I have spoken a lot about my love for the good ole staycation many times before. But there's just something about shoving the essentials - 15 nearly identical lipsticks obvs - into a bag with some clothes and just heading off to somewhere nearby to chill the eff out.
My latest staycation - which may actually have been my all time favourite - took me to Ipswich and more specifically, the Salthouse Harbour hotel. I have to say, I don't know much about Ipswich, I have a couple of friends that live there and I remember playing football there once - LOL yes I did play football back in the day when I never knew what makeup or boys were - but other than that... clueless. But one thing I did know, or rather, had seen was that there was this frickin amazing hotel with the dreamiest bath that I have ever seen.
So obviously, because if you follow my instagram you will know that I am queen of the baths ;), I took a trip down to Ipswich to check out their only 4 star boutique hotel and eat all the food.
We arrived at the Salthouse harbour hotel and was immediately blown away (fyi - they also have a sister hotel called The Angel Hotel in Bury-St-Edmunds which is equally gorgeous). From the stunning and completely calming and zen harbour, to the incredible interiors/artwork of the hotel (think Vivienne Westwood rugs, Damien Hirst prints and Banksy drawings)... you feel a little bit like you're in a cosy art gallery in the middle of nowhere and can completely switch off from the rest of the world (i.e the total dream).
And then we entered the room and oh my fricking god let's just talk about how ridiculously stunning and instagrammable and just goddamn amazing it is! They had me at the copper bath, but the copper telephones, marshmallow bed of dreams and the breathtaking harbour view put this straight at the top of my "can I just live here forever please and thank you" list.
After taking 343539384 photos - of just the bath alone [insert guilty face emoji here] - it was time to refuel with as much sugary carby goodness as I could find and luckily the Afternoon tea came up trumps. If you have coeliac or eat gluten free, get yourself down to Ipswich because this tea was one of the best I have ever eaten (and I am the self confessed greedy pig scone queen so this really is saying something!) The sandwiches were beaut, the cakes very good and the scones were as good as gluten free scones get (because if you can find a gf scone that doesn't crumble more than when I watched Derek Shepherd die on Grey's anatomy then you are my hero).
My 3rd favourite time of day - after breakfast and afternoon tea time - is dinner, and oh my god we were in for such a treat (if it's still wrong to be salivating over it even now then I don't want to be right!). We started with poached eggs and asparagus on gluten free toast - SO good - and finished with an incredible sorbet, crumble, eton mess type dessert which was beyond dreamy. But for me, the out and out winner was the Steak and chips that dreams were made of!
So
Damn
Good.
After a beautiful night's sleep, only slightly tarnished by the fact that I dropped my phone on the bathroom floor and it completely died [insert hysterical crying emoji here], we headed straight for breakfast and subsequently demolished poached eggs and smoked salmon on toast and a bacon sarnie (yes Mum, what a lad!) which was so outrageously good! Throughout all of the meals we had, I was just so impressed with the amount of options for us gluten free-ers, it makes such a difference to stay somewhere that not only understands gluten free, but offers so much variety too.
Love you boo*
*Boo means the hotel, because we're obvs on those kinda terms at this point!
After a bit more slobbing around - i.e taking the world's longest bath - we headed off home, completely chilled and ready to binge watch Grey's Anatomy ready to tackle the world again. I have to say, our stay at Salthouse harbour was without a doubt one of my all time favourites. The staff were absolutely phenomenal (like, seriously so kind and lovely that I wanted to take them all home with me in the non-creepiest way ever, shoutout to Sophie and Dora in particular who were utter babes!) and the hotel itself was just perfection. Comfortable, chic, homely and stylish... I'm already excited to head back again in the summer!
I would love to know if you've ever heard of the Salthouse harbour hotel? Is it somewhere you'd like to stay? I always love hearing your thoughts!
As always, thanks so much for watching!
xx
Labels: Travel
