Miraculously, we left home and picked mum up on time. Twenty five minutes later, after topping up with petrol and returning home to fetch Easter gifts that we had forgotten to pack, we eventually left our locality.

We had a good journey apart from our decision to stop in Newark for lunch. The traffic there was horrendous, adding half an hour to our journey. Eventually, Mr C dropped mum and I off outside a café he had seen whilst he found somewhere to park the car. We entered the café and joined the queue. The three ladies in front of us turned around and left saying ‘he obviously doesn’t want us’. We were now at the head of the queue, the proprietor asked if it was a table for two to which I replied ‘a table for three’. His answer was “NO!”, followed by a pregnant pause before adding ‘only tables for two’. We beat a hasty retreat and went into the café next door.

Mr C was bemused when I phoned him to tell him where we were, he was already looking for us in the first café having found a parking space near to where he had dropped us off. Lunch in the second café was lovely; I opted for a cheese and chive scone. The rest of our journey to Lincoln ran smoothly and we realised that the café on the outskirts of Lincoln that we normally use was nearer than we had thought. It would have saved a lot of hassle all round if we had realised this and gone there.

We checked into Cathedral View guest house and got mum settled in her room before going to find our room which was just what we hoped for. Mr C’s parents had arrived just ahead of us so we had a chat with them before collecting our bags from the car.

We decided not to unpack straight away, heading into the Castle Square and the castle grounds beyond, where we found Dragons!

We bumped into Mr C’s parents who were out exploring, and had a cuppa in a delightful tearoom where there was a sharing of coffee and walnut cake (not me). It was now time to head back to our room, unpack and chill out. This didn’t go quite according to plan… We called in to tell mum what time we were going to pick her up for dinner but, as we tried to enter the outside door, the key broke in two. Luckily, we were able to retrieve the portion that was in the lock. It was then that Mr C realised he had tried to use the wrong key.

Back in our room Mr C rang the B&B owner to confess the breakage and it was agreed that the problem could be sorted out in the morning over breakfast. The key that was broken was the one to our wing of the house and Mr C’s parents had a key to get in there.

We had an aperitif in the Wig & Mitre before dining in Brown’s Pie Shop. The food was delicious and we had banter and laughter with the waiter. Due to the misadventure with our key we had to retire to our room earlier than usual where our nightcap was just a cup of tea.

Mother Teresa

The castle gates remain closed until 10 o’clock so after breakfast and checking out of the hotel we visited a small garden next to the lawns. By the time we had finished in the garden it was still to early for the gates to be open so we took the long way round to visit the Russian Doll shop and a second hand book shop, only to find that the shops didn’t open until 11 o’clock. I did however manage to replace the wash bag I had ruined due to leaving my shampoo bottle open on our journey to Lincoln.

We didn’t want to wait until 11 so we made our way back to the car, through the castle grounds. We then said goodbye to Lincoln and set off towards Newark to visit the National Civil War Museum, which we found very interesting. After visiting the museum Mr C set off into town in search of a cook shop which we failed to find. This left us with time to visit the Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene which we found to be quite stunning inside. After the visit it was time to return home to unpack before getting ready to go out for an evening meal to celebrate our anniversary.

As it was a Monday night not many places were open so we went to a local pub carvery where I chose turkey which was delicious. After the meal we returned home to enjoy a glass of champagne on the patio in the warm evening air, watching the sun go down. A perfect end to a lovely weekend.