Christmas Week 2,  21st to 28th December 2020

Monday 21st December

We all arrived at our holiday Barn. We said hello to each other and enjoyed mince pies and Christmas cake. We had a welcome dinner and then we went to the local village pub to watch an outdoor carol service by the Salvation Army brass band. Then we walked back home and tucked into some yummy hot chocolate to warm us up.

Tuesday 22nd December

This morning Michael and Karen chose to make Christmas cards. The rest of the group relaxed watching movies. After lunch, we enjoyed ‘mocktails’ (non-alcoholic cocktails). We also danced in the lounge. In the afternoon, we travelled to The Cotswold Farm Park to see the light display at the enchanted trail. In the evening, we celebrated ‘our’ New Year’s Eve on the holiday with a gala dinner, a disco and a sing along. We stayed up to welcome in the New Year.

Wednesday 23rd December

Most of the group started the activities by making lanterns this morning. Sandra wanted to do colouring in with her book. After a full cooked breakfast, we later had brunch, then went shopping to a garden centre. It was nice to do a bit of shopping. We then came back and had a bit of a chill out time before all going into the lounge to have a movie night together. We watched the film with Cliff Richard in it called “Summer Holiday” followed by the film called “The Grinch”. It was fun watching and eating snacks and popcorn with our drinks.

Thursday 24th December

After breakfast we went for a mystery tour in the minibus around the beautiful Cotswold villages, taking in the views. Then after lunch we visited The Cotswold Reindeer Herd where we were able to feed the reindeer. After the reindeer visit, we drove to a coffee shop and had a break with refreshments. We took a stroll around the village of Bibury to see the famous ‘Arlington Row’. After dinner some of the group did some colouring and crosswords. The rest of the group decided to relax in front of the TV.

Friday 25th December

We woke to find presents had been left on our doors! Santa must have called in the night! We then had breakfast followed by a visit to the church for a Christmas service. Some of the group went for a walk and some chose to stay and relax. After our Christmas lunch we watched the film “Mrs Doubtfire” in the lounge. We also exchanged our ‘secret Santa’ presents. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying TV and doing colouring in.

Saturday 26th December

Today we travelled to the village of Bourton on the water. We strolled around the village, it is famous for its chalk stream and small bridges over the river, very picturesque. We sat by the river to have our picnic lunch watching the ducks on the water. We were all wrapped up warm in our new Christmas scarves. We came back home and had some hot chocolate with marsh mallows. In the evening, we watched a production of ‘Peter Pan’ at The Barn Theatre in Cirencester. Whilst most of the group went to bed when they got home some of the ladies stayed up to have a ‘girly night’ watching ‘chick flick’ movies in their pyjamas.

Sunday 27th December

We visited The Chedworth Roman Villa today. It is a National Trust attraction and is the site where one of the grandest Roman Villas once stood. Then we visited Bibury church. We saw a red telephone box and some of the group were keen to have their photograph taken next to it. The red telephone box has disappeared from many of our towns now, so it was a novelty to see one. Once back at our holiday home we warmed up with hot chocolate and marsh mallows while watching a video of our holiday snaps which Jez prepared for us. We had also finished off our packing ready for tomorrow.

Monday 28th December

Time to go home, sadly. After breakfast we said goodbye to our new friends and made our way home.