Friday, 7 November 2008
An early night was, as it turned out, undoubtedly the smart option. Through the night, the wind picked up, not enough to disturb the slumber at first, but in the predawn hours as the wind howled and the rain swept across in scuds of varying intensity a warm bed was the place to be.
Somewhere around two the wind dropped and the thunder moved in, eerie in the silence and threatening enough to make a return to sleep a difficult proposition. But with several hours of sleep already under the belt, lying half-awake listening to the rolls of thunder gave me a chance to think back over the previous couple of days.
Madam’s research activities had, once again, paid off.
She’d looked at a number of possibilities before booking us into one of the cottages that operate under the name of Lavender Blue. There are two cottages on site, one (Tuscany) occupying the upper level of the premises while the second (Provence) is tucked away on the lower level of the 130-year old building on the northern outskirts of Auburn.
We’ve stayed in as number of similar establishments in a variety of locations over the past few years, and while all of them had their own particular strong points, Tuscany was definitely among the very best of them. For some, the fact that the Main North Road runs past the front door might be a problem, but the passing traffic noise wasn’t enough to disturb a good night’s sleep.
Thunder, on the other hand, was a different proposition.
Each morning we’d managed a hearty breakfast from the provisions supplied and that was after we’d fashioned a light supper out of the supplies on the first night. There was plenty of room, the view from the upper levels of the building was wonderful and everything that we needed was on hand, even if an item sometimes took a little finding.
The presence of a sauna and access to bicycles were a definite bonus as well. If we’re back in the area and Tuscany is available I don’t see any point in looking elsewhere.