Found it!

Archie had another wee pal to play with when we dropped him at Alfie's - Finn, a charming little wire haired dachshund, wearing a posh Harris Tweed coat. So he skipped off quite happily with his pals as we left.

Good news: Found the long-lost TomTom! Where was it? In the glove compartment of the car!! Both JR and I had, on separate occasions, looked in there carefully. In fact, I had 'looked' TWICE. AND I'd spent a futile half hour yesterday searching in all the unlabelled boxes from the removal! JR admitted that she 'didn't really know' what she was looking for... There is no hope for us!

Mind you, Mrs TomTom just kept telling us to 'do a U-turn' for half an hour or so while I attempted to plan the route to the town we were heading for - Morpeth.

We stopped at a favourite pub just off the A1. We've been many times in the past, and have fond memories of it being pretty perfect. It has the most fabulous food. Sadly, not an all day menu. Also, there was screechy muzak this time for our delectation (NOT). The average age of the few punters must have been 65, but the muzak was for the young barman. However, we eventually discovered that the side room didn't have speakers, but only after I'd gulped my half pint down at a great rate to escape quickly...

I used the pub's wifi to find the postcode of our destination as we now had the TomTom, thinking, 'It'll be a breeze this time.' But no. Mr TomTom did not/would not recognise the postcode, and so we had a repeat of last time - lost in the countryside, with our book of maps being practically useless.

'I thought you had checked out where it was this time... Let this be a lesson!'

Steam was beginning to come out of several ears, when, just in time, the brown sign indicating the hotel appeared! Phew.

It's brand new, set in what used to be an asylum, hence the obscure location. Lots of house building going on in the surrounding estate. It's a fantastic space, beautifully renovated, with lots of wee areas to dine in. BUT... Raucous muzak blasting out in all but one space. I enjoyed filling in my feedback card... But the one redeeming feature was pretty redeeming - bread and butter pudding!!

'Dancing in the Street' by Martha and the Vandellas, anyone? Nooooooo. I'd put a link in, but can't do it on an iPad.

This was the only photo I managed today (that's our bedroom with the lights on). I should have taken one of Archie with his pals Alfie and Finn. So sweet.

Wonder how he is...