Where Alice lives

Hey-hey! |˶˙ᵕ˙ )ﾉﾞ

Me and my partner had our eight year anniversary recently. We hadn't planned anything as we thought we should just spend some nice time at home, maybe get a fancy takeaway and watch some movies. Nice and cosy, you know what I mean? But then at the last minute, we had some work getting done in our house and our home was pretty crowded - since we live in my family home. So, very last second, my partner decided to book a room at a local pub 

This lamp really reminded me of Narnia

We got a taxi down there at around 5pm. It took around ten minutes to get there I would say. And I know you're probaly thinking "a pub...?", well yes! We actually have some memories attached to this pub. We ended up coming across this pub when we went on a camping trip many moons ago. It would of been back when I was only eighteen years old - nearer the end of that year of age. I still remember it very clearly. For some reason for this camping trip I had done some black and pink smokey eyes and put up my bihawk - even wore my modified jacket for goodness sake. Looking cool was much more of a priority back in those days I guess

To get to the point, it's very nostalgic. Not only for us as a couple but it gave me the feeling of being a teen again. Being very giddy, matey, jokey but also having that calm that we have accquired in that short period of time. It's the compassion and softness we have nutured for eachother. Just being able to sit there on a picnic bench, surrounded by the countryside and think to yourself "This is the life". It's has nothing to do with becoming a story to tell, or how quote-unquote "exciting" it was. It's just about floating in that thick air of silence and knowing you are okay... safe (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)

Tried alcohol-free Guinness for the first time, it's just as good!

Our hotel was really spacious and nice. It was nice to have a shower after so many years of only having baths - even if I vehemently go against showers in the long run. This place is supposedly the writing location of 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll. He would often come here to plan and write this novel. Later on I will discuss the walk we went on through the woods... this woodland used to house a castle that the real life 'Alice' lived in. It's not very well known, and if you try to look up the location on a map it will take you to the completly wrong place miles and miles away. But yeah, the real girl whom Alice was based off and the author were in these parts! I wish I knew about this history when I was younger, I was always so obssessed with this story and all of its adaptations.

We woke up fairly early in the morning, and whilst it had been around 16c during midday, it was still -3c when we awoke. Stuffing our bellies with full englishes and energising our cells with rich black coffee, we started to march are way in any direction that suited us ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

It was a very classical walk for us, no paths, just roads. And because its England, well theres nowhere to really walk either. The fields are all surrounded by hedges or fences. So what you do is listen out for a car and dive into the hedge to let it pass. We eventually got onto a nice stretch of walkway that lasted a fair while (but not long enough) and we saw some nice landmarks there

After a lot more diving, ducking and listening we managed to get our way to a gate that was the enterance to the woodland I mentioned. The gate was overgrown with thorns and weeds, and was slap bang in the middle of a road with no parking - so I assume it hadn't been used for years. After pushing our way through, we got to into a nice steady pace.  The sun was absolutely beeming at this point 

Later on we walked into the real forest. "n/ tr/spa//g" -  a sign farrr to worn to be read surely - lets go! Giant pine trees loomed around us, no paths anymore, just pure forest. The sound starts to become muffled. A sharp snap of a twig pierces through the trees, whilst a passer-bys footsteps are hidden within. I heard a cry. I stopped. I looked. I continued. Then just there within a clearing, drinking from a stream of water, stood a deer. My heart melted at the sight. It saw us and we saw it and I guess we were in a sort of staring match. Noone wanting to make the first move. Eventually after trying to get a few steps closer it scarpered

an incredibly pixelated deer

Later as we were walking we were met with the most world shattering cries. All in different tones and pitches. Shrieks and low moans. They were in a chorus and they echoed off every single tree and branch. It was frightening if im being honest. All my hair stood up and the lowest part of my neck tingled vigourasly. I stood completley still, me and my partners eyes opening wide at eachother. "At least its not only me feeling this way" I thought. As soon as the goosebumps came and went, a wide smile had taken their place.

We saw a large impressive building in the distance. When we arrived it turned out to be a hotel. A very extravagent sports car was reving its engines whilst staying completley still in the car park. Obviously we decided to invade the place. Muddy boots, and full backpacks we greeted the groundsmen and walked like we owned the place directly onto the land. Whilst we didn't go inside the building, we had a lot of fun on their tree swing.

We ended up being quite close to a bus stop that went back to our house after a couple more hours of walking, so we decided to head back. Here is a photo of my very fashionable beanie that I wore into the posh hotel lmao

thanks for coming along with me!

-Sprout