Hi Friends! For our 15th wedding anniversary we decided on visiting the ‘Breadsall Priory Marriott Hotel & Country Club‘ for 3 nights in Derby, UK, and wow was it a special time. When i was 12 (35 years ago 😲) i used to do my morning paper round in Breadsall village, but i’d never visited this place even though i lived in Derby for 30 years! Oh and it has an indoor swimming pool for Sarah…She absolutely loves swimming, so her goes…😀
The Bear Cafe…😋
When we arrived in Derby after a 3 hour journey on a train, a tube train and then another train…We walked straight to the BEAR cafe as they do the best croissants and strong coffee. When i say ‘Best’ i don’t mean it’s at the top of the ‘Blind Sightseers Gastronomic Leaderboard’ that is still the phenomenal croissants we had in Amalfi, Italy…I mean the best in Derby that we’ve had so far, lol! 🤣 I was just so pleased to put down my massive backpack (the one use for rucking) and i think i’d filled every pocket and pouch! 😨
Welcom to Breadsall Priory…😲
Info taken from Marriott’s website: “Experience a majestic sense of arrival as you drive down the mile-long approach surrounded by rolling Derbyshire countryside. Steeped in rich history, Breadsall Priory Marriott Hotel and Country Club dates back to 1266 and is the oldest Marriott in the world. Bordered by the Peak District National Park and its natural beauty, we are also conveniently close to many local attractions, including Chatsworth House and Kedleston Hall. Sleep well in our sophisticated rooms, work out in the gym, spend time relaxing at the spa or taking a dip in our heated indoor pool. Perfect your swing on one of our two golf courses, including the Championship Priory Course which offers challenging and varied play. We have two fantastic restaurants on site, Cast Iron Grill offers fresh, locally sourced best of British dishes including Afternoon Tea whilst the Tempo Bar is the perfect setting for a coffee.”
Yay we’ve made it…🙌
Exiting the taxi (and making lots of wow noises) we made it to the front desk. The kind lady then walked us to our room…How easy does that sound? I think it was the most convoluted walk i’ve ever done, a maze would’ve been easier, lol. The lady (and Sarah) were fantastic at telling me about the stairs up, then down, then up and then down you get the point, it felt like we’d walked around the hotel 10 times until we finally arrived at the room…Good for the step count though! 🤣
Room 170…😲
The room was fantastic and overlooked the 18th hole (not sure which one of the 2 golf courses it was) and we quickly made ourselves at home and unpacked (can’t believe i didn’t take any photos of the actual room). The room phone started ringing and after we zoned in to the noise and located it…We picked it up. It was Charlotte (a super kind lady) and she said that she’d give us a walking tour of the whole place as she knew we were blind…Wow how kind is that?!
Charlotte first showed us the rear door of the hotel which was about 30 steps from our room and it led outside to a lovely arch which was right outside the other window in our room (see photos below) and to a small car park which led straight to the ‘Tempo Bar’, ‘Gym & Swimming Pool’ and a much easier wide road that led us around to the front of the hotel…Wow our room was at the very end corner of the hotel and was perfectly located for us to be near the pool and gym…Fantastic! 💪🏼 😀
The Gym & Swim…🏋🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️
The indoor pool was the main reason for booking this hotel as the swimming pools at home are far too busy for us blindies. Charlotte introduced us to Gemma (she was amazingly helpful and kind for the whole 4 days) and she too gave us a guided tour around the whole place. We were amazed at just how big it was…The swimming pool was nice and large, and next to it was a jacuzzi, sauna and steam room…Sarah loved all of them, lol. Then up the stairs (my domain, lol) was the large cardio room (see photo below), large weight machines room and also a free weights room too! We absolutely loved this place and went every day at 6am (when it opened) and we were the first people in, it was like we had hired it all for ourselves, fantastic when you can’t see and having the feeling of freedom as we didn’t bump into anyone, lol! 🤣
Once Gemma had shown me an easy way to use the treadmill, i was armed and ready for action. I would leave Sarah to get changed for swimming and as i’d memorised my way to the treadmills, i would hit the big start button, and i had up and down buttons on the handles for incline and speed which i kept changing to increase the intensity! Then i just kept walking until Sarah would come and tell me to stop as she’d finished and…I never knew how long Sarah would be, i just hoped she’d be back before i collapsed, lol! 🤣
We went at least 2 times a day, and i think Sarah even went 4 times on the Saturday. It was so accessible and felt like it was made for us, we hav’nt experienced anything quite so good like this. Gemma was even motivated by us going all of the time, and said that next time we come (and we definitely will) she’ll be working out even harder! 💪🏼 😀
Cast Iron Grill…🥩
after FitBlitzing it in the gym and swim we were really looking forwards to the evening meal at the in-house restaurant, we had a lovely walk around the grounds as the restaurant was at the front of the hotel …But first a quick toast for our 15th wedding anniversary!! ❤️
We both skipped the starters and headed straight for the sirloin steaks…Wow they even came with chips. I
☢️ HEALTH WARNING… Ding, Ding, Ding…Boom! 😋
Yay it’s the sound of the ‘Blind Sightseers Gastronomic Leaderboard’ bell, and it’s not for the steak! It was the stupendous ‘Bearnaise’ sauce. It was simply amazing and was the tastiest bearnaise sauce we’ve ever tasted…And Sarah is the sauce master as she’s pretty much tasted every sauce going, lol! 🤣
As you can tell i’m enjoying the meal, and it wasn’t long before all of the food had vanished…Now it was time to choose dessert…It was at this point when the waitress turned up with a large tray and set it down on the table. She then said “Happy anniversary”. Sarah & i were both stunned as we didn’t even know that they knew it was our anniversary?! We thanked her profusely then Sarah described it to me…Mmmm chocolate! 😋
It was absolutely delicious and of course i had to eat Sarah’s brownie too (after she’d had a tea spoon) as we didn’t want her blood sugar to spike too much! Oh and the funny photo below shows just how sweet it tasted!! 🤣
We were completely blown away by the kind and considerate staff in the entire hotel, as they’d really taken our sight loss to heart and were bending over backwards and going the extra mile for us to make our stay as accessible as possible…We really can’t thank them enough. We walked around the grounds some more to finish off our anniversary…
And then just when we’d arrived back to our room Sarah found this for us…😲
I’m not sure what more i can say about their kindness?! We will keep the card in our memory box, but i’m sorry, the handmade chocolates didn’t last the visit, lol! 🤣
The Secret Garden…🌻
On day 2, 3 & 4 (same amazing routine each day) we woke up at 5:30am and got to the leisure centre for 6am, Gemma was turning everything on and was impressed that we’d got up early and were the first to arrive. We had a fantastic time and Sarah loved having the pool to herself to finally swim without any interruptions or people in the way…And i took to walking on a treadmill instead of the treacherous trail at home, lol! 🤣 Then after we had the great breakfast we had a look around the ground and found the secret garden and a lovely bench to enjoy it! 😀
The Bench…☀️
The sun was blazing down for the whole 4 days which made the bench a perfect place to sit. Nobody walked past or even came near so it felt like nobody knew about this place…This worked great for us as it was like our home away from home. 😀
After my attempt at ‘Photobombing’ we went for a little walk around the whole grounds (well as far as we could go without getting blasted by golf balls) and just enjoyed being away in this stunning place. 😀
The Flowers…🌻
I then heard lots of wow noises coming from Sarah as she asked me to take photos of her with some of the stunning flowers!
Then once i’d peeled Sarah away from some of her fave flowers, we carried on enjoying, making wow noises and soaking in the lovely sunshine…Until we found something interesting…?? 🤔 ☀️
Blind Chess Anyone…?
As we walked towards the building and around one of the sides, we found some large garden games. Sarah said “You’re going to love this” as she walked me up to the chessboard on the ground and lifted one of the pieces up for me to figure out?! I could just about make out the knight but believe it or not, i still need the pieces to be bigger…Maybe as big as me to be able to have a game, lol! 🤣 Sarah then said “Quick let me get a photo of you and you can show it to your bloggers…Another fantastic idea from my lovely wife, hope you enjoy! 😀
my new niece jessica…😲
As this was a 3 night stay for our 15th wedding anniversary, we wanted it to be low key as we didn’t have time to visit everyone whilst we were up near Derby…But we thought it would be a great way of seeing my new niece for the first time (if they could come to us for a quick visit) they did, and we had a lovely couple of hours catching up with Paul (my brother), Kelly and my new niece Jessica…
Happy 13th birthday Ella…😀
On our 4th day (Sunday) we had to check out of the room at 12:00, so we just had time for a gym & swim, a walk around the grounds and my friend Rob and his family to come for breakfast and celebrate Ella’s 13th birthday with us. We had a great time (no not just the breakfast, lol) and when we were travelling home later that day, we were sent the picture (above) of Ella and her new cute rabbit!
Wow what a lovely 15th wedding anniversary…❤️
I’ve had such a lovely time putting this post together and remembering just how much fun, love and laughter i shared with my stupendous wife Sarah…I can’t wait for her to read this and see the photos…I hope you all and Sarah enjoy the ‘Blind Sightseers’ latest adventure?! 😀
Oh i almost forgot…I bought Sarah the bouquet of sunflowers etc as she has worked at MS (multiple sclerosis) Society for a year, and i thought i’d finish this post with sunflowers and smiles!! 🌻 😀
FitBlitz 