When I first started writing this post, I was experiencing a too-much-to-drink-too-little-sleep-excitement-comedown hangover. It was a particularly tough one to shift but I put that down to the magnitude of the good time had, and why I am only just getting back to writing this.
I just checked my messages and it was literally only 4 weeks after I got engaged – in Jan 2018 - that I asked my two gals Becca and Liz whether, hypothetically, they would be up for organising my hen do. To which their response was:
OH MY GOD I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING I WOULD LOVE MORE.
So, like, I think they were keen?
But even I couldn’t have predicted the amount of effort they would put in to make it special for me. I came away from the weekend feeling so very loved and so very lucky.
So, at the end of March, Alice came to pick up myself and Jordan and we hopped up the M1 laden down with tunes and car snacks. With various chats and a service stop, it felt like the journey passed really quickly and suddenly we were only an hour away. At which point, Becca rang Jordan and suggested we take a pub stop. A delay tactic I was always going to be on board with. Probs come as a surprise but, er, I really like pubs?
We stopped at a pub in the heart of the Peak District aka middle of no where for a good hour before driving down a pitch-black country lane to an old converted barn. Jordan disappeared into the night and Alice and I assumed he would never return but – hey – he didn’t get murdered by the chickens and I was okayed to come into the house.
The house, by the way, is here if you want to have a nose. Although I think it was nicer than the pictures on the website. There was a big kitchen, games room, living room with a wood burning stove, huge master bedroom with views of the peak district, and a surprising number of cabin-style rooms plus a mezzanine accessed by a very narrow ladder! Oh and the downstairs bathroom was like a more rough and ready version of the egg-toilets at Sketch.
It was huge and open and quirky and I bloody loved it.
I came in through the door where four of my hens were waiting for me with a glass of bubbly. The entrance hall had been decorated with pink balloons, fairy lights, a big gold ‘Hello Hens’ balloon sign, pink ribbons and absolutely loads of photos; baby photos, hilarious photos and lots of photos with me and my lovely hens. And this continued throughout the whole house! In my room, there were balloons on the bed as well as two ribbon-wrapped gifts.
There was immediately plenty of prosecco flowing and I remember feeling a buzz at being surrounded by all my favourite people. Once everyone had arrived, and had a drink, we cracked on with pizza making! I barely remember my pizza (apart from Alice’s usual disgust as to how I can have tuna as a topping); just everything being a really happy blur, as more and more people arrived and more and more prosecco flowed. The aim of the evening was to have an old-school sleepover and once we’d moved to the sitting room, I could open my presents, which included a pair of beautiful pyjamas! They’re white (obviously), personalised with my initials and genuinely the softest pjs I have ever owned. My other present was a beautiful bridal headband, complete with veil, and I promptly wore it for the rest of the weekend.
Next up, we had our first hen-do game, which was to get into teams and make a wedding dress out of toilet paper; and I then had to judge which was the best one. I couldn’t stop laughing as I watched all my friends jump up and start throwing a mad amount of toilet paper around (personal favourite was the three-metre long train that Dan created…)
We topped off the sleepover with some sheet masks which made us look alarmingly like Hannibal Lecter, and plenty more prosecco...obvs.
The next morning, I woke up with a significant prosecco headache which was immediately remedied with a lazy morning and eggs & avocado on toast.
On a side note – Lizzie accidentally ordered 36 avocados and this greatly amused me all weekend.
We went for a walk through the beautiful countryside, marvelling at the gorgeous scenery and settled in the same pub as the previous evening, braving the outside seats so we could see the views.
On the way back, we decided to go off-road and climb a bit of a hill/rock because we knew there would be some cracking views behind them. Led by Dan, who I can always count on for being game for some off-road hill climbing, we re-created a bit of a ‘we’re going on a bear hunt’ vibe, trying not to fall down a badger den. But the views were totally worth it.
Back at the house, Liz and Bec had prepared us the most magical afternoon tea. There was beautiful china, hand cut sandwiches, home made sweet treats including a huge cake with a ‘Kate’s Hen Party’ topper and the most gorgeous iced biscuits – all hen themed. And over half of it was vegan! If I absolutely had to pick, I’d say those biscuits were my faves. Liz had baked all the sweat treats herself and those biscuits wouldn’t go amiss in a professional bakery.
After we had stuffed ourselves silly, we headed to the games room for a game of BRA PONG! Yes, this seriously made me chuckle. We split into teams, drank more prosecco and got silly by throwing ping pong balls into bras (I won’t tell you whose…)
After I’d downed two pints of water and glammed up for the evening, I came back downstairs to find the table laiden with crisps, dips, snacks and omg the most epic cheeseboard I have ever seen. There were SO MANY CHEESES, and they’d bloody labelled them and everything! And if that’s not a sign that it’s gonna be a good evening, then I dunno what is.
And then the hen do games really kicked off. We started with wine tasting which was hilarious because the majority of us know nought about the grape. The girls had told us which cheese paired with each wine and so I was both cheese and wine tasting and yes, basically in heaven.
Next up, a power point was whipped out and we played a game of ‘Gary or not Gary’ which genuinely made me snort. Turns out Liz and Bec had persuaded G to photograph various body parts (yes, at one point, I also did wonder where this was going…) which I then had to pick out in a line up if you will. G says he can live with the fact that I didn’t correctly guess his elbow.
As is traditional, a game of Mr and Mrs followed. I was asked a question, and then they’d also persuaded G to film a video with his answers to the questions! If I got it right, everyone else had to drink. If I got it wrong, I had to drink. Turns out G and I know each other sickeningly well so I wasn’t drinking nearly as much as expected!
It then turned out that the gals had spent rather a long time on social media digging out old and embarrassing photos of my hens (I made a mental note to clear out my facebook photos asap) and we had a couple of ‘who is with Kate in this picture’ and ‘what is X doing in this photo’ games which was highly amusing.
We then descended into chaotic fun. There was a good while where we all sat in groups around the table nattering & drinking, and then I think we moved into the living room around midnight where photo and video evidence would suggest there was a lot of singing and dancing. A lot. My personal favourites were our moving rendition of Heather Small’s ‘Proud’, belting out the the entirety of ABBA’s back catalogue and Liz, Becca & Jordan’s theatrical performance of ‘Africa’. My sister said I was pouring myself another glass of wine when she was heading to bed around 3am. I definitely remember checking the time around half 5 in the morning and vaguely wondering if I would wake up in time for checking out.
Yes, we were very hungover in the morning, and yes we took an hour detour for emergency Mcdonald’s on the way home and yes Jordan ate 20 chicken nuggets.
And yes, I had an absolute blast.
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| Just some of the Instax shots! |
Shout out to Alice for some of the crackin' photos in this post!
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