The Serial Hen

The Serial Hen

Published on Nov 20, 2007

The first Hen Weekend in March was just the start of a very busy year of Hen and Stag Weekends for us all – this year seems to have been the year to get married!

‘What can we do that has not been done before?’ is the daunting dilemma facing every Best Man or Bridesmaid… Spa Pamper Day? Treasure Hunt? Clay Shooting? Or Karting? Then the next dilemma being… ‘Where do we stay with a large group and a limited budget?’….Hotel? B&B? Or rent a house or cottage?

It is always difficult to find a location to suit everyone when all your friends are dotted all over the country. It has to be accessible by plane, train or automobile! It also depends on what the Hen is looking for… a chill out in the countryside or a wild time in the city!

Hen No. 1. Hannah was looking for ‘Hen In The City’ style sophistication and Edinburgh ticked all the right boxes! Hannah’s Bridesmaids, her sisters Lucy and Sophie, did an amazing job organising the whole weekend and had managed to find amazing funky, affordable apartments in the Old Town part of the city.

When all the Hens had arrived on the Friday evening, we headed to a fab little French restaurant called Le Cafe St Honore and it was almost as though we were in Paris itself and managed to natter the night away catching up on all the news, seeing old friends and meeting new.

The main districts of Edinburgh are the Georgian New Town, the medieval Old Town and the Port of Leith. Edinburgh Castle dominates the urban landscape of the city so we decided to have a morning of culture and go and explore what this amazing medieval city had to offer. It was then onto The Royal Mile, which has been described as one of the most beautiful streets in the world, which links Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse and which plays host to the famous Hogmanay celebrations every year.

In the afternoon, the Hens all headed for George Street for Cocktail Making Lessons. This was brilliant fun and it was something that none of us had ever done before. If we didn’t know our Screaming Orgasm from our Long Island Ice Tea then we soon did – as this was the ultimate cocktail making course!
With a glass of something fizzy in hand, it all began with an informative talk, covering the history of cocktails, the cocktail terminology and tricks used by the experts, followed by a couple of demonstrations before we were all let loose at the bar to make our favourite Mojitos, Cosmopolitans or even experimenting by designing our very own! Move over Tom Cruise, here we come!!

Has anyone else been on a Hen Weekend to Edinburgh? What did you get up to?

So, after Edinburgh, it was onto The Cotswolds for Hen Weekend No. 2…