I awoke refreshed, the bed was so cosy and comfortable. When we arrived in the breakfast room it was surreal, there being only one other couple in the room (a few others arrived as we were about to leave). We were given a menu of breakfast items that were cooked to order. I enjoyed what I ordered, although Mr C was not completely satisfied with his breakfast.

Before returning to our room, we reported some minor issues with our room; a bedside light was not working, the shower hose did not allow water to flow and the curtain had slipped off the rail. We were surprised when a man from the maintenance team arrived at our room a few minutes after us. He fixed the light immediately; it had been unplugged behind the bedside table where we had not thought to look. He took the other issues away to be repaired later in the day.

Our destination of the day was Beulieu Motor Museum. Mr C’s SatNav did not choose the most direct route. When we arrived near to where we were supposed to be it took us on a circuitous route where we never quite arrived at our destination. The detour gave us the pleasure of driving through the New Forest and seeing the delightful wild horses.

Realising that we were ‘getting nowhere’ we stopped to reprogramme the SatNav, using the town and not the postcode. By this stage we were missing my TomTom with its more accurate and accommodating route directions plus live traffic updates. As we travelled on the more direct route to our destination we encountered a long line of traffic in the opposite direction. The hold up was a random donkey trotting up the road in front of the line of traffic.

We eventually arrived at our destination and parked in one of the few remaining parking spaces.

We chose to visit the Abbey and House before the Motor Museum. Stepping away from the museums and entrance area, the crowds thinned out and we were left with peace and quiet.

The house had items of interest that weren’t part of the experience on our previous visit. The interestingly themed bedrooms and bathrooms were a delight to see, as was the display of photographs and memories of the late marquess that his son the current marquess had personally chosen to share in memory of his father.

We walked back to the café and museum area via the gardens where we didn’t linger long; it was too early in the year for the garden displays. In the café we enjoyed sharing a sandwich which we each followed by cakes of our choice.

We enjoyed the motor galleries and were reminded of some of our favourite exhibits. Afterwards we returned to the café for a drink before our return journey to Winchester. Once again, the SatNav was trying to take us on a weird route. We ignored it, forcing it to take us on a more direct route to our destination.

Eventually we arrived back at the hotel to find that all the maintenance work had been sorted out, although the debris from the faulty shower had been left behind next to the tea and coffee facilities. Room service, which you have to order each day, had been a little half hearted, the bed had not been made up.

We chilled out in the room before it was time to dine in Rick Stein’s Restaurant. The food was delicious. I chose a soft-shelled crab burger, which to my shame, I forgot to photograph. The crab came complete with legs which are completely edible. For a Friday night, the restaurant was not as full as it had been on our previous visits. Probably a sign of the times and prices. This was the most expensive meal we have had in recent times. It was almost as expensive as the tasting menu and wine flight we enjoyed in the Peacock at Rowsley for our anniversary in 2025. The meal at the Peacock included more personal and attentive service, making it a very memorable experience.

After dining we returned to the Crown and Anchor which was lively and noisy in a different way than the previous evening. It was Karaoke night and everyone was having a lot of fun.

As on the previous day I enjoyed chilling (with a book) out on the French balcony in the early morning sunshine whilst Mr C snoozed for a while. Our plan for the day was to visit the Alacantara Gorge on the CityBySee bus but, once again, the trip set off at lunch time leaving the morning free.

Photo taken by Mr C

As we were leaving the hotel to visit the municipal gardens, the hotel’s  resident dog took a fancy to me. He came running past Mr C and jumped up at me with a waggy tail, putting his paws on my legs. At one point the gorgeous dog put his paws on my hands.

After this delightful encounter we revisited the municipal gardens to enjoy a relaxing and tranquil morning. Shortly after we arrived Mr C realised that he had left his hat in the hotel room. While he walked back to the hotel  to retrieve his hat, I stayed in the gardens to explore them at my leisure. I enjoyed my slow paced walk around the garden, seeing things that I had missed on our previous visit.

When Mr C returned, hat in hand, we left the gardens and headed in the direction of the bus station. Our walk took us past what was described on our previous days tour as a Romantic Ruin and also the Necropolis, which is the remains of an old Byzantine cemetery, before finding a viewing platform looking out over the Isolla Bella bay.

Next to the viewing platform there was a convenient cafe, L’Oblio, it was a cafe with a view. As we were being served with drinks before our food order of aranchini arrived, the waiter somehow managed to unbalance the drinks on the tray causing mine, a fresh orange drink to be spilt. Luckily he missed me.

After enjoying lunch and the views, it was time to walk the short distance to the bus station to board the bus to the Alcantara Gorge. We were treated to amazing views and driven along many narrow almost un-navigable streets whilst listening to the interesting commentary of the various things we were seeing. The Gorge itself was beautiful and, on this brief trip, the focus was using the lift to get down to the gorge and the free wine tasting available in the shop area.

We descended to the gorge but due to time constraints we were unable to explore much more than that. We had just enough time to see the 3D video experience and to find out that the free wine tasting was only mini morsels of food and liquors. The tasting session was rushed and designed to lure tourists into buying the local produce. After the previous days experience we made sure we were back at the bus in plenty of time.

Back in Taormina, we stopped for refreshments in a cafe bar before indulging in an Italian ice cream. In the hotel I had a relaxing soak in the bath which was briefly interrupted by Mr C providing me with an unexpected glass of Prosecco!

Shortly after this  ‘room service’ provided us with biscuits after two days absence…

We dined in Le Quattro Fontane where the food and service were excellent. I chose seabass, it was served in a butterfly style and was delicious. I followed this with Cassata; all I can say is WOW!

We made our way back to the hotel for an early night to be ready for an early morning start for our visit to Etna.