A tale from a travelling hat

Last month I had a very special weekend away at The Petwood Hotel in Lincolnshire. I went with my family and our family friends. It was special as a baby was born in each family in 2013 and this was the first time all of the three generations would get to meet up. It was fabulous to see everyone and have the babies meet each other. We enjoyed ourselves so much!

The Petwood was planned in 1905 as a bungalow which is hard to imagine when you see the first photo. These extensions were added from 1908 and Petwood was the home of a Baroness Von Eckhardstein. It is located in Woodhall Spa which was a very popular place for spa treatments in Edwardian times.

During the Second World War the Petwood was requisitioned by the RAF and was the Officer's Mess for the 617 'Dambusters' squadron, who I talked about in this post. The hotel has lots of related memorabilia and aside from being a beautiful place to stay it is also an interesting place to poke around.

The weekend was special for another reason - I had a treasure in my possession which I thought would look particularly at home in the hotel and I was hoping to get some good photographs of it there. My visit had luckily coincided with my turn to have Tanith's fabulous travelling hat. If you have not seen this before get over to Tanith's fantastic blog and catch up on the people and places that the hat has travelled to so far. Having watched it make it's way through blog land to me I was so excited to unpack it and try this gorgeous little hat on for myself. Do you want to see it?

Let us go in the front door.

We better study the map to get our bearings.

I think I know where I am going. 

Always important to locate the dining room!

Getting my order in at the Squadron bar.

Looking at the memorabilia.

Going to investigate the rest of the hotel.

A most comfortable window seat with a good view of guests arriving.

Having a chat.

Admiring the wood panelling.

Catching a glimpse in a handy mirror.

Heading downstairs.

Catching the sunshine.

Resting in the lounge.

Warming up by the fire.

Considering a turn around the grounds.

Back inside.

I enjoyed my time with the travelling hat very much, I loved wearing it. I paired it with a modern but vintage appropriate dress, a vintage brooch in matching colours and my felt leaf belt which I hand sewed from a 1940's pattern. Thank you so much to Tanith for creating this hat and sending it out on it's travels around the world. I look forward to seeing where it goes next!