chaumi
Well-known member
Billed as an unprecedented, premium-level experience, 21st-century party-time extravaganza, unlikely ever to be repeated.
But perhaps more aptly described as...
A potentially mildly entertaining congregation of (likely) aging punters and horse racing fans, talking horses (and maybe other interesting subjects), watching races, hopefully getting a winner, having a few if so desiring, eating some good food (there is a Chaumi plan to make a M'Hancha, done it before and not much can go wrong), which may or may not ever happen again...
Chaumi is throwing open the doors in a celebration of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.
Pickle, the spaniel/pointer cross who normally rules the house but won't attend, did identify some flaws in the plan. Mainly around the likelihood that, like Chaumi, any potential attendees will typically have locked themselves away for 3 or 4 days every Festival for the last up to 60 odd years, refusing to do any remote form of work, household chores, non-critical shopping, ferrying people, walking the dog at any point in the afternoon, making excessive cups of tea, etc etc.
Additionally, said Festival race-watchers may well have plans to settle themselves at home in their favorite armchair, not moving between the hours of midday until gone 6, and then only to go for a wee, a sleep, some analysis of the next day's runners, or to eat something that someone else made.
And most will be entirely comfortable with that admirable routine, with no need to ever change it. Plus, plenty would also prefer betting with their spare £s rather than spending them on getting to somewhere else.
But, I said to Pickle, one can still do a fair bit of that relaxed stuff chez Chaumi, and it might well be a fun, chilled-out, and possibly even lucrative/congratulatory/commiseratory event that, on the face of it, one may not have anticipated. No pressure, anyone can do whatever they want, go off for some me-time, disappear for a kip, etc
She agreed.
So...
Come for a cup of tea and a donut/cream & jam scone.
Come for a morning or afternoon.
Come and stay. (sadly, Chaumi has to be heading somewhere else on the Thursday morning, racing will still take precedence - as always - but just somewhere else).
Venue: Ashby-de-la-Zouch. A (fairly recently) renovated, extended bungalow. Clean, modern, 4 bedrooms (3 with en-suite), 2 sleepable sofas, several sleepable floor areas.
Backs directly onto the (northern outskirts of) the National Forest, plenty of pleasant walks within mins. Might even have dried up a bit by March. Small infra-red sauna in the garden room. Table tennis table (good quality).
Road links : a few mins drive off the M42
Nearest rail station : Tamworth. There should be direct trains Cheltenham - Tamworth and vice versa if anyone wanted to use it as a staging post, some may require a change at Birmingham. An hour or so on the straight-through train, if memory serves me right. It's about 90 mins driving to Cheltenham, nearly all motorway.
I think most routes from the south or the north are fairly straightforward, cross-country left to right, and r-l, are obviously more convoluted unless already central.
Tamworth Station is only a 15-minute drive, a Chaumi taxi would be a distinct possibility as long as outside race times.
(Quiet) pub : less than 50 yards away
All the supermarkets : 5 mins drive
Ashby : all the usual takeaways/restaurants, 30 mins walk, not much more than 5 mins drive
Local corner shop : has everything, just a little more expensive than supermarkets, 2 mins walk
All in all, it might work for anyone who wants to watch the racing (and talk about it, maybe), but in a different environment for a change. At least for a couple of days. At a push, it might even be doable for anyone traveling a long way to the Festival who wants to have a stopover point and/or wants to avoid Cheltenham accommodation prices.
Just DM if interested.
But perhaps more aptly described as...
A potentially mildly entertaining congregation of (likely) aging punters and horse racing fans, talking horses (and maybe other interesting subjects), watching races, hopefully getting a winner, having a few if so desiring, eating some good food (there is a Chaumi plan to make a M'Hancha, done it before and not much can go wrong), which may or may not ever happen again...
Chaumi is throwing open the doors in a celebration of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.
Pickle, the spaniel/pointer cross who normally rules the house but won't attend, did identify some flaws in the plan. Mainly around the likelihood that, like Chaumi, any potential attendees will typically have locked themselves away for 3 or 4 days every Festival for the last up to 60 odd years, refusing to do any remote form of work, household chores, non-critical shopping, ferrying people, walking the dog at any point in the afternoon, making excessive cups of tea, etc etc.
Additionally, said Festival race-watchers may well have plans to settle themselves at home in their favorite armchair, not moving between the hours of midday until gone 6, and then only to go for a wee, a sleep, some analysis of the next day's runners, or to eat something that someone else made.
And most will be entirely comfortable with that admirable routine, with no need to ever change it. Plus, plenty would also prefer betting with their spare £s rather than spending them on getting to somewhere else.
But, I said to Pickle, one can still do a fair bit of that relaxed stuff chez Chaumi, and it might well be a fun, chilled-out, and possibly even lucrative/congratulatory/commiseratory event that, on the face of it, one may not have anticipated. No pressure, anyone can do whatever they want, go off for some me-time, disappear for a kip, etc
She agreed.
So...
Come for a cup of tea and a donut/cream & jam scone.
Come for a morning or afternoon.
Come and stay. (sadly, Chaumi has to be heading somewhere else on the Thursday morning, racing will still take precedence - as always - but just somewhere else).
Venue: Ashby-de-la-Zouch. A (fairly recently) renovated, extended bungalow. Clean, modern, 4 bedrooms (3 with en-suite), 2 sleepable sofas, several sleepable floor areas.
Backs directly onto the (northern outskirts of) the National Forest, plenty of pleasant walks within mins. Might even have dried up a bit by March. Small infra-red sauna in the garden room. Table tennis table (good quality).
Road links : a few mins drive off the M42
Nearest rail station : Tamworth. There should be direct trains Cheltenham - Tamworth and vice versa if anyone wanted to use it as a staging post, some may require a change at Birmingham. An hour or so on the straight-through train, if memory serves me right. It's about 90 mins driving to Cheltenham, nearly all motorway.
I think most routes from the south or the north are fairly straightforward, cross-country left to right, and r-l, are obviously more convoluted unless already central.
Tamworth Station is only a 15-minute drive, a Chaumi taxi would be a distinct possibility as long as outside race times.
(Quiet) pub : less than 50 yards away
All the supermarkets : 5 mins drive
Ashby : all the usual takeaways/restaurants, 30 mins walk, not much more than 5 mins drive
Local corner shop : has everything, just a little more expensive than supermarkets, 2 mins walk
All in all, it might work for anyone who wants to watch the racing (and talk about it, maybe), but in a different environment for a change. At least for a couple of days. At a push, it might even be doable for anyone traveling a long way to the Festival who wants to have a stopover point and/or wants to avoid Cheltenham accommodation prices.
Just DM if interested.
