Chilling in Chester
My habit is to take advantage of every bank holiday gifted to me. As the August one is so close to our anniversary break, it tends to be spent in the UK. For 2019, this means a little train journey to Chester.
What’s great about this little walled city is that the station is pretty central and in this case, we are able to drop off our cases at the Premier Inn on route and then wandered into the city centre. First stop was breakfast at busy but pleasant Atina followed by coffee at Chalk. Chester offers as many coffee shops as any the next town and we enjoyed Jaunty Coffee, Obscure and on the last day, Blue Bear along the canal from our hotel.
Sunday roast came via Artichoke, also on the canal but we could find nowhere for dessert in the areas when we looked later in the afternoon. We even popped further along the canal to the big Waitrose but just ended up with free pastries. They were closing and decided to not charge us but I felt obliged to buy something else too as I couldn’t just go to to the till and not part with at least some cash. Artichoke had stopped serving and was heaving with drinkers instead. We were saved however by nearby Harkers Arms who happily served us big piles of sugariness. It turned out all the good places were near our hotel.
On the Bank Holiday Monday, we did trek out to the Brewery Tap who served me a very good pollock and potatoes with curry sauce. The highlight of the visit though was the huge husky dog in the corner. This time we were in the right part of town to get to late opening Waffle for dessert.
My memory of this trip though is the long walks in the parks. Oh, and popping to Lakelands in their home territory and the bargain summer wedges I bagged from the end of the M&S sale while the beloved had some alone/laptop time. Funny what sticks in your mind.
PS This is the trip when I realised my camera phone wasn’t working.
