By Erica Crompton
Many mental health professionals will tell you to meditate or go on a yoga retreat for better well-being, but I always find the best breaks involve fun like a mid-week pint and lunch with a loved one. We arrive at Newmarket at 1pm on the Friday and take lunch in the town’s famed Tack Room restaurant set within the National Horseracing Museum’s grounds, a renovated stables that still houses a few horses and Shetland ponies. I take the crispiest bacon with avocado on sourdough break which is good. Next it’s time to check into our hotel. Presiding at the town-centre end of Newmarket’s millionaire row is Bedford Lodge Spa and Hotel, all white, clean and pristine. On arrival I make an instant guess that this place is well-loved by the busy car park. The hotel’s website doesn’t quite do this hotel justice – it’s accessible, yes, but doesn’t compromise on stylish interiors – a green bench flanked by a 1970s indoor plant or two cosy velvet armchairs to pull-up to dinner. On the Friday evening I took a few pints in the hotel’s bar and enjoyed complimentary nuts and olives until 7pm, before a two course meal. Forget about mindfulness and sitting in the therapists chair – the best thing for my mental health is a hearty meal with a Pimms on a summer’s evening, all taken in the comfort of a cosy armchair and with the best company of my boyfriend. A day at the races was also good the following day. I travel with Paul in a wheelchair and felt like a VIP sitting in the accessible stools outside, by the horses finishing line – plus we had the area all to ourselves.
We returned to the hotel that night and ordered an Uber Eats of fish and chips to the hotel room which we had with a bottle of English whiskey bought from the nearby Majestic Wines. It is my philosophy that live is short and should be lived well, and with all the trimmings – forget boring mindful retreats and stale-old yoga breaks and head to Newmarket for fun, food and flutter on the horses this summer.
- Erica stayed at Bedford Lodge Hotel (www.bedfordlodgehotel.co.uk) where rooms cost from £135 on B&B basis. General Admission to the National Horseracing Museum (www.nhrm.co.uk) costs £15 per adult and kids go free.
