On the way to Chester we realised that the museum that Mr C intended to visit is closed on Wednesdays. After being delayed by roadworks and diversions and very slow service at the Grosvenor garden centre just outside Chester we decided not to visit the city. Instead Mr C took us on Welsh mystery tour where we spotted the Inn with my name. Mr C parked the car and insisted I took a photo.

Eventually the mystery tour led us to Denbigh and signposts to the castle. We navigated the extremely narrow roads to the castle to find that it too was closed on Wednesdays.

Maybe we should rule out Wednesdays for future days out!

Recently I have been reading a local guidebook to give me new inspiration for places to visit in Shropshire. One of the places sounded perfect for the beautiful summer weather that we have been experiencing, so the weekend before last I decided it would be nice to take Mr C out to a mystery location for lunch.

He was a little bit reluctant to go out for lunch, but I persuaded him. I programmed the SatNav and it took us on a delightful magical mystery tour. That SatNav route took us in quite a different direction than I would have instinctively chosen. We arrived at our countryside destination in a timely manner avoiding the nearby town.

Our destination was Shropshire Lavender, a small family run lavender farm with a tea room serving freshly baked cakes and scones. The lavender farm is set in the rolling Shropshire countryside about 3 miles from the market town of Newport on the North Shropshire-Staffordshire border.

Choosing lunch was difficult… should I opt for a lavender scone or lavender and lemon cake. I chose the latter and did not regret my choice

When we had finished our visit to the lavender farm we weren’t quite ready to go home, so we perused the mapbook for a nearby place of interest. We settled on Boscobel House famous as hiding places of King Charles II after defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

Later in the day we enjoyed fine dining on the patio