Cherie's Place

Our last breakfast in the Grand, as was the first, was enjoyed in the quiet space of the Cyan restaurant rather than the main breakfast room.

It was then time for Mr C to pick up our car and bring it to the front of the hotel whilst I waited in the room for the concierge to assist with our luggage. When the concierge arrived, we had a chuckle about Mr C’s case that had too many wheels and stopped it from holding the door open. He soon fixed that by turning it on its side.

We chatted whilst he loaded the trolley with our luggage. He said that it was a lovely room which I agreed. I mentioned the conference that was taking place in the adjacent rooms during the first few days of our stay. The concierge said that the rooms on either side of the stairway known as Napoleon and Eugenie suites were part of the presidential suite and that the hotel might turn those rooms into bedrooms.

Bags loaded onto the trolley, I suggested I meet him downstairs and he said he would be with me in a couple of minutes. It was more than a couple of minutes before I saw both him and our luggage arrive from the lift area. He was preceded by one of his colleagues who came over to me to apologize for the delay. It was busy and there had been a queue for the lift. It wasn’t a problem for me and I said so.

Meanwhile, Mr C had retrieved our car and was parked outside the front of the hotel despite having experienced a problem with the car parking ticket.

Car loaded up and ready to go, we set off towards Petworth which potentially involved getting stuck in the Bury Triangle again. On this occasion the car park wasn’t full and we were able to park and visit the National Trust property which is essentially an art gallery. There was also a cute elephant artwork trail throughout the grounds. We saw a few on our walks to and from the house but it was too hot and we had limited time to venture further into the estate grounds.

We had hoped to have lunch in the nearby ‘Pop up Toast’ again but unfortunately it was ‘popped down’ and closed. We eventually found a suitable garden centre, part of the Quires chain. I ordered a coronation chicken sandwich and apple juice. The latter arrived in a half pint glass, only vaguely tasting of apple rather than the fresh carton/bottle of apple juice that I was expecting.

We continued on our journey homeward stopping to pick up ingredients for our evening meal; Lemony Pork Piccata. There were delays on the motorway near Birmingham due to a car fire which we observed to be well and truly burnt out when we arrived at the scene.

This delay along with encountering rain on entering the Midlands after days of glorious sunshine down south meant that our ‘Fine Dining’ was enjoyed inside rather than on the patio.

Tags: Brighton, Chez Nous, Dining at Chez Nous, East Sussex, National Trust, Petworth, Petworth House, The Grand Hotel, Vacation