After an exhausting day at Legoland the following day we were due to be heading home. Our hotel was so lovely and I felt like I hadn’t seen anything of Windsor though, so we decided to extend our stay by one more night. I’m glad we did, since, rather than rushing to pack cars and drive home we were able to spend a leisurely morning exploring the hotel grounds. There was a whole woodland trail that we hadn’t had the opportunity to take a look around, and of course, little Miss needed more time on the adventure playground.

By lunchtime, we were driving past the ‘great walk’ up to Windsor castle and heading into the town. This was a first visit to Windsor for all of us, and it was really chilled and relaxing. After a coffee break at Pret, we perused some shops and, of course, little Miss got to spend some of her pocket money in the toy department of a large store so she was super happy. While we were inside a shop and the chap was outside with Thelma, someone offered to buy her from him. What a strange request, thankfully he loves that little fur baby as much as the rest of us, so that was never going to happen!

We wandered in the general direction of the imposing castle, stopping off at a few touristy souvenir shops on the way. There’s a few things that strike you about the castle, obviously the area is super busy with tourists, but the castle itself is huge. I know we’ve all seen it on TV, but seeing it real life is very impressive. We didn’t go in, but instead made ourselves comfortable at a pub called The Horse and Groom across the way. The chap was happy because they sold his new favourite lager, Neck Oil. I was happy because they sold reasonably priced paninis and toasties, and they were dog friendly. So many places in Windsor are dog friendly, including some shops, which makes life a lot easier when you are on holiday with your pooch.

After a whole afternoon of perusing the town, we set off back to the hotel. After a spot of R&R and packing to head off the following day, we set off to the elegant bar area for some cocktails. It was such a relaxed environment, where we could all be at ease and enjoy some drinks on our last evening.

Wandering back through the hotel, we decided to take a few corridors we hadn’t been down before. I love exploring places, and we found the ornate and impressive chapel, and admired the menagerie of things hung on the walls everywhere. Given this hotel is part of a chain, and does feel very big, they’ve done well to at least try to keep some of the feel of the original building and its purpose. All in all it was a great last night of the holiday.

The next day, cars packed up, it was time to head home. We made a quick stop off in Bedford to visit my best friend from uni, who I hadn’t seen in person in about 8 years, before pressing North. It was quite nice to drive over the Humber Bridge. I’ve never done that before. Between 1981 and 1998 this was the longest bridge of its type in the world, and connects Lincolnshire to East Riding of Yorkshire, and given that I have lived just over an hour away from it for the last 9 years, I should have made the effort to go across it before now. It’s really impressive as you approach, and somewhat refreshing to drive across with the windows down.

After a stop off outside of Hull for a late dinner, we finally arrived home during the evening absolutely exhausted. What a great holiday we’d had though.

I love the memories we’ve made this summer, and something it’s definitely demonstrated to me is that the memories, the activities, the things that you do mean so much more than anything you can buy. It’s a bit of a revelation for materialistic old me, but I definitely need to prioritise travel and experiences more.