UK Part III: Leicester

We were only here a few days but this short stay deserves its own post.  This is one of those places we probably never would have visited if we weren’t being budget conscious.  When I’ve mentioned to others that we are staying in the Leicester area, the response is typically ‘why’?  It’s not that it’s a bad place, it’s just doesn’t have the same typical tourist draw as other places in England.

The only criteria I had when booking was that I wanted to spend less than $100/night and that it needed to be somewhere between London and Glasgow…a pretty wide window to search. 

I came across a place near Melton Mowbray, just down the road from Leicester.   It’s basically a one-room rustic cabin with an outhouse (with plumbing, thankfully).  If it weren’t for budget this wouldn’t have been considered.  But when I kept reading about this rental, it seemed more and more interesting.  It’s on a river and owned by a couple that make canoes and hold canoe-building workshops where you can build your own canoe.   We would have access to canoes to paddle along the river while staying there.  

We arrived to find a very eclectic homestead.   The main house was actually an old inactive train station that was converted to a home.  The couple had built a number of rustic cabins on their property and operate them all on Airbnb.   I won’t lie, we had to reset our expectations and reset our standards for what we are comfortable with for accommodation.  Things weren’t exactly clean (since this was a cabin), there were many bugs – dead and alive – in the outhouse, the shower was a longer walk away from the cabin and was used by all guests in the other cabins, there were very few amenities for preparing food, and the wifi did not work.  On top of all of this, it rained almost continuously for the 3 days we were there. 

We could have focused on all of those negatives but instead we adapted our mindset and embraced all the positives that this place offered us.  There was a great yard with homemade playground equipment including a treehouse.  There was a covered patio with a picnic table where we could sit and enjoy the view and feel very peaceful in the surrounding nature.  We were all sleeping in one room, which could be a negative, but we really enjoyed it.  It actually felt very comfortable to all be in our beds in this cozy cabin.   When I was working on my computer in the evenings, Brett started reading Treasure Island aloud to the kids – a perfect nighttime activity in our cabin that probably wouldn’t have happened if we’d had wifi.   

We had no great ambitions for sightseeing while here, just to enjoy the property and take care of a few errands.   First requirement was for some raincoats and ‘wellies’.  We had just bought the kids new sneakers in London and they were quickly destroying them in the mud around the cabin while searching for snails and worms and frogs.  It was raining continuously and we didn’t want to stop them from their exploring so  we went on drove into Leicester to get raincoats and boots.   

We also found a travel clinic in Leicester to get our travel vaccinations for our upcoming parts of this trip in Southeast Asia.  This was something we had planned to do before leaving Portland but ended up not having time.  Our kids are scared of needles so we were expecting this would be difficult but they took it to a whole new level.  There was screaming and crying (them) as well as begging and bribing (Brett and I).  Iain handled it very well but the other two ramped themselves up into a very irrational state of fear.  Unfortunately a couple of the vaccinations require multiple doses over the next month so we are destined to deal with this again..and again on this trip.

It was a very unwelcome surprise to find out how much travel vaccinations cost.  Based on our planned destinations, we chose to get vaccinated for rabies, Japanese encephalitis, and cholera.  Brett and I also got vaccinated for Hep A and B because neither of us could remember the last time we had been vaccinated.  The grand total for this first dose of vaccines was $1500.  By the time we finish, we will have spent more than $3000 on vaccinations.

Getting back to the positives of this stay, one of the interesting things about the cabin was that there was an easel on the outdoor table along with a wooden box full of acrylic paint.  Iain has a strong interest in art and started painting.  At some point, he asked Brett for help and over the course of that three days, Brett realized that he has an interest in, and aptitude for, painting.   He really enjoyed the singular focus of painting, a way to really relax and let his mind go.  It was also a really good activity for Brett and Iain to bond over.  This spiderman painting was their masterpiece.

On the last day, the rain stopped for long enough for us to finally get out on a canoe.  Unbelievable that my Canadian kids first experience on a canoe wasn’t until they were 6 and 8, and in England!   It was a lovely but short trip down the river – we couldn’t go very far because the water level was too high.  Still it was fun and very memorable.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here and we’re really proud that we chose to see the beauty of the place rather than focus on some of the negatives.  A lesson in keeping an open mind.

Onward to Bishop’s castle!