On my birthday this year Victoria (retrosnowflake go check her out!) decided to treat me to a little night away from Belfast without me having the faintest idea. Where did we go? Well, she took me to just outside Hillsborough to a lovely little cottage called Bay Tree Boutique B & B. Here is how it all went down! Shall we?
So it is the day of my birthday and I am pretty pumped. Why? Well, I knew Victoria had been plotting something for a little while, but I wasn’t sure what. All I knew was that I was getting the cake as really, that is the main thing to want on your birthday. Just a big ole cake to destroy!
I sit patiently in my house as she comes around with a couple of things… My interest is piqued! What has she done? I see her grinning away and after I get some awesome presents she leaves a letter for last. I expect just a little letter about how awesome I am (yeah my head sometimes struggles to get through doorways, but I get through it) But instead, I get a lovely little note saying that I need to pack some items as I am going away for the night. Exciting! I have never been stolen away for a night like this, so I am as pumped as can be!
We drive around for a bit until we get to Hillsborough and go for a nice walk around and I am still none the wiser as to where we are going. I haven’t been around that area a whole lot and for it being just a little bit outside of Belfast, that is a bit silly! We go down some country roads and eventually we pull up at two small houses and because of how quaint they were I thought it was a little café or something.
But no, this is where we are staying and it is a pretty cool little place! Victoria knows I like the older type of things so a little greystone cottage is right up my alley! We get our bags and we are welcomed by the owner Susan who was charming as can be. She provides us with a tour of the place and I immediately fell in love with the place. It was exactly how I would like my house to look. EVERYTHING was great. From the hallway to the kitchen to the woodblock shed for the fire. Everything was just right and I am almost sure I let Victoria know this about a billion times.
Have a look at some of the hundreds of pictures we took…
Great right?!
We get settled in and get comfy on the sofa as Susan brought around some freshly made scones for me and some things for Victoria as she was fully prepared for Victoria’s intolerances. So if you have some allergies or intolerances, let them know ahead of time and you will be golden!
We get dressed and head off to dinner in Hillsborough and I have my customary burger and chips as I am a boring sod, but sometimes you just have to do it as it looked so good! Victoria had what she called the best vegan Thai Curry of her life while in this cosy pub. We make it home and I honestly forgot that we had asked for the fire to be on for when we came back. So we cosy up on the sofa and read and just relax. Victoria remarks that I haven’t had the most exciting of birthdays, but I didn’t want anything exciting. I mean I am a person that would have literally been chuffed with just a cake. But, to just relax and forget about things with the person I am in love with? Yeah, I would take that any day.
Later on, we help the other guest get in through the front door (there are two rooms in the building, but they are across a hall from each other and I kinda liked that) and we return back to our little comfy world.
After I work out how to safely put out the fire, we head to bed and get comfier because the bed we had was awesome. Literally, everything from the day went how I wanted. I even had a nice lunch with Victoria at Tony and Jen’s! So you know the day was going to go well!
The next morning we head down for breakfast and go across the courtyard to meet Susan’s husband and enjoy our dinner. I notice just how much attention Susan provides to her guests and as I have only stayed at B & B’s in foreign countries I see the differences. The breakfast was amazing and it was fairly obvious as to why the reviews on Booking.com mentioned a fantastic breakfast.
I slightly regretted not picking more to eat as it was just that nice, but alas that can be for next time. I say next time because before bed I was already on booking.com to book us in for a little weekend in June, I wanted to stay more than just one night next time. I wanted us to have a well-rewarded mini-breakaway, where we can come and go and explore etc. I, in fact, told Susan this when we were having breakfast and she was so happy with how much we loved the place.
Victoria and I even thought about trying to stay there as a tradition for a certain occasion… We just have to work out the reason! All in all, I loved my birthday and I can’t believe Victoria found this little place to book us in. I can’t wait to go back!
If you are interested in Bay Tree Boutique B&B then here are a few links to browse more about them!
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Scott H Gilliland 