Once again, I chose some pick and mix options from the full English breakfast. It was interesting to see that the items were presented differently by the chef of that morning.

We drove the short distance to Evesham hoping to visit St Lawrence’s Church. After picking up leaflets from the Tourist Information office, we arrived to find the church firmly shut despite the sign on the door clearly stating that is open in the mornings. Later we found out from the Tourist Information Office that opening times were flexible. It depended upon whether the grounds keeper was available to open up and it was likely to be open more often as we move into the spring and summer months.

Next Mr C browsed the military model shop. He was overwhelmed by what was on offer so he left without making a purchase. We started out on the river walk which was next on our list of things to do. However, we aborted the walk; I found the traffic noise from the nearby road unpleasant and Mr C wasn’t enjoying the views. It was lovely to get back to the tranquillity of the former Abbey grounds.

We drove to Worcester where we enjoyed lunch in the Cathedral’s Cloister Café. My brie and cranberry toastie didn’t disappoint. We had a look around the Cathedral before walking to the nearby Commandery museum which was used by King Charles II’s forces during the battle of Worcester.

The museum has displays on the building’s former uses dating from the Medieval period right through to the 1950’s. As we made our way there, the heavens opened making the walk rather unpleasant. Thankfully it was only a spring shower and the sun emerged so that we could enjoy the museum without getting wet.

We arrived back at the hotel to find that our room had not been fully serviced, in particular we were lacking in milk for our cup of tea. Mr C went to hotel reception to request some. It took some while for the milk to arrive leaving us no time for a pre-dinner aperitif. Instead, we arrived at our restaurant of the evening, Edward Moon, so that we could enjoy one whilst perusing the menu. I chose seabass with ratatouille and sautéed new potatoes followed by black cherry crème brulee. The food was every bit as good as I remembered it on our previous visit and the restaurant were kind enough to honour the deposit we had left for our cancelled Valentines Day visit.

Before returning to the hotel, we stopped off at the nearby Woodsman to have a nightcap in one of its cosy snugs.

We had a good journey after setting off later than intended. We arrived in Stratford in time for lunch in Huffkins where I couldn’t resist the warmed almond croissant.

After lunch we walked to the butterfly farm where we found the butterflies were more active than they had been on our previous visits in 2022. We also saw the lady iguana sitting on her lofty perch, turning her face away from food that was offered by the keeper. The keeper told us that this particular iguana was addicted to the sweetness of fruit which had led to her becoming overweight. So ‘lady iguana’ is no longer allowed sweet treats.

In the rainforest area, I was looking forward to seeing the spectacled caiman but when we found him he was zonked out and looking comatose (albeit with his beady eye open) just a short distance from his bed area. Didn’t he know I had come especially to see him?

However, the nearby chameleon with his amazing feet and claws (not to mention his active beady eye) made up for the caiman’s nonchalance.

Next, we moved our car to the hotel car park and checked in. We were shown to our room, ‘Pear’, which was reached by a quaint spiral staircase. Our room was not the grade we had originally booked but it had amazing views over the theatres and river beyond. We were just grateful that our booking was able to be transferred to another date when we had to cancel our theatre Valentines Day break at short notice due to my mum being rushed into hospital and her subsequent illness.

After checking in we headed into Stratford for a cup of tea in York’s then browsed a couple of cookshops before heading back to the hotel to unpack our bags and chill out before our evening meal in ‘The Opposition’. The town was buzzing with Irish people; it was Cheltenham Cup week. Our meal was followed by a nightcap in The Woodsman.