Tin and Aluminium…

Apparently the 10th wedding anniversary is either tin or aluminium and for us it was on the 23rd of December. I was at work that day so we had arranged to spend the evening at a posh hotel is East Sussex.

Sue came with me in the morning and spent the day in Crawley battling with the last minute Christmas shoppers until she could face it no more and took shelter in a coffee shop. I managed to get away from work at three as I had worked late the day before and my boss couldn’t refuse once he knew of our arrangements. So I picked Sue up from town and we drove off into the countryside to the wonderful Alexander House Hotel.

Set in its own private gardens this secluded hotel was once a grand estate with family connections to Bysshe and Shelly. Later additions were made by William Campbell, a Governor of the Bank of England. The place is currently undergoing further extensions to include Spa facilities.

While we were checking we were asked if we were there for the Christmas Party and we told them that we were there for our 10th wedding anniversary. The man at the desk asked if we had requested this particular room specially and when we said we hadn’t (we just asked for a standard room), he pick up another key and escorted through the lovely Georgian hall and up the grand stairs to a door that he opened, and said with a smile “I hope you like this room. If you have a problem with it I am sure we can change it for you…” We looked into the master bedroom with its canopied bed and managed to squeak “Oh! It’s fine, thank you” We had been upgraded to a Luxury Feature Suite which consisted of a fabulous bedroom, a drawing room, a large bathroom with a claw-footed free-standing bath and a dressing room with chaise lounge and his and hers sinks. As we collected our bags from the car our bottle of chilled champagne followed. We had a wonderful few hours relaxing in the luxury and slowly preparing for the evening meal.

When we came down we found the bar full of the Christmas Party guests so we were shown to a sumptuous leather suite in front of a log fire where our drinks were brought to us along with canapés of quails eggs topped with caviar and slivers of duck breast on hand made biscuits (this is the way to live). We listened to the birds singing in the large Victorian birdcage while we chose our meal and wine and then we were escorted through to the dinning room. We were given another little entrée, this time a slice of beef Wellington in gravy, before our food was served. Sue had Ravioli of Lobster and Crab, Celeriac Puree and Armagnac Sauce to start, followed by Roasted Wild Sea Bass and Hand Dived Scallop, Pomme Fondant, Asian Greens and Artichoke Sauce, and finished with Selection of Home County and Continental Cheeses, with Chutney. I had Warm Goats Cheese, Mediterranean Vegetable Fondue and Wild Rocket and Pistachio Pesto to start, followed by medallions of monkfish and finished with raspberry cheesecake. We had our coffees and petit-fours in the library.

The next day I dropped Sue off at the train station so that she could go home as I had to back into work for a few hours. That evening we packed up our pressies and headed of to Joyce and Terry’s for the start of our Christmas.