A Hen Do Fit for a Princess…

‘Nowadays, you can text 24 hours a day and be in constant contact, but every once in a while, it’s nice to just get out with your girlfriends and have fun’ – Amanda Schull

If you seach ‘Hen Party’ on wikipedia it says

‘A bachelorette party, hen(s) party, hen(s) night or hen(s) do, is a party held for a woman who is about to get married and despite its reputation as “a sodden farewell to bachelor days” or “an evening of debauchery,” a bachelorette’s party is simply a party, given in honor of the bride-to-be, in the style that is common to that social circle’

It wasn’t until one of my very best friends Steph asked me and Aileen to organise her hen do that I realised how much ruddy hard work Angela must have had to put in organising my own 3 years ago. I do, however organise other people’s lives for a living so Aileen and I were up for the challenge of giving Princess Steph a hen do she’d really enjoy.

The Location

At first we were looking for a city break, we’re lucky that we live in one of the greatest party cities in the UK so were quite happy to see what other cities had to offer. We were pretty set on Leeds as it’s not too far away from us and handy for anyone coming up from the south but Steph works there quite regularly and was quite frankly sick of the site of the place so that was vetoed. So we then dithered over Liverpool for a few days before finally settling on Windermere in the Lake District and I was lucky enough to find the absolutely beautiful Boston House which is part of the Terrace complex.

 

Location wise the house couldn’t have been better; easy to find (providing you don’t have the inability to read a sat nav like me) and so close to the train station I’m sure I was awoken one morning to an announcement that the 7:05 to Manchester was delayed – although that could have been a weird prosecco dream! It was very handy for people coming from different ends of the country and there was plenty of allocated parking spaces for the drivers.

The  house itself was perfect for what we needed; it had 7 bedrooms, some with twin beds, some with doubles but all with their own en suite bathrooms (thank god – I didn’t fancy having share 1 bathroom with 14 girls trying to get ready for a night out!) and the living areas were huge for us all to congregate in (the kitchen had a designated fridge just for wine – stick a fork in me, I’m done!). Everyone was arriving at random times on the friday so we had ourselves a little 90s themed house party where Bride was transformed into Britney and was joined by a couple of MC Hammer’s a couple of Uma Thurman’s, Clarissa (Explaining it all), overlooked Gladiator ‘Camelhoof’ and the Spice Girls.

One other great feature about Boston House, aside from the designated Prosecco fridge, was the cinema room which we showed a video of Steph’s betrothed playing a game of Mr & Mrs, to much hilarity.

The Actvity

Steph’s pretty outdoorsy so we took advantage of our location and booked into Brockhole Tree Top Trek just 3 miles down the road from Windermere to spend the afternoon swinging through the trees which was great fun!

The high ropes course was expertly lead by hen Steph who looked like a pro up there as we followed along behind here with varying degrees of success but all with good fun. As there were quite a few different sets of friendship groups it was a really great way for us all to get to know each other, and I tell you, having strapped each other into our harnesses, Laura – who I’d only known for 12 hours at this point, now knows parts of my anatomy pretty intimately!

The whole course takes about 3 hours to get round in it’s entirety and is finished at the end by a pretty impressive zip line (a personal fave of mine!)

The Night Out

All that fresh air made some of us sleepy and all of us hungry so we went back to the house for a few disco naps, a few Baileys Coffees (to warm up of course) and to slowly start getting ready for our night out. Now, the town of Windermere isn’t exactly known for it’s rambunctious nightlife however we donned our glad rags non the less and managed to find a fab restaurant called The Lighthouse which did great food and even better cocktails!

Then it was back to the ranch to make further dent into the Prosecco rations and eat even more cheese.

For those of us staying on the Sunday night as well we walked off our hangovers by having a hearty breakfast (at 1.30pm) and going to sit by the lake and drink even more Prosecco (hair of the dog and all that!) then fell asleep watching Shrek. Thankfully our little naps perked us up enough to fit in some margaritas and have another stroll into town for some fish & chips which we decided to eat straight out the contains at the massive banquet table in the dining room – just like they would in Game of Thrones.

I think t’s safe to say everyone went hope having had a laugh and perhaps making new new friends, albeit (certainly in my case) a few pounds heavier!

Booking info:

Accommodation: Cumbrian Cottages
Activity: Brockhole Treetop Trek
Restaurant: The Lighthouse
Brunch: Homeground Coffee & Kitchen