To celebrate our four year anniversary, we decided to book a little something to look forward to (I always love having plans in the diary to keep me feeling positive, anyone else? Also, If I didn’t book it, I swear we would never do anything!) We wanted to go somewhere not too far away from home, probably about an hour or so at most.
After some internet research, we decided on the Kingfisher Cottage at Olicana Park, Ilkey. It was really reasonably priced for Monday-Wednesday (staying two nights) and the cottage looked beautiful!
It definitely didn’t disappoint and as soon as we got there we felt immediately at home! IT WAS SO COSY, which of course I immediately loved. A super big bed so you don’t end up fighting over the duvet, free wifi and catch up tv, and of course, the hot tub! I spent an hour in there finishing my book and walked back in feeling the most relaxed I have in ages. Plus you also get free hotel robes and slippers to wear for your stay and I love it when that happens. The bathtub was also massive, probably the biggest bath I’ve ever been in!
The owners also left some lovely little touches such as cake, processo and bread and milk for us to enjoy. Plus also the cutest view outside of the cottage were the little sheep! We really did feel tucked away at the countryside. We went into the town of Ilkey which is only a 7 minute drive away and explored the town. I found some great reads in the local charity shops, and we enjoyed dinner at a nearby Italian, and a few drinks in the local pubs which all seemed lovely too. I haven’t been to Ilkey before and a lot of people described it to me as a smaller Harrogate, which I can definitely agree with.
We spent the next day driving (another 7 minute drive) to Bolton Abbey, and had a nice walk around there for a few hours. Thankfully it wasn’t raining by then and we could walk in the sunshine, before stopping at a local tea room for some tea and cake, much needed! We ended the last evening by ordering a takeaway and watching Love Is Blind on Netflix- oh my gosh I’m so obsessed with that show right now I can’t even tell you. You must watch it! It’s so good and probably the only show ever I could binge-watch. (I’m not a binge watcher, I just have a really short attention span I think!)
I know travel style posts aren’t the norm on this blog, but hopefully the more places we visit that I haven’t been to, I can feature them on here! They might be helpful if some of you live locally to me, and I want them to look back on in the future too. We haven’t got anything else booked in the diary but in April it is both of our birthdays and I’d love to have an overnight stay somewhere, so we’ll see!
Have you ever been on a countryside break? Did you enjoy it or are you more of a city person?