As much as I love the festive period it does get a bit hectic so being able to go away for the weekend or even a day just before Christmas is something Arran and I like to do each year. This year we went to Salisbury in Wiltshire, staying in the Mercure White Hart Hotel. I'd heard good things about their Christmas Market so the plan was to visit that and have a good wonder around the town and Salisbury Cathedral.
Salisbury is half hour away from Southampton on the train so after a leisurely morning at home we headed to central station to get to Salisbury in time for check in at 2pm. The station was a ten minute walk away from the hotel with the help of Google maps. Check in was quick and the receptionist was lovely, greeting us with a big smile. I didn't catch her name but we walked away armed with maps on the town and all the details we needed on the Christmas market and where to go for food.
Bills Restaurant was our first stop, where we ate juicy burgers with the best chips I've had in a long time. I really wish there was a Bills in Southampton! After lunch we walked down to the cathedral which is so beautiful. The sun was starting to set as we arrived and it cast a really beautiful light on it. We didn't realise you could go in and climb the spire so we're going to go back and do that in the Spring.
I didn't think the Christmas Market was all that special and was a little disappointed considering it was voted as one of the UK's top 5 Christmas markets last year. We didn't stay in the market long and just walked around Salisbury instead as they have a lot of quirky independent retailers. After more food at Wagamamas we headed back to the White Hart Hotel and climbed into the comfiest bed ever to let our food babies rest while we watched the X Factor. We sure know how to spend a night away. The bed was huge and I needed to do a little push and jump to get on and off of it. Short girl problems. I did have ten blissful hours sleep and woke up feeling really refreshed which was exactly what I needed.
Sunday started with a continental breakfast and a big pot of tea. The breakfast suite was really busy as there was a wedding booked in but the waiters were quick with their service and nobody was waiting too long. After filling up on pastries we climbed back in bed to enjoy the free WiFi before checking out and catching the train home. We had such a lovely time away and thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the White Hart Hotel.
*We were kindly gifted a nights stay in the White Hart Hotel with Mercure Hotels. All views/opinions are my own as always - see disclaimer.