Braunston Mill Cottage

On the first weekend of August, Rob and I packed up my car and headed to the Midlands to spend the weekend in this gorgeous cottage as part of my 21st birthday present.  Rob chose this adorable place and booked it for a fortnight after my birthday, allowing me to celebrate my twenty first at home with my friends and family before spending some time with him.

The cottage stands in the grounds of this 18th century mill which has been converted to holiday apartments as well.  The two-person cottage is completely separate from the mill, and is the perfect location for a quiet retreat - the boy chose well! It's set in the adorable village of Braunston, which has everything you'd need while still being small and quaint - a few pubs, a fish and chip shop, a mini supermarket and a little marina filled with the sweetest canal boats.

Inside the cottage is gorgeous - perfect for 2.  The contemporary kitchen-diner is fully equipped with everything you need and we were kindly left some wine,breakfast essentials, biscuits and chocolates by the owner.  The walls are filled with cute plaques and quotes which add a lovely homely touch.  The lounge has the comfiest L-shape leather sofa to relax on while you watch TV, a DVD or Netflix on the Apple TV - it was really easy to use and we had no problem staying up late watching comedies!  The cottage has wifi which was really easy to log on to and the connection was really good in every room.  Downstairs there was also a shower room and toilet.  Upstairs, the bedroom housed a beautiful double bed with a TV in the end, and rustic sloped walls and exposed beams.  In the landing was a huge round bath for 2 surrounded by candles.  The decor was beautiful, the cottage was absolutely spotless and we would happilly have stayed much longer than the weekend.

We arrived at four o'clock Friday evening and headed straight to the Admiral Nelson, a lockside pub overlooking the canal for food and a couple of drinks.  We ordered mussels to share which were absolutely delicious and had a couple of ciders before walking back to the cottage for a few glasses of Asti, a dip in the huge bath and a Netflix marathon on the TV.

On Saturday we headed to Bicester Village, the biggest outlet village in the UK. We had a lovely time exploring the shops before walking into the town centre for a bite to eat at Prezzo.  I had a delicious King Prawn pasta and Rob enjoyed a calzone.

On Saturday evening we popped the left over Asti into plastic glasses and headed into the wooden log cabin in the driveway to enjoy our own private hot tub for a small additional cost, but it was worth it! We both enjoyed relaxing in the warm multi-jet massage loungers by candle light sipping our drinks before retreating upstairs to watch some TV at the end of our bed.

For breakfast on Sunday we walked down the the canal, to have breakfast at Gongoozerlers Rest - a cafe on a canal boat! We both had delicious full English breakfasts for around £5 each and enjoyed watching the ducks and boats pass out the window - it was pretty impressive.

We then headed to Warwick Castle where we explored the castle and its grounds, watched a jousting competition, climbed hundreds of stairs to see the view from the turrets and snacked on a slice of cake at the cafe.  The weather was beautiful and the castle was pretty impressive - definitely worth a visit if you get a chance (although its a bit expensive - we used 2-for-1 vouchers to make it a bit more affordable).

We had such an amazing weekend, if you're looking for a mini-break for you and your other half I completely recommend it - if you know any impressive weekend retreats let me know in the comments, I'm pretty sure it's my turn to find the next one and it's gonna have to be good to beat this! If you fancy a look on the website click here.