Guildford

Recently, we took a day trip to the town of Guildford, a 45-minute train ride from Reading. It had been at least 17 years since I last went there on a trip with my aunt and uncle, and I remembered liking the place a lot. I specifically remembered sitting in the café at Debenhams looking out over the river and the willow trees. Though the Debenhams has since been knocked down, at least I got to see the view again!

However, nostalgia was not the only reason I wanted to return to Guildford; I was also very excited to see its castle! I love visiting castles and palaces, and even though Guildford's one is quite small, we really enjoyed visiting it. It sits on top of a hill in a park, which is beautifully looked after, and even has a dragon!

We then had a great time window shopping around the town centre. It's a really pretty place with a lot of old-fashioned charm.

We then wandered back over to the river to see the Yvonne Arnaud theatre and to explore a nice little park.

After it got dark, we bought hot chocolates and went back to the castle to see the Christmas lights. There was a big line of people queuing to buy tickets to go inside the park, but you could actually get a pretty great view from the outside. With the different coloured lights and decorations, the castle and the park looked really beautiful and magical.

I feel it's still a little early to celebrate Christmas, as it's not yet December, but to be fair, that hasn't stopped us from seeing these lights in Guildford or from going to the Winter Wonderland in Caversham twice! This is the first place we've lived where we've had the opportunity to go to these sorts of seasonal events, and we're looking forward to visiting more over the Christmas period!