also used to have piranna which I was fascinated by. The fact they didn't have these didn't make it worse. They've got lots of other new stuff to replace it. But those two things were two of my favourite parts of sealife so I did miss them.

However, the whole event was utterly magical and the lady that was there to help us out was one of the most upbeat individuals I've come across in my life. One of those people who is really chirpy and friendly but somehow manages to balance it perfectly with not being really irritating. Not that we saw much of her, but she made us smile at the start of our visit and at the end.

So that's it. Our 25th Wedding anniversary over. Done in style. I know that for many that wouldn't have been the perfect layout of an anniversary, but for us it had everything we loved, with some happy memories relived.

PERFECT.