As a lifelong night owl, one of my all-time hotel pet peeves is the often relatively early time that breakfast finishes, which can have you dragging yourself out of bed after a late night out and hot-stepping it to the last slot unkempt and bleary-eyed, sometimes missing out by a matter of minutes or even seconds if the staff member at the lectern is particularly officious.
Some hotels might say they’re fit for a king, but in the case of The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa it is undeniably true, as King George V once stayed here, as well as nearly every US president since Roosevelt, and not to mention rock royalty in the form of The Beatles and Rolling Stones.
Sat in the heart of downtown Denver, it remains one of the most luxurious and iconic hotels in the Colorado capital since opening its revolving doors in 1892.
Spring is the perfect time to enjoy a stay at one of the Historic House Hotels of the National Trust. Guests may enjoy extensive spring gardens in bloom, and beautiful historic interiors at all of the Houses. The company has taken the best advice to ensure everything is in place for a visit that will be as safe as it will be comfortable and enjoyable, with safety measures introduced and praised after the first lockdown of last year that applies to staff as well as guests.
Rockliffe Hall’s team is busy making plans and developing innovative new offerings to ensure that if the Government gives the go-ahead for hotels to reopen on July 4th, not only will Rockliffe’s guests be safe, but they’ll still be able to enjoy the five star experience for which the resort is renowned.
I’m just going to pause here. Right here, in the courtyard of this 19th century convent, now home to La Fourvière Hotel.
“Why wouldst thou leave calm Hartwell’s green abode...Apician table and Horatian Ode?”
Lord Byron referring to Louis XVIII’s departure from Hartwell House.
Owned by the National Trust, Hartwell House is an exceptional opportunity to stay in a magnificent and eccentrically decorated English stately home in Buckinghamshire. Set in 90 acres of verdantly landscaped garden, just 40 miles from London, it personifies a style and character unique to Jacobean (and Georgian) country houses.
It wouldn’t be at all difficult to think of 360 reasons why staying at 3Sixty Hotel in Nafplio would be one of the best ideas you’ve had all year. A list as glorious as a never-ending gelato menu – and equally as scrumptious. But life is enough of a list as it is (albeit, for me at least, a ‘to do’ one), so instead let’s take a leap into the Hellenic microcosm of Nafplio, home to the Neoklasiki Hotel Group, and, quite frankly, home to the friendliest Greeks I’ve ever met.
Bordeaux, oui.
Cognac, oui.
But Angoulême… Still yes?
Unless you’re an avid cartoon fan (I’ll explain more about this later), Angoulême may be somewhat of an enigma. A sign-post flashing past, the “Is it worth us stopping by?” question fleetingly hopscotching through your thoughts.
Well, to save such indecision, I’ll answer your question for you. Yes, indeed it is.
My ‘to do’ list tick-tocked through my mind. Emails, meetings, deadlines; presents to buy, friends to visit, appointments to sort. So much to do and so little time. How could I possibly relax and give in to the magic of the festive season with so much on my mind?
This pendulum of pressure was no match for Surrey’s Nutfield Priory Hotel and Spa.
Here is a hotel that exudes warmth and welcome. Stepping inside was like that post-Sunday lunch, ‘let’s all cosy up by the fire’ feeling, and that’s exactly what we did first.
This page was blank for a long, long time.
Not because I couldn’t think of anything to say about The Silo Hotel. Quite the opposite. It was because there were so many ways to start the story of our stay, so many fabulous moments, that I really had no idea where to begin. We may have only spent one night here, but in that snippet of time the hotel and its staff created our own spectacular beginning, middle and end.
This is our Silo story.
