Whatever Happened to That Weekend Away We Keep Talking About?

Getting a group of old friends together should be simple. You like each other. You want to see each other. You may even have been going away together for years.

But life has an irritating habit of getting involved.

Jobs change. Families grow. People move. Diaries become ridiculous.

Before long, friends who once spent every weekend together are managing a dinner twice a year — and spending half of that saying, “We really should do this more often.”

Perhaps it's time to stop saying it.

Friendship Changes — And That's OK

The wonderful thing about old friendships is that they survive different versions of us.

You may have met at school, university or your first job.

Perhaps you once shared holidays involving questionable accommodation and even more questionable decisions.

Now the same group might contain grandparents, business owners, retirees and people who regard being awake after midnight as an extreme sport.

The friendship hasn't disappeared.

Life around it has changed.

And sometimes friendships need something bigger than another hurried lunch to give everyone the chance to reconnect.

A weekend away does exactly that.

Iconic doors at Monnow Valley Studios

Make the Journey Worthwhile

When friends live in different parts of the country, meeting for dinner becomes complicated.

Somebody inevitably travels much farther than everybody else.

A weekend makes the effort worthwhile.

Choose somewhere like the Wye Valley and suddenly the journey isn't simply about reaching one another.

You're going somewhere.

You have countryside to explore, towns to wander around, pubs to discover and experiences to share.

And because you're staying for several nights, nobody has to race home after lunch.

Do Something You've Never Done Together

Old friends come with an enormous shared history.

That's part of their charm.

But there's something rather lovely about adding a completely new story.

Perhaps you get onto the River Wye together.

Maybe you explore somewhere in the Forest of Dean, arrange a food or drink experience, visit a vineyard, discover a historic property or book somebody to come to the house and run an activity.

It doesn't need to be dramatic.

The point is that you're doing something together again.

A new memory gets added to all the old ones.

Bring Back the Stories Nobody Else Understands

Every long-standing group of friends has them.

The stories that have been told approximately 847 times.

The holiday disaster.

The terrible boyfriend.

The night somebody did something they still deny despite photographic evidence.

To everyone else, they're meaningless.

To your group, they're history.

Give old friends a couple of uninterrupted evenings together and eventually those stories emerge.

Then somebody remembers a detail everyone else had forgotten.

Another story follows.

And suddenly it's one o'clock in the morning.

That's difficult to recreate over a two-hour restaurant booking.

Enjoying the firepit at Bowely Hall

Your Weekend Doesn't Need to Be Frantic

One reason group weekends never make it out of the WhatsApp chat is that people imagine they need organising.

They don't.

You don't need seventeen activities and a laminated itinerary.

Choose one or two things you'd genuinely enjoy.

Perhaps Saturday morning is a walk followed by a long pub lunch.

Maybe some of the group visit Monmouth while others do something more energetic.

Perhaps you all stay at the house until midday because breakfast turned into coffee and nobody felt any great urge to move.

That's allowed.

You're not trying to “do” the Wye Valley.

You're spending time with your friends.

Making the most of the bar at Bowley Hall

The House Becomes Part of Your Story

Hotels are useful places.

But they're rarely the thing you talk about ten years later.

A big house is different.

It becomes part of the weekend.

The kitchen where everyone gathered each morning.

The dining room where Saturday dinner lasted three hours.

The chair somebody claimed within seven minutes of arriving and refused to relinquish all weekend.

The garden where you sat with coffee.

Early morning coffee at Highcloud Farm

The sitting room where someone produced an ancient photograph and caused complete chaos.

When everyone stays under one roof, the accommodation isn't simply where you sleep.

It's where the weekend happens.

Nobody Has to Be the Host

This is another advantage that becomes increasingly important as friendship groups grow.

Nobody needs to volunteer their own home.

Nobody spends Thursday evening changing beds.

Nobody wakes on Sunday morning wondering why there are 14 wine glasses in their kitchen.

A large holiday house belongs to all of you for the weekend.

The cooking can be shared. You can keep meals easy, eat out, arrange something special or let the person who genuinely enjoys cooking take charge while everybody else performs highly important wine-pouring duties.

Nobody is hosting.

Everyone is away.

You May Be Surprised How Quickly You Reconnect

This is perhaps the nicest part.

At first, everybody arrives carrying bags and news.

There are updates about work, children, grandchildren and everything that's happened since you last met.

Then somewhere around Friday evening, something shifts.

The years between meetings seem to disappear.

The same humour returns.

The same people interrupt the same people.

Somebody starts laughing before they've even finished telling the story because everyone already knows what is coming.

By Saturday morning, it feels as though you do this all the time.

Perhaps You Should

And there's an idea.

Instead of finishing the weekend by saying, “We absolutely must do this again,” choose next year's date before you leave.

Make it your thing.

One weekend every year when everyone knows where they'll be.

The location might change.

The people hopefully don't.

Big House Holiday Lets has large houses across the Wye Valley, Forest of Dean, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire where groups of friends can get everyone back under one roof.

Because friendships don't necessarily need more messages, likes or promises to arrange something soon.

Sometimes they need Friday to Sunday.

So go and find that group chat.

Scroll back until you find:

“We really MUST all get away together.”

Then do something radical.

Book it.

Big House Holiday Lets:
www.bhhl.co.uk
enquiries@bhhl.co.uk
01600 732 050