After Moreton Morrell, Hardwick House of Toad of Toad Hall fame was our destination. An early (and brisk) start was at least rewarded with a gloriously sunny lull before the arrival of the Beast from the East.
Again, CURTC showed exemplary courtesy in graciously allowing our hosts a 2-0 lead after the first two matches. Not only were these matches lost, they were lost so rapidly that an extra set was possible within each time slot. Certainly things had warmed up by this point in the Dedans and our third paring of John Bailey & Andrew Snodgrass didn’t hang around and returned the favour of an extra set having won the first. Nonetheless I thought it wise to try to negotiate a ‘Plate’ competition for these second sets where we were being rather more successful.

However, the tide had turned and the match score was evened up in convincing fashion by Ben Geytenbeek & Dave Isherwood who got us well ahead of schedule with a 8-0 victory while, I’m sure they would be the first to admit, being the beneficiaries of a correct but generous handicap.

At this point we returned to the court but in different pairings for the second half and CURTC was frankly unrecognisable from the first two matches. The only loss was a close 8-7 (after holding a 7-6 lead) but the rest of the matches went convincingly our way. Lunch was a splendid affair, with a blazing fire and tennis to add to the ambience. The final scores are below followed by a summary collage of action on the Court.

Many thanks to our generous hosts and we look forward to welcoming them back to the Home of Real Tennis next year. And finally a google photos gallery with the above photos and more.