Rain, Planes and Buckets of Champagne

Enjoying day 3 of the Farnborough Air Show at The Aviator Hotel, Farnborough

I think we can all largely agree that Britain + Summer = rain showers. [Ed's note: This logic made sense when I wrote it, which was before these last few swelteringly sunny days occurred. Clearly they're a sign of the apocalypse or possible incoming locusts storms, a la, The Bible. But who can be sure.]

Anyway, last Wednesday, my parents and I bundled into our car and hotfooted it down the motorway to Farnborough where we spent the day eating, drinking, plane spotting, glaring menacingly at dark clouds and generally having a great time at a hotel where the toilets are labelled 'washrooms' and bottles of Ren soap and moisturiser sit beside the sinks. As do beautifully flowering white orchids. That's code for: an establishment that's really rather fancy.

Clearly a hotel with a fairly robust marketing strategy, The Aviator (the hotel where I celebrated my twenty-first birthday, and very almost put my back out after devouring one too many scones) sent us an email back in May about a hospitality package they were running at the hotel during the week of the Farnborough Air Show.

For a mere £85 per person, you could arrive at the hotel (with guaranteed complimentary parking, always a plus), enjoy Champagne (of the very fanciest variety, much to my delight), endless glasses of wine (much to my father's delight), a three-course-meal (one of those ones where it basically looks like Pablo Picasso has cooked and presented it) and then mosey on outside to sit on their terrace and watch the air displays take place across the road at the airfield (or in our case, huddle by the nearest window and squint really hard through the rain droplets).

One of the first things you should know about me is that I will never say no to champagne. Categorically never. This also works for prosecco because who really has champagne lying around to day drink when things get rough? So I felt right at home when I was offered perfectly chilled Verve Cliquot as soon as we sat down at our table and therefore everything that happened afterwards is a bit of a blur. I jest. I got through at least half of my second glass of wine before things started to get a bit sway-y. (In my defence, I haven't consumed alcohol for quite a while (holla at me injury), and this was the good stuff). No, what I mean is: good champagne = good times to come.

And I was right. The food, to put it simply, was really really blooming tasty. A basket of freshly baked, still warm bread rolls with cubes of butter arrived at our table as we each poured over the menu. Although all three courses were included, I've never been a huge fan of starters so I jumped straight into my main course (I opted for the duck breast with smoked beetroot, pickled cherries and Jersey Royal potatoes), which was, as you can imagine, presented like a work of art and was so so tasty I almost can't describe it.

This was followed by a 'St Clements parfait, lime meringue, blood orange gel and clotted cream & lavender ice cream'. I tend to opt for the 'lightest' dessert option on the menu so this was basically perfect. Not to mention that it was the host of a party in my mouth that everyone was invited to. And it was so intricately presented that I wasn't really sure where to start. In the end I just sort of stuck my spoon in and hoped for the best.

The air displays began just as we were finishing up our meal, and incidentally, as the rain clouds began to roll in. We managed about fifteen minutes of viewing outside on the terrace before the heavens opened and we all dashed inside (with hotel branded umbrellas close to hand). But as we each found a window to press our noses up against, the display ceased until the weather got itself slightly more under control, so there was little else to do but sit around, wait, and, you know, drink.

But as Kelly Clarkson once sang: "When you've lost your lights / The sun will rise / It'll be alright". And lo-and-behold she was right. Eventually the clouds dispersed and a beautiful blue sky shone through; the ear-splitting roaring sound of the planes taking off just metres in front of us started up again and we all flooded back outside to "ooooh" and "ahhhhh" at the planes soaring, twisting and turning above our heads. Not that I know all that much about planes, but witnessing an Airbus A380 soaring through the air like a majestic bird and manoeuvring itself so delicately, arguably in such a way that surely no jumbo jet should be able to achieve, was really something special.

The whole day was an absolute blast; the staff at the hotel are so genuinely kind and helpful that you almost feel like they'd have moved the grey clouds if you'd asked them too; the food was off the scale and those pilots have got some seriously strong stomachs. I would definitely recommend doing something like this when the airshow returns in 2018.

Until then, here's the livestream of the display I saw.
~ Eleanor xo

The Aviator, 55 Farnborough Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 6EL