Suffolking.

Rather than dining over a Michelin star dinner and copies amounts of champagne, we decided to go away to the countryside for a nice, quiet and relaxing long weekend to celebrate our second anniversary.

We left London on the Friday evening after work, expecting to arrive at our cottage by 9pm at the latest. Due to the descending foggy weather and low temps (-5C), road visibility was poor and we were struggling to see further than 5m in front of our rental car after we left the M25! An oncoming car was a relief because we could actually see the edges of the road, and also the middle of the road! After stopping in at a petrol station just outside of Cambridge (as my navigator skills were painfully let down by the GPS on Nick’s new phone, and the lack of visibility) so Nick could replenish his energy with red bull and a packaged sandwich, we rang ahead to the cottage to let them know we were running a little late….

We eventually rolled up to Henstead cottages at 10pm! Luckily the owners were night owls. Though, we were literally given the keys and they disappeared for the weekend. They had started the fire for us though (phew).

We spent the weekend sleeping in, finessing the art of fire starting, eating well and roaming the surrounding Suffolk countryside in our little car. It was freezing cold (-5C) for almost all the weekend, which inclined us to be indoors where possible; excepting a beachside stroll in Southwold and a country walk through the Norfolk Broads to see a Roman Fort that has remained relatively untouched and survived the test of time.

Suffolk is a county of patchwork farmland. With very few major roads (or perhaps our keen interest to take tiny country lanes), hedge-lined and with plenty of grass or crop, the peace and quiet is intoxicating. The air is still, there are birds (something we hear very little of in London!) and the smell of trees in the air. It was such a refreshing and lovely break into a slower, peaceful side of English living.

Our cottage was super comfy: a massive queen size bed, a warm and comfy lounge area and a brand new kitchen. My favourite feature though was definitely the wood fire: all those camping trips as a oungster came in handy in achieving the perfect combination of newspaper, kindling and hard wood to warm us up! Each morning was a greeting of peace and quiet, not even a rooster to wake you. What a relaxing, regenerating and lovely weekend for us in celebrating of our deux ans.

We did read the cottage guestbook to snoop on what others had done during their time in Henstead Cottages. Everyone else saw a woodpecker.

But not us.