LAST week on Wednesday when most people were at work, I achieved two firsts.

One – I went to the ‘races’ for the very first time and not just any old races, but the prestigious and oh so glamorous Qatar Goodwood Festival, fondly otherwise known as ‘Glorious Goodwood‘.

And two – I wore a hat, a ‘proper’ fabulous hat and felt very much like a lady.

As guests of Glorious Goodwood, my husband and I donned our finery and headed off down to the bottom of the country, to visit the highly regarded event and of course, have a little flutter.

We were invited into the exclusive Richmond enclosure and boy, what a time we had.

The Richmond enclosure has it’s own dress code which basically means get your glad rags on and look your very British best!

So the husband looked dashing in his suit and I popped on a favourite red dress of mine and teamed it with my designer wedding heels and this stunning ‘Mia’ hat from Natasha Moorhouse Millinery who very kindly lent me one of her beautiful couture creations so I could go and have my very own ‘My Fair Lady’ moment. (Thank you Natasha!)

Can you spot me in the stands…?! ;-)

Here we are doing the obligatory couple selfie,

And here’s me getting caught on film, attempting a selfie crowd shot! Here’s looking at you too kid! ;-)

Glorious Goodwood is an absolutely beautiful place, totally deserving of being often referred to as ‘the most beautiful race course in the world’.

The grounds are stunning…

the people look fabulous and you see many, many panama hats. It’s the hat of choice for the most discerning gentleman don’t you know! ;-)

There are plenty of places to eat and drinks, serving everything from champagne to beer, fine dining to meaty burgers and chips.

And lots of life music, from jazz to steel bands.

And as for the racing itself? Well, it was pretty damn exciting!

The anticipation builds as everyone waits for the horses to line up…

And then when they’re off, you can feel the excitement in the crowd build, as everyone eagerly awaits to see who will cross the finish line first!

(One of our horses (and us) missed out on winning by a nose! We were so close!)

All in all, we had the most fantastic time at Glorious Goodwood, which totally exceeded both mine and Jamie’s expectations.

As someone who has never been to the races before, I completely fell under Glorious Goodwood’s elegant spell.

The races, the excitement, the fashion, the champagne, the hats and the polite, laid back atmosphere, were a totally enthralling mix and left me totally and utterly charmed.

Would I go again?! You ‘bet-cha’ I would!

It really was one hell of a glorious day.

Many thanks to Glorious Goodwood for our exclusive invitation.

With love,

Kate