Lakeside

 

This is the only photo I took during our 3 nights/4 days stay at the Warner Leisure  Lakeside Hotel on Hayling Island. Well, actually I did take a few more but the rest were for various photo challenges so can't be included in this post. 

We left home early on Friday. We knew that we wouldn't have access to our room until 3 pm but we'd planned to stop for breakfast on the way and then spend time shopping in IKEA in Southampton ... I didn't get everything on my list but was able to get the more important items I wanted for the kitchen so I was happy. IKEA is exhausting though, isn't it?

We arrived at the hotel dead on 3 pm. This particular hotel is more like a holiday camp as the guests stay in chalets, not rooms in a building. We were greeted at the main entrance with our chalet key and a welcome pack containing all the information we needed and we set off to find our chalet and to settle in. We were pleased with our chalet ... it was quite small but had everything we needed, and once we'd unpacked and put everything away, it didn't feel too cramped at all.

This was our first time at one of the Warner Leisure Hotels and the schedule of all the activities on offer was a surprise ... a lovely surprise, much more than we were expecting. For those of you who don't know about this hotel group, they offer weekend and midweek breaks for adults only with the activities on offer varying depending on the facilities at the individual hotels. You need to pay extra for some of the activities but the majority are included in the cost of your stay. Activities at Lakeside included rifle and pistol shooting, crazy golf, dancing, table tennis, fishing, swimming, quizzes, gin tasting, bowls, late night disco, as well as the evening shows ... we chose these dates because the main act was a Queen tribute band, and very good they were too.

We went for a drive around the island on the Saturday. The plan was to take some seascapes but it was overcast and the light wasn't brilliant so I didn't get to take any. I did take a few photos for the WPSH and the February monthly photo challenge though. Back at the hotel we fitted in another swimming session and also tried out the sauna and the steam room. My friend did the rifle shooting and then we spent the rest of the day and evening in the main building, taking part in various quizzes, playing some board games, enjoying a lovely three course meal, and then watching the evening's entertainment. We went back to our chalet after we'd seen the Queen concert. By then it was gone 11:30 pm and well past my usual bed time but the majority of the other guests stayed for the late night disco ... they had more energy than me!

On Sunday we treated ourselves to an afternoon tea, for which we had to pay £17.50 each which I thought was a very reasonable price. Before that we'd gone to a tea tasting session ... I'm not a tea drinker but was hoping there might be one that I'd like. No such luck, although Bless will be pleased that there was one containing a mix of Sri Lankan black tea and something else that was almost palatable! The evening entertainment was a show filled with songs from the musicals, which we'd planned to stay and watch but were both too tired in the end, so returned to the cabin to pack.

We had until 10 am to vacate our chalet on the Monday but we opted for an early breakfast and were on our way home by 8:45 am. We stopped for hot chocolate on the way home but were back early enough to go to our usual canasta group on the Monday afternoon.

We rounded off our mini break with a trip to the Bristol Hippodrome on Tuesday night to see the musical, Wicked. It's the first time either of us had seen it and we both enjoyed it, so a good end to a lovely few days.

We'll definitely book another Warner Hotel break for some time later this year. The food was excellent (breakfasts and evening meals were provided in the cost of the holiday, and lunches could be purchased in the piano bar if wanted). I weighed myself yesterday morning ... guess who put on more pounds than she'd lost?