Budmarsh Lodge Picnic

Budmarsh Lodge

I celebrated my 1st day of December leave with a picnic at a wonderful place in the Magaliesburg called Budmarsh Lodge.

Budmarsh Lodge is a 5 star venue who have won the 2014 Trip Advisor award for Excellence.

Upon arriving at the venue, we were personally greeted by a staff member (nice touch) and escorted to our little spot under the trees.

Our view

Complete with pillow and blankets, I could not wait to lie down and breathe in the smell of the freshly cut grass and just be at peace.

Wine on the grass

After bringing our bottle of wine, we were treated to a feast of goodies; scones with strawberry jam and cream (homemade), finger sandwiches. Delicious coleslaw and herb salad with micro-greens grown on the premises.

Fresh breadrolls & butter, cold meats and vegetable quiches. It all went down very quickly!

Fruit

To end off our meal, we ate some of the most delicious fruit I have ever tasted and we left the decadent chocolate tartlet for last. There was only 1 to share - but with the amount of food we had eaten, 1 was sufficient.

With full bellies, we took a walk around the grounds. 

Lakes alive with chattering ducks diving for snacks, little birds flittering back and forwards and a few butterflies made me feel as if I was in an animated Disney movie.

We came across this huge dandelion and I resisted all impulse to blow it apart. It was just too pretty to destroy.

HUGE!

Still waters

We were in heaven, it was a wonderful day to spend my first day on leave.

When you spend a day like this, you are reminded how much time you spend indoors. Imprisoned in an office clicking away on your keyboard.

It has made me more determined than ever to get out more and see what my city has to offer. Where do you like to spend outdoors?

To visit their website or book for a picnic, high tea or a Sunday Lunch , click here

Diner en Blanc - with an extra serving of Hail

Gone are the days of elegant sophistication and refined dinners where smartly dressed guests participated in inane conversation. 

Woman yawned politely behind their hand and men downed their scotch - each waiting for the time when it would be polite to leave.

Forward to 2014. 

Setting Up

Diner en Blanc - a concept that began 25 years ago in Paris. 
Read more about it here

People dressed head to toe in their white finery. Shoes so new, they blind you.
Armed with picnic baskets and flowers, the excited attendees alight the bus and walk to their secret destination - the Library Lawns on the WITS University Campus.

Elegance amongst the majestic buildings

The view that awaited us was beautiful. Imagine a flurry of activity in a sea of white. It was a beautiful sight - if I hadn't been so darn excited I would have focused my camera and actually taken a photo that was clear enough to show you!

My sunglasses are definitely not a part of the theme!

10 minutes were allowed for us to set up a table with as much decor (all in white) as we were able to carry. (I don't think the Team Leader was actually clock watching - as she was quite busy running around herding her team in)

A couple next to us had brought a little tree, complete with bubbles to insert some baby's breath and flameless votives - the effect was gorgeous.

Left: Our decor | Middle: Neighbour

The finished result

Feathers & Pearls are an easy way to add luxury to table decor without spending a lot of money. To add some ambiance, Candles or Fairy Lights are always a winner.
We opted to forego candles as the wind is bound to cause some mischief with the candles.

Feathers & Pearls

We fell in love with a little white orchid (Orchids are my favourite flower) and thought it would be a lovely reminder of the event.

How cute is my T behind all the feathers & flowers?

The balloons tied to our chairs were bobbing up and down and ruining my photos, so I pretended to be a model:

"Staring at Nothing"pose

The obligatory "DuckFace"

The "Oh look, casually drinking wine"pose

We had just gotten through our starter when a light drizzle began to fall.
This was expected - with 1 hand covering our wine (diluted wine is a big no-no) we donned our clear/white ponchos.
The mood was festive and the rain added to that extra bit of excited atmosphere that enveloped us.

Romance in the rain

Without any warning, there was a clap of thunder & hail began to pelt down. Imagine a scene in a disaster movie - this is pretty much the scene that unfolded before us.
I grabbed the precious orchid to hide it under the table, and reached for the camera, handbag and our glass of wine and we fled.
Hail stones were beating don on our heads and my exposed legs as we ran through puddles and fallen leaves.
We unsuccessfully tried to huddle up in an alcove, but there were too many people. We heard someone exclaim"The Great Hall"!"and we dashed after them into the warm protection of a building.

Settling down we realised that we had successfully salvaged our wine - running full speed I had not messed a drop - and T had only a teeny little splash on the leg of his pants.

Grinning at our foresight, we happily drank our wine as we watched the drenched people around us trying to get dry.
Apart from the water dripping from our hair, the top half of our bodies were relatively dry.

Drowned Rats - but at least we have wine

With some time to kill while the storm raged outside, we explored the eery corridors of the university.

Isn't it funny how all universities and old hospitals have that creepy echo in the corridors?

Despite the rain & being stranded by our bus or the discovery that our basket had been ransacked by looters, we had still laughed hard and had so much fun - this will definitely go down in the memory banks as a wonderful and special memory for the 2 of us.

Lasting memories

If this event happens in your part of the world, I suggest you start saving for it now.

It is a bit on the expensive side, but if you watch the videos of what to expect (lighting sparklers and dancing) & what we experienced in an hour - I think it will be well worth it.

And in case you are wondering - the orchid survived it all & now has a place of pride in my loft.

Sometimes...

... Friends & Wine are all you need

Tipsy Fun Times

The Weekend That Was - Pinotage on Tap

I am surprised at how lucid my thoughts are as I type this post, considering I got myself extremely drunk tipsy yesterday at a lovely wine festival called Pinotage On Tap - hosted by Diemersfontein Wines at Oakfield Farm.

The Spring weather was perfect as we all made ourselves comfortable around the hay bales scattered around the gorgeous wedding venue. If only the trees had had a few more leaves it would have made for prettier pictures.

We were each given a little bag filled with a cheese board, a bottle of juice to keep hydrated (I am only drinking mine today - who needs juice when you have unlimited wine?!) and a wine glass.

Our goody bag

Tee and I perfecting our Selfies with a darn heavy camera!

Smile because we have wine!

This lovely lady brought us food, we showed her a lot of tipsy appreciation!

Chicken Satay and Spring Rolls

Claudz & MrB - Still sober

Some of the many interesting outfits

Tee having a little lie-down

The awesome part of this day was that you could stumble & weave your way to the giant cask of wine and fill up your glass as often as you liked!

The Diemersfontein Pinotage is 1 of my new favourite wines. 

It is a chocolate coffee Pinotage that tastes like a cold drink and it is not a very heavy wine. Meaning that when your limit is usually 2 glasses, you can go up to 6 or 7 glasses as long as you have a strategically placed pillar or hay-bale to help you stand upright.

And the wine was flowing

A reprieve from the drinking and spinning

Dessert was divine. Cup of hot chocolate served with marshmellows, wafers and delicious little chocolate caramel cups.

Chocolatey goodness

MrBs foot - what a waste of wine!

Happy Camper

SMILE

MrB made a hit at the show - he even had an audience screaming for him to take off his clothes. In deference to them both, I have opted to keep the stripping photo private!

Showing off his awesome balancing skills

I spotted Claudz at the event thanks to her previously posted OOTD on her blog. 

Throughout the entire day, she managed to look like an absolute lady while I flopped around in the hay!

Still the lady

Time to go home

I got to ride this baby, but I don't remember much!

I rode this mechanical bull, but I can't tell you how long I rode it for... 1 minute I was on it, the next minute I was lying on the soft floor!

If you have the opportunity to go to this event in the future, go for it! And here are a few tips to avoid looking like novices:

1. Bring a blanket and pillows
2. If you bring a gazebo, make sure you know how to set it up to avoid sniggers from onlookers
3. Bring wet wipes for when you spill your wine or chocolate sauce
4. Bring your camera so that friends can take photos of you while you are incapacitated... no wait, that's not right!! Bring your camera to take some fun photos of the day. Yes - sounds better!
5. Bring a hat and sunblock, not everybody is lucky enough to get the shade of a tree
6. Make sure you drink wine, otherwise you will end up paying for everything else like beer and water.