chequers (not gordon's place)

On the way back to the Manor from Stratford S took over the navigating so I could relax. More motorways than winding, little roads through quaint, little villages. Spotting a sign he said, "Luton that's right, that's where we want to go."
Because that's where the car had to go, but the more I thought about it and the prospect of arriving in Luton at lunchtime the more depressed I got. S asked what was wrong clued in by my bottom lip sticking out but I told him nothing was wrong.
Suddenly we left the motorway and were once again on meandering country roads and he did seem to be randomly taking turns left and right. Having been given a reprieve on a return trip to Luton I kept quiet. I spotted a huge country house. I swear it was the house they used as Pemberley in Pride & Prejudice but as Colin Firth wasn't strolling the grounds in a wet shirt I couldn't be sure. I thought maybe we were headed to this place having aborted our mission to Bletchley Park, which wasn't quite what we expected, the gates weren't anyway. We actually reversed out of the driveway as crazed codebreaking fans clutching their simon singh books gasped at our foolishness.
Instead all of a sudden a nice pub appeared in front of us with lots of cars in the car park (good sign) and a large play area/garden. And so we stopped for lunch at chequers and it was very nice indeed. S said he spotted the umbrellas from miles away and just drove towards them. Lucky we didn't end up at an umbrella emporium.

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And jack loved the playground.