When January seems to take an age to pass sometimes a little boost is needed to push it along. With that in mind other half and I took ourselves off for a weekend in Winchester – a small university city just an hour south west of London.

Bridge over the River Itchen, Winchester

Culturally rich, it has the pleasant mixture of quaint architecture of a medieval city.

We arrived early afternoon and decided to find our hotel situated a little way out of the city before exploring further.

Guildhall, Winchester

Think luxury hotel in England in winter and what would you want?  Log fires, huge beds with the softest linen, courteous staff, excellent food and silence from the hustle and bustle of urban life? Well, we got all of those from our Secret Escape at the Lainston House Hotel.

Lainston House Hotel and the star-lit sky

Unfortunately we also got continual rain. Well, it is England and we are having the wettest winter on record.

View from Reception

Not to be discouraged the staff were prepared. With our room across the courtyard a ready supply of umbrellas stood waiting to be used at strategic doorways. Dashing across to Reception, the Wellington boots lined up waiting to be borrowed looked so cute I almost ( I said, almost) wished I had young children with me just so we could pretend to be Cinderella and find a pair that fitted.

Wellies in Reception waiting for Cinderella to pick the ones that fit.

Our room looked out onto the gardens. It was beautifully furnished, if a little wall-paper-pattern-busy for my taste, with a quirky, stuffed toy owl sitting on the bed for you to put outside your room if you didn’t want to be disturbed. The thing I love about hotel rooms is the variety of gadgets to try. There was the statutory huge TV with numerous channels; the tea/coffee facilities tucked away in a big box (including more varieties of herbal tea than I knew existed) but it was the bathroom with the Jacuzzi bath that caused excitement. Of course it had to be tried out, and I was reliably informed from our friends in the room next door that it sounded as though I was starting up a motor boat each time I pressed the switch for the powerful jets to pummel me. Not that I cared, I’d discovered the TV in the wall at the end of the bath and was concentrating on figuring that one out while trying not to get the remote covered in suds from all the complimentary bath oil I had generously poured in.

Check out the Jacuzzi bath and TV in the wall.

Later when we returned to Winchester it was to discover the regular market was on, nestled in between the many independent shops. Apparently Christmas is the ideal time to visit as a large market spreads out under the gaze of the magnificent cathedral like a skirt; colourful and twinkling. There was just enough to wander round and discover before a tea shop beckoned. Probably a good thing because if the leather stall had had the handbag I liked in chocolate brown, the weekend would have ended up costing us much more than we planned.

Winchester Cathedral

We’d booked a table in the Grade II listed 18th-century inn The Old Vine for later that evening. An appealing hotel, bar and restaurant it had just the right mix to feel special but not overpoweringly posh. As the OH doesn’t like liver we never eat it at home, so it is the first thing I gravitate towards when perusing a menu. The chef did not disappoint this time and served it with exquisite dauphinoise potatoes. Unfortunately we were having a dry January but the excellent real ales on offer encouraged OH to succumb to temptation – I of course, sat sipping my lime and soda, resisting all the red wines, a small virtuous smile on my face. I’m not sure he noticed!

The Old Vine

The night sky on our return to the hotel was so clear and bright my limited knowledge of the stars made me look up a new app so I could make sense of the space above me. When an owl on the prowl broke the silence, I just knew my wish list was complete.

Log fire waiting to welcome you to the hotel.

I’m a great fan of city breaks. Even in a short time they can transport you out of your world so that you feel you have escaped. It was still wet and windy. But somehow being wintry in another city made it all more bearable for a while. After a large calorie laden breakfast (it seemed a waste not to try all the unusual granolas, fruit, yoghurts, eggs and pastries on offer when they had made such an effort with their display) we packed up and left.

All good things have to come to an end but it’s now February. The rain may still be with us but I’ve spied a few daffodils peeking out of their beds; the birds are chirping earlier and the evenings are getting slightly lighter – all signs that Spring is giving Winter that push it needs to hurry along.

Teresa x