Chocolate Hotel

There are many ways to spend a weekend… and as it was our two-year anniversary, my boyfriend and I chose to spend our weekend in Bournemouth, staying in The Chocolate Boutique Hotel.

I know what you are thinking, my sister has asked me the same question already, and unfortunately, it was not a hotel made out of ‘Hotel Chocolate’ chocolate. However, it was a chocolate themed hotel and apparently the birthplace of the chocolate fountain. The hotel provided, as any self-respecting chocolate hotel would, freshly made chocolate cocktails (I want to say we called them Choc-tails, but I only just thought of that and anyway we didn’t have any). For the discerning chocolate tourist, there was a complimentary chocolate fountain, complete with strawberries and marshmallows, in the room; and there was a free chocolate making kit thrown into the bargain. I challenge you to find any woman who would say no to any of the above.

Yes, Bournemouth is an absolute trek away from my current residence in the shire of Shrop, and yes, my boyfriend was submitted to the odd “aren’t you fifty years too young to go to go to Bournemouth” comment; mostly from his parents. But, we were by the sea, the sun was shining and we had a tasty chocolate fountain and a bottle of champagne waiting for us in the room… Lovely.

Incidentally, as we felt cheeky asking for flutes and accessories for our non-hotel-bought-champers, I learnt his weekend that with the right company Champagne is perfectly quaffable and actually tastes best when cooled in a sink full of cool water and drunk from glass tumblers, as long as there is a strawberry on hand to decorate the rim of the glass.