Review: The Beckford Arms, Fonthill Gifford - Take 2

I reviewed the Beckford Arms  last year and don't normally review the same place twice but I had a unique experience last time as I stayed there the night before and the night of my wedding. My husband and I went back for our first anniversary and had a much more normal experience so I thought I'd share.

We had booked a two night stay in the same lodge as last year, which is away from the main building - about a 5 minute drive or 15 minute walk. It was great having exactly the same accommodation though of course my husband didn't see much of it last time as he stayed elsewhere before our wedding at the Larmer Tree Gardens and we got back very late on our wedding night and had to leave early the next morning.

The décor in the lodge hadn't changed at all and it was lovely seeing it differently - last time it was full of people and I was remembering the make up lady was there, our dresses were hanging there, and I got ready and came downstairs.... this time it was just the two of us and we made ourselves right at home, sitting outside for a while in the sunshine - it didn't appear as if there was anyone in the other lodge when we arrived, though the next morning their car was parked right across the front of the lodge, totally spoiling the view, and not in the parking area around the side!

 

We'd booked dinner in the Beckford Arms that night and since it was such a sunny day (late June) they had tables on the terrace as well as in the garden and a barbecue in the top part of the garden. We didn't fancy the barbecue as there were so many other tempting things on the menu; I had a whole grilled fish with potatoes, broccoli and watercress, accompanied by a glass of rose wine, which was delicious. To follow, I had what I think was peanut butter cheesecake - unfortunately I didn't write down at the time what it was and have already forgotten!

You have the option of having breakfast items provided to cook in your lodge or eating in the main hotel; since we were staying two nights we decided to do both. On the first morning, our wedding anniversary, we didn't want to go out right away so I cooked the sausages and bacon (we left the mushrooms, tomato and black pudding), cut up the fresh loaf of bread and poured the orange juice for a lovely home cooked breakfast.

The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel and I ordered Nutella pancakes. The pancakes were light and fluffy but only had a thin coating of Nutella spread between them - I would have liked more chocolate!

We had a lovely stay and it was fun finding our message in the guest book from last year where I'd written we had stayed here for our wedding night and were already thinking of coming back for our first anniversary - and to be able to add a new message saying that we did!