A Weekend in Martinborough

We have four children, and right now, life is pretty full on. When they tell you that the baby stage is the busiest stage, don't believe them, they're telling you lies! It gets busier as they get older, trust me!
And they don't go to sleep at 7pm like they used to.

So, to have some down-time and time just for us, Rob and I try to get away on our own at least once a year for a couple of nights. We've had fun in the past choosing places to go - not too far away, and nothing very expensive. We've been to Wellington to watch a show, and we've been to little country bed and breakfasts and this year we chose to go to Martinborough, which seems a little off the beaten path, but is a thriving little town on the lower east coast of the North Island, very similar to my home town of Blenheim with its burgeoning vineyards and boutique shops and restaurants and dry climate.

We stayed at the Brackenridge Country Spa and Retreat for two nights.

It's just a couple of minutes outside of the town and was so nice to walk into their immaculate cottages, light the fire and collapse in front of it for a couple of hours.

We were booked to go out for dinner that night, but it was such a beautiful evening - I couldn't resist taking a few photos of the pretty light out the back door.

For dinner we went to the Tirohana Estate. Honestly, we were completely blown away by the place. We pulled up in the dark and parked right outside the front doors. Silly me had brought the wrong shoes, so I was taking my time getting the right ones onto my feet, with Rob hurrying me along because two of the staff were waiting for us at the door to let us in. The service was amazing before we'd even gotten out of the car! From the moment we stepped in, to the warm room with the fire crackling away, the cheerful welcome with a little glass of something wonderful, to our table by the fire, to the beautiful food, it was a really pleasant evening, and a lovely start to our weekend. I'd love to go back there again.

And we came home and crashed by the open fire. I love open fires, don't you?

I don't know if it's just this year, but we were exhausted. Two days of this wasn't long enough, but it was so good just to relax and have no time pressures or little children needing attention and caring for. Thank you to their grandparents for taking care of them for those two days. The only thing I didn't like about the Brackenridge, which was perfect in every other way, was their terrible wifi service, but in some ways that was a good thing, because I was forced to stay away from the internet, which is rather an addiction of mine.

If you can, I highly recommend just getting away like this once a year, at least, with your significant other, especially if you're in that busy stage like us with lots of children. Even if it's just somewhere local, it's a chance to recharge and reconnect and just relax and unwind. That is probably the best marriage advice I can give!

The following day we spent wandering around Greytown, the cutest little village, with some amazing shops, but I'll write about that in my next post, as it deserves a whole post of its own.

We bought this weekend from Grabone - which also came with a special spa package - massage, facial and eyelash tint/eyebrow wax (for me). Hot stones for hubby. Could that be any more perfect!