I was so excited about Ladies Day at Royal Ascot. It's something we've thought about doing for a while but never got round to it, so when it was discussed again this year it was a definite go-er! We talked about going on an organised coach trip as initially we thought there may be four couples but it turned out only two were able to go so we travelled down by car in the end.
We debated for quite a while over what tickets to get. Our first thoughts were to book for the Grandstand which is a little more formal and you are not allowed to take in any food or drink. After reading all the gen we decided on the Silver ring, still with all the pomp and ceremony but this is where everyone can lay down their blanket and enjoy their own picnic. It was definitely the best choice as it made the day a less costly one.
As I said Mr C drove down but we didn't pre book parking, which you could do, but we just thought with an event as big as Ascot there would be carparks all over the place. We set off around 8.30am from the Midlands and anticipated being stuck in traffic for some time. The journey down was an easy one and we hit traffic going into Ascot at about 2 miles out so were at a steady trickle for around half an hour. We followed the route to one of the official car parks and were guided straight to a spot. It cost £30 to park the car for the day. If you pre booked it was £25. We were chuffed with the location of the car park, not far away at all. We thought we'd have to lug all our chairs, mini table and picnics all the way in on foot but there were shuttle buses running every 5 minutes! Result.
There was a little walk from the shuttle drop off point to the entrance of the Silver ring but nothing too major, although the boys looked like pack horses, insisting on carrying everything and who are we to argue? We were the ladies after all. We got into the area around 12.30 which was still fairly early but the grass area was chocka block and we struggled to find a space. The boys went off to hunt for our little patch of grass and were successful. Chairs put up, blanket laid down, and cork popped!!!! Cheers.
There was a sea of colour everywhere you looked. Brightly coloured dresses topped off with hats of all shapes and sizes. There were floral dresses, plain dresses, off the shoulder dresses and even some long ball gown type dresses! There were chairs and tables in situ for anyone to use but they were taken very early on, which we kind of knew so glad we took our own.
We'd been praying all week for nice weather and as you can see our prayers were answered. It was a scorcher! There were lots of red backs and sore arms by the end of the day I can tell you.
Now I'm not ashamed to say where my dress for Royal Ascot was from or how much it cost because I received so many compliments on it. I'd already got a dress to wear but I popped into Primark to pick something up for Emily one day and spotted this dress sitting all lonely on a rail. It really caught my eye so I tried it on and it fitted like a glove and was so comfy to wear. It had been reduced as I think it was the only one left and I got it for, wait for it...........................the grand sum of £5.00. I love a bargain but this is the best of the year so far. Personally I think I look rather demure and ladylike!!
We feasted on finger sandwiches, crisps, cheese and crackers, fresh fruit, and scones all washed down with copious amounts of fizz. Oh, and we did actually take tea, not the pre made out of a flask kind, we took hot water (out of a flask) but separate milk, tea bags etc and we even took china cups to drink it out of, how very civilised and posh! Mr C not so posh though dropping his whole lemon slice into his tea!!!!!!!
We won (Me, Sarah and Mr C) and we lost (Mike). I won on the first race and I think Mr C and Sarah won on the 3rd, all in all we came away with the return on our stake money, we weren't quids in but we'd not lost anything which is always good.
Boys being boys. We could never take these two into the Royal Enclosure! Not that we'd be invited anyway but you know.
I captured this ladies creation on the way out. If there were prizes for the best hat I'm sure this would have won.
Cheeky selfie on the (very nice) shuttle bus going back to the car.
The drivers and in fact all the staff that we encountered throughout the day were wonderful, so polite, helpful and friendly.
We thoroughly enjoyed our first trip to Royal Ascot and will be going back next year. Our experience was made all the better with the glorious weather we had, we were blessed as we've not had much sunshine so far have we? I'm not sure it would be so grand in the rain, sat under an umbrella all day. As for choosing the Silver ring, we're glad we did. We enjoyed the whole atmosphere, the picnic, the horse racing and most of all the people watching whilst sipping on bubbles.
I think we'd all love to experience the splendour of the Grandstand and the upgrades but to be honest if you want to visit Ascot without it costing you a bomb we found the Silver ring to be just perfect. The tickets cost us £36 each, you take your own picnic, or if you'd rather not there's a variety of places to buy food and drink, you're allowed to take in one bottle of fizz per person, parking was £30 and then there's your outfit and if you're lucky you might just get one for a fiver like me! Driving in/out and parking were all a lot easier than we'd thought too. Don't forget there's always the coach trips that you can book on but we thought that worked out more expensive than driving. Driving worked better for us as it ended up being just the four of us, and besides when on a coach you have to leave at the given time, we wanted to be able to leave when we were ready, not when the coach driver said so, and besides we're nearly always the last to leave a party!
One top tip if you do go next year is get in inside the silver ring as early as you can. Some people had set their tables and picnics up at the car to eat before they went in rather than taking it all with them, to me it's not the same doing that, why eat and drink bubbles in a car park, we're glad we went straight in as soon as we arrived otherwise we would never have got a space to sit down.
Click here to view tickets options for 2016. They're already on sale.
Have you been to Royal Ascot? Did you go this year? Silver ring or Grandstand?
Looks like a fantastic day, some great pictures here
ReplyDeleteLaurie x
Thanks Laurie. We did have a fab day. Looking at next years tickets already! x
Delete£5?! That's brilliant! It looks AMAZING and what a fab day you look like you had
ReplyDeleteFiona
Hi Fiona. It was reduced in the sale and I couldn't believe my luck! I love the dress and we had a great day, thanks. xxxx
DeleteGreat photos, Steph. Looks like you had a fabulous time! Lynne xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Lynne, we really had a great day, made even better by the weather, something we will definitely do again. xx
DeleteGreat post, looks like a fab day! I love your dress, shocked it was only a fiver! Bargain! It looks like it could be from Oasis or even Coast!! I'm loving your picnic too hehe very prepared with the tea and china!! Love it! P.s lemon slices are my fave! Just saying ; )
ReplyDeletex x x x
www.suncreamandsparkles.com
Thanks Heather. it was fab, better than I expected actually. Maybe see you there next year!! xx
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