I would like to start by saying that we woke refreshed after a good night’s sleep in our quaint bedroom in the church but that would be lying. The bed was small and unnecessarily lumpy and quite uncomfortable. At home we have a king size bed that is firm and well sprung. This one seemed a very small double and any movement caused ripples across the rest of the bed. Easy going Karen never mentioned the problem at all.
By 8.30am I was in the kitchen making my breakfast along with the other early birds. Slowly everyone else joined us and there was a merry buzz as everyone sorted themselves out. Vijai made some traditional Indian Masala Chai tea for those that wanted to try it. It all seemed a bit complicated to me and as it contained cinnamon (which I consider to be evil) then I politely stuck with my Lidl decaffeinated black tea bags.
Today the ‘gentlemen’ were off to play Golf at Belton Woods. The round was booked for 11.20am and so in 2 cars we set off about an hour earlier. Karen had found a walk along a disused railway line for the ladies to explore.
I went in the car with Vijai. Although the distance wasn’t great, it was all along small Lincolnshire roads so it took much longer than it should.
Belton Woods turned out to be a large golfing complex with 2 courses and was very busy with people everywhere. We were booked onto the Lakes course. As we intended to play all 18 holes, we had booked 2 buggies to take our aging bodies around.
The course starter was very friendly and gave us some tips for a couple of the holes, and with that we were off. None of us embarrassed ourselves with our opening tee shots which was a relief as there were lots of people hanging around watching.
Progress was quite slow as there were lots of players who were quite slow ahead of us. The course was very well maintained. It was interesting playing somewhere quite different. We all played to our usual standard which means that usually one of us played not too bad on each hole. The grass was very long in places meaning that we did lose far more balls than we should have.
The evilest (think cinnamon) hole was the 10th which had far too much water all around the green for players of our level. I sent 2 balls to a watery grave before giving up and hitting it around the water.
However, it was a lovely day out with some great company and we all really enjoyed it. The round took over 4 ½ hours and so we quickly took back the buggies to get back to the ladies who had informed us that they had already opened their first bottle of fizz.
Sadly, when we returned, we learnt that Jo had been unwell since early afternoon, had been sick a couple of times and thus retired to her room. We all felt very sorry for her as we knew she had been so looking forward to some things still on the schedule for the next couple of days and hoped she would feel better after a good night’s sleep.
Prior to this though, the Ladies had also had a lovely day. They had enjoyed a beautiful walk in the countryside and then explored the very pretty Woodhall Spa High Street which was full of independent shops.
We gathered for some ‘prinks’ in the lounge area before we made the short walk to the restaurant I had booked ‘The Teahouse in the Woods’. Despite some slight initial confusion over the booking due to the fact I apparently should have paid a deposit we were then quickly seated.
The restaurant was as lovely as the reviews had stated. The food was excellent and the service even better. The staff were all so helpful and friendly, which seemed to be a common theme with everyone we had encountered so far in Lincolnshire. The food was all properly homemade. I had the Steak & Stilton pie which was as good as I have ever had.
By 9pm we were back in the church and sat around in the lounge area. I had brought with me a Murder Mystery Game that we thought would be fun to play. Sadly, though despite some intelligent people playing, the combination of the alcohol consumed, lateness of the day and what was some very detailed complicated clues we failed miserably to solve the crime. None us even really understood what we were trying to do or how the murderer was determined even after reading the answer. We decided none of us would made creditable detectives. It didn’t help that the ‘accomplice’ was called Frank Gardner which caused some confusion having the same name as the current BBC Defence correspondent.
So, after this we all decided to call it a night. I again had the fun task of trying to work out how to turn out all the church lights which was not as easy as it should be as there did not seem any logic to which switch operated which lights. None of them seem to operate the Disco Ball that hung from the ceiling either.
The longer we stayed here in the church the more we felt it had been designed more with style in mind rather than practicalities of actually staying or living here. It must have looked great on the architect/designer plans but it didn’t really work in reality. Style over substance.
However, Lincolnshire has turned out to be a revelation. I have also advocated that I have never seen the point of the county. In fact, I may have suggested we should just let the Wash come in and reclaim the land. Now though I perhaps think we should create a barrier around Woodhall Spa as it would be a shame to lose it to the sea. I wonder if I will add Lincoln to be saved after visiting tomorrow?
