We have all had the most fantastic weekend celebrating my sister Lucy’s birthday.  We stayed in an incredible house called ‘Stonehall’ in Portland, Dorset.  Stonehall is a church and vestry which has been tastefully converted in to luxury holiday accommodation by friends of my sister’s.  There is a mixture of old and new, traditional and contemporary but mainly comfort and space to relax.

This is the shutter in my bedroom.  It was all so charming. The little stone staircase linking the church to the vestry. One of 2 downstairs kitchens. The upstairs balcony in the church.One of many seating areas; this one is underneath the balcony in the church. The huge fireplace in the church where I spent many happy hours, sitting and chatting and quaffing far too much wine. A seating area upstairs. The large upstairs kitchen and sitting room. View from the upstairs kitchen window. Breakfast time. View from the upstairs terrace. On Saturday morning I went for a lovely walk along Chesil Beach with Lara, my sister Abi and my neice Charlotte. We walked a long way along the ridge of Chesil Beach.
We then walked back beside the sea and headed to the cute huts, seen here in the distance. This was a beautiful place to walk and even more so when the sun finally came out. We wanted to walk further but we had a party to help prepare for.  This is Stonehall – what a stunning place to return “home” to. The converted church made a spectacular venue for a party. Lara expertly made scones for 50 with the assistance of lots of little helpers. We had so much food. Quiche, an amazing salad (recipe from ‘Polpo’) made with courgette, rocket and parmesan, potato and radish salad,  a green salad, peppers, olives, houmous, tzatziki, a roasted vegetable, chick peas and couscous salad, artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes and guacamole.  Well, that is what I ate.  There was also a tuna salad, hot smoked salmon, meat pies, home cooked ham and roast chicken. Far too much to drink. Plus cheese.  The cheese was awesome.  I was certainly not vegan this weekend!

Neither was I any good at my diet as I ate far too much of everything.  I particularly ate too much cheese and sooooo many cakes. When everything was ready we enjoyed some bubbles and waited for the other visitors to arrive. We had about 50 people for lunch to celebrate Lucy’s birthday. Me and my lovely sisters – Lucy is on the right. This was the perfect venue for hosting a large lunch.  There were so many cosy little spaces to sit and eat and chat and drink.  I loved catching up with Aunties, Uncle, cousins and some of Lucy’s closest friends. More tea vicar?  Yes please, and another scone with clotted cream and jam.

In the evening, some played cards,

others played snooker.   In the morning, after a leisurely breakfast and time to read the papers, we went up the hill to admire the view over Portland and Chesil Beach. The Olympic sailing took place here and this sculpture of the Olympic rings commemorates the great event.   I think we have all enhanced the sculpture. We also went to the lighthouse at Portland Bill. This was a very dramatic place to walk. Superb examples of coastal erosion. Such a pretty place too.  It was very sad packing up to leave as we had such a lovely time.  Lunch was easy though because we had so many leftovers.

Thank you VERY much Lucy and Trevor for hosting such a wonderful weekend.  It was a real privilege to be there and to celebrate with you all.

Stonehall is available for rent and you can find the details about it here.