Well, what a weekend!

I’d booked tickets for me and the chap to go to Cafe Mambo at Castle Howard months back, and lived in hope that it wouldn’t be coronacancelled. It wasn’t, thankfully, and as this weekend crept ever closer we decided we probably needed to book a hotel closer to the event too. We left that a tad late, and so the only places left were high end, or really, really low end. We opted to go for the luxury option, and booked a room at the 4 star Talbot Hotel.

Now, this is one of those hotels that every time I’m in Malton, I think to myself, I would love to stay in that hotel, so I was kind of happy that we’d booked our king size room there. It got better though because, when we checked in, it wasn’t just any king size room we had, it was the luxury suite.

Seriously, I was standing there in neon pink tights, and a frilly black mini dress, I’m pretty sure we weren’t the usual clientele of the luxury suite at The Talbot Hotel. Nonetheless, the lady who checked us in was absolutely lovely, taking one look at my outfit and asking ‘are you looking forward to cafe Mambo tonight then?’ Erm, not sure what gave it away.

The room itself was amazing. So much space, so much attention to detail, so much comfort and absolutely incredible views. Part of me just wanted to stay in the room and order room service. The other part of me (the bit that won) was wearing pink neon tights and putting jewels on her face ready to go party in a field to the dance tunes of my 20s.

Thankfully, the weather was kind to us and whilst it wasn’t bright sunshine, it was warm enough and dry, which is the best you can hope for in this country. When we arrived, Judge Jules was already on the stage. We got some food and then set about some dancing.

As dusk fell, the DJs kept delivering, with Carl Cox, and then Roger Sanchez, Todd Terry, all the big names of when I actually used to go clubbing.

Darkness fell, and the laser light displays kicked in, and the fire eaters and dancers took to the stage and the atmosphere was incredible. I don’t know, maybe it was thousands of people reliving their youth too, or maybe everyone was just so happy to be out, where there were people, dancing that the vibe was electric.

I know that Castle Howard often do concerts, this is the first one I’ve ever been to and actually, this sort of dance music event against the backdrop of a stately home as grand as Castle Howard felt a bit surreal, but absolutely fantastic and if there’s something like that on there again in the future, I would definitely want to go.

We returned to our suite absolutely exhausted and with aching knees from bouncing around to the tunes. Funny, I felt like I’d gone back to my 20s while I was bouncing around to the tunes, but my knees definitely reminded me I wasn’t as I crawled into our super comfortable 4 poster bed.

Next morning, after a leisurely start we headed off to the dining room for our breakfast, where once again we were greeted by the friendliest, loveliest staff. Unused to such wild nights out, I was a bit off my food that morning, so just ordered the continental platter, which was pleasant. I had been looking forward to my favourite breakfast, eggs royale, but I just didn’t fancy eggs. The chap, however, ordered a wholesome and hearty full English breakfast which he thoroughly enjoyed.

As we left the hotel in the pouring rain, we were both glad that the weather had smiled on us the night before, and afforded us a really fantastic night out. The hotel itself made such an impression on me that when I returned home, I was trying to figure out ways to make my bedroom more like the suite at the Talbot Hotel. It was a fabulous weekend that we both really enjoyed.