We've had 5 separate stays there over the past 18 years that have all been special. I'm originally from Simi Valley, California. When I was a young woman, my friends and I would always stop at the Madonna Inn for a pit stop on the way up to San Francisco. We were dazzled by the decor, the flowers and the pinkness. It was my aspiration to stay there one day.

My dream to stay at the Madonna Inn came true when I got married. My husband had moved over from England and got a job at the same place I worked. As a wedding present, our colleagues paid for us to stay in the Old Fashioned Honeymoon Suite for our honeymoon in January 2003. We had dinner in the Gold Rush Steak House, and started our goblet collection with 2 teal goblets (still my favourites to-date!) It was a dream getaway.

A year later in January 2004, we celebrated our anniversary by staying in Irish Hills. We were moving to London, England that April so knew we needed to get in another visit before our big life's adventure really began. Irish Hills was such a cool and beautiful room, especially as my favourite colour is green. We added 2 of the pale green goblets and 2 of the clear/white goblets to our collection that trip.

Many years passed before we would visit again, but I had been given more goblets for birthday gifts in the meantime: 2 pink and 2 purple. The next time we stayed was August 2014, this time with our four-year-old and seven-year-old sons, Eric and James. We stayed in the Tack Room. The boys were in awe of the hotel and this was our first summer stay, so we spent a lot of time in the gorgeous hilltop swimming pool. I went home with 2 red goblets securely packed in my suitcase for the long-haul flight back to London.

It's now become a tradition to stay every time we come to California to visit my family, usually every other summer. In August 2016, we stayed in Morning Star. The high ceilings and stained glass window in the door were the favourite features of the room amongst the whole family. Again the swimming pool was the best part of the stay for the boys, then 6 and 9 years old. We got pink champagne cake, except it was white because there was a shortage of pink chocolate, but it still tasted just as good as ever. We got 2 marigold lustre goblets on this trip.

August 2018, our most recent stay. It was the Country Gentleman room and the bellow coffee table and fireplace were the best features that the whole family marvelled over. Eric and James, then 8 and 11 years old, loved having a separate bedroom upstairs, and had adorned the hutch in the living quarters with all of their little toys and trinkets we'd collected on our holiday. As usual we spent loads of time in the pool, and had so much cake - the Pink Champagne Cake was pink again! We brought home 2 blue lustre goblets to add to the collection.

We have plane tickets to L.A. for this summer, and it was around now that I was going to be booking a room at the Madonna Inn for this August. It's looking unlikely that the trip is going to go ahead, but you'd better believe that as soon as we can get back there, we'll be coming to stay at one of my family's happiest places on earth! We love you Madonna Inn!

Rachel A.