By: Blonde Two

If you remember a wee while ago Blonde One and I treated ourselves to a night at Dartmoor’s most excellent Ilsington Country House Hotel. The plan was that we would spend Friday night and all day Saturday doing some writing for our new book (which we promise will be released just as soon as we get round to writing it!)

Needless to say we had a lovely time. You couldn’t fail to enjoy yourself at the Ilsington Hotel, it has that perfect combination of country house and sophisticated hostelry that makes a girl feel relaxed and pampered all at once. The food is fabulous (we had particular fun with a cheese fondue), the rooms are homely and comfortable (we fell in love with Pinchford) and the staff are just lovely (by the end of just one day we felt like part of the family.

The problem with all of this loveliness was that it provided distractions. The Ilsington is well equipped with books, games, lovely views and even chickens, not to mention the spa and as you can imagine, we Blondes made sure that we made the most of all of these.

We visited what must surely be the happiest chickens in the whole of Devon (they certainly lay tasty eggs).

We admired the view of Haytor (from a bench outside and from our bedroom, for quite a long time).

We took a turn around the grounds and enjoyed the spring flowers.

We ate lunch on the very sunny terrace.

We had a Solitaire competition.

We found the secret drawers in the bureau.

Then we had a Scrabble competition.

Of course the important question is… did we do any writing… well Blonde One managed a bit and we are two chapters up… only a few more to go! Thanks Ilsington Country House Hotel, we will be back very soon!