This is the first Sunday morning, or any morning in fact, in the past 19 months since my son was born that I haven’t woken up with him. This is in itself, both a treat and a trauma.
While we have slipped away for a bit of R&R at The Richmond Hill Hotel, he has spent the night with his YiaYia & Papou (Grenglish for Grandmother & Grandfather) a mere 5 minutes away in Wimbledon.
YiaYia has been looking forward to this night since the very first mention of it last October. When we arrived to drop him off yesterday afternoon, she already had 4 delicious Greek dishes on the go in the kitchen, some homemade (low salt) houmous, a huge bowl of jelly and all of his favourite fruits chilling in the fridge all ready for snacking on. It’s Baby Room Service at it’s very best and puts The Richmond Hill Hotel to shame, but more on that later…
Laid out in his bedroom (poor Auntie BB has been downgraded to a ground floor room) were brand spanking new PJs, which she warmed on the radiator before putting him in them. To his travel cot, she had fashioned a handmade mattress topper for extra comfort. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that my darling son would be perfectly happy here, I just hoped he would want to come back home with us at the end of his stay.
This is not our first time at The Richmond Hill Hotel. The first time we stayed here was last September for our son’s Greek Orthodox Christening at St George’s Church in Kingston-upon-Thames. Rather bizarrely, they decided to allocate us a room directly above a function room, which was playing host to a wedding reception that night. Unsurprisingly, none of us got any sleep that night. There were a few other minor incidents during our 2 night stay here that when I was emailed an online questionnaire to fill in a few days later, I felt compelled to complete it with brutal honesty. In my defence, I assumed it would be anonymous, but to their credit, the hotel responded immediately and offered us a complimentary night to restore our faith in the hotel so here we are again. Our experience has been much more positive this time. Our room was at the front of the hotel, overlooking the river – tick. There was a 40th birthday celebration at the hotel last night – we knew this because we stood in line behind the hired cabaret singer at reception, yet we slept peacefully in our super kingsize, blissfully unaware – tick. As we had left our son behind this trip, it meant we BOTH got to enjoy the pool and spa facilities this time – tick tick tick (that’s one each for sauna, steam room and jacuzzi!) Only thing to let RHH down this time was that they slightly messed up our room service order and served it luke warm. Whatever.
When Auntie BB came to pick us up she said that our son had been very well behaved although he had tinkled all over YiaYia’s carpet… whoops. Am sure he’ll still be welcomed back with open arms for another 5-star experience soon though. At Easter, in fact, for more Greek celebrations. Next time, we’ll be staying the night too!
Beautiful!!! I love it Smudgerella!!! Welcome to the world of blogging, you are going to become obsessed. And heaps of stories and pics of Zachy please. Lots of love,
St. Murphy
Stuff the Richmond Hill Hotel. I want to stay with YiaYia :0) Can’t wait to hear more Smudge.
Can I come and stay there too Smudge? More of the same please X
I relate to the euphoria of emotions that one feels that first night when your baby does not wake up in your arms! Don’t they grow up fast? The time spent away, albeit for a short period, is always rejuvenating. Zachy sure had fun!