The winner and guest will stay for two nights, B&B, in a superior room at Minster Mill, an Andrew Brownsword Hotel, in the Oxfordshire village of Minster Lovell. Set in 65 acres on the banks of the River Windrush, Minster Mill completed a multimillion-pound makeover in 2019, and offers guests a sense of luxury defined by friendly, attentive service, lush fabrics and delicious food. The Masterchef: The Professionals semi-finalist Tom Moody presides over the restaurant, which has been awarded three AA rosettes for quality, and one three-course dinner for two, excluding wine, is included in the prize. Also included is two-hour access to the spa and its indoor pool.
Sitting on the southeastern edge of the Cotswolds area of outstanding natural beauty, the hotel is perfectly placed for a mix of big country walks, tours of Blenheim Palace and trips into Oxford. For details, call 01993 774 441 or visit minstermill.co.uk.
The prize must be taken between September 6 and December 10, 2021, subject to availability. The prize must be booked at least two weeks in advance and cannot be amended once booked.
Where Was I?
“Crikey: these windows need cleaning,” I muttered as I peered into a coffee shop in a large town. “I can barely see inside.”
“Why would you want to?” Friend asked.
“So I’ll know if it’s my kind of café,” I told him.
“Don’t be such a nosy parker,” he moaned. “Let’s get a takeaway and move on.”
I knew why he was in a hurry. He’d wanted to visit a local nature reserve, based around a series of shallow lakes — and quick as a flash I’d agreed, on condition that we went to the town centre just north of it first. Now my urban tour was supplanting his wetland one. First I’d wanted to peer at the site of a former canalside staithe, made famous by a writer who stayed in the town 85 years ago. Then I’d paid my respects at a statue of an entertainer (mother: Eliza), born here 32 years before that.
Now, coffee in hand, I was full of beans, and suggested seeing the huge food processing plant in the town’s western suburbs. Friend refused. OK, how about the sixth form college two miles south-southwest of it? The members of a band who shot to fame in the 1990s met there. Friend was leaning on a lamppost, looking weary. “I want birdsong, not rock songs,” he groaned.
By the time we reached the nature reserve the light was fading. So we couldn’t see much of the eight wetlands from which it’s formed. But we could hear the residents: willow ****, sedge warblers and water rails among them. Then we had to go. Friend sighed. It had been, for him, a bittersweet symphony.
— Sean Newsom
- What is the name of the large town
Wigan
2 What is the name of the local nature reserve
Wigan Flashes
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