Despite it feeling like minutes, a little over a year ago I set off in trepidation and excitement for my hen weekend. Meticulously planned by my best friend and bridesmaid, I knew little about what to expect other than I needed a range of different clothing for outdoors, a bikini, and something dressy too. Quite an eclectic mix!
A couple of friends picked me up and after squeezing the mountain of stuff I'd packed into her small sports car, we finally hit the road. I remember feeling oddly nervous about what to expect. I love hen dos (any party really) but when you're the centre of all of that attention it can feel a bit overwhelming.
We chatted excitedly about wedding plans, what to expect from the weekend and what we'd brought to wear, as we whizzed down the motorway towards my last hoorah of singledom before I became a mrs.
Gradually the roads got more and more rural until we were literally on a dirt track. We encountered a poor sheep that had got itself stuck on a dry stone wall so we just had to stop and help it out. Then, as we set off again, a massive tractor rolled up in front of us and we had no choice but to reverse a mile back down the single track road. Cue much girlie screeching!
I'd figured out that there was going to be an outdoorsy, nature inspired feel to my hen weekend, which is so very me and I was super excited to get there. We eventually pulled up at the
Secret Cloud House in Derbyshire and saw the girls unloading enough food and booze to sink a ship! We grabbed ourselves a wheelbarrow and set off down the rickety wooden path.
The beautiful yurts on the glamping site came in to focus as we neared and I spotted the most amazing looking outdoor spa, with woodfired hot tub and sauna. I was super happy that my friends knew me so well that they'd picked something so me for my hen.
We all hugged each other, excited to finally all be there and about to kick off an amazing weekend. The girls had spent ages decorating the site with so many personal touches that it was really quite emotional. I'd made the girls a 'Summer of Love' henfest wristband each as a little keep sake to thank them for coming.
A homemade cocktail station beckoned me in to try one of the tempting drinks on offer. Cocktail in hand I was shown to the yurt I was going to be sharing with friends and inside was the cutest set up I'd ever seen. A beautiful double bed with cath kidston bedspread was adorned with flowers and a fluffy white robe. The wood burning stove in the corner was lit and casting a lovely glow around the room.
On my bed lay my first experience of what was to come on my hen do - a woodland fairy outfit resplendent with wings! I am known to my friends as a bit of a flower child, so it was quite fitting.
Feeling a bit conspicuous dressed up on my own but up for a laugh, I went for an explore around the site that we had exclusive use of. Five yurts all equally as beautiful as the next and each with their own two person hot tubs, in addition to the communal spa area.
All of a sudden I was very aware that everyone had disappeared and slowly one by one they reappeared single file in their own fairy outfits. It was hilarious to see and put me at ease that I wasn't the only one. I chatted with all of my friends, each group I'd met at different points in my life and some going way back to being babies. Having them all there in one place was the best thing ever.
Everyone was famished and so no less than four barbecues were lit ready to feed the masses - or a gaggle of very hungry women, at least. The girls manned the BBQs like pros and soon the grub was up. They'd catered for the herbivore (AKA me) with lots of lovely salads, quorn and grilled peppers but as this hen was so busy chatting and catching up with everyone, I barely ate a thing. Whoops!
More drinks flowed and we enjoyed the last heat of the sun as it started to dip below the horizon. All of a sudden everyone started laughing and clapping and I looked up to see a very naked looking man doing the long walk of shame down the field towards us.
Being quite shy, I was mortified by this and hid my face behind my hands until he reached me and grabbed me for a cuddle. Eeeek. Luckily he was just there to be our personal butler and he set to work giving us our hearts desire...lots of drinks.
The girls thought it'd be fun to play the 'Mr and Mrs' game, which was mainly a sneaky way to get me to drink lots of shots! I loved that they'd got the Carnivore (AKA hub to be) to record videos of him answering a whole bunch of questions about me. The more the drinks flowed, the more personal the questions got which resulted in lots of hilarity.
After lots of giggles and way too many shots, we did what all groups of ladies would do with a half naked man in tiny shorts...we played rounders with him. We felt sorry for the poor thing as it was getting quite chilly, so we thought we'd warm him up. After a few rounds, which largely descended into madness, with shrieks of laughter, a lot of competition and sliding around on the floor, (luckily the charm of glamping is that there is noone around to hear or see it) it was time for him to say goodbye.
After that it all became quite a blur, with about 10 people squeezed into the hot tub and needless to say, not long after, I retired to my gorgeous bed in my glamping paradise and dreamt about what else might be in store for us
If you like my wedding related posts you can catch them
here. Have you ever been glamping? I'd love to hear what you got up to for your hen do so drop me a line in the comment box.
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