First impressions

Packing a welcome

‘Only oiks use mobile phones in public areas. We do not cater for oiks’.....so writes John Jenkinson, the hands-on owner of the Evesham Hotel, in his notes for new guests. I like welcome packs, the more eccentric, chattier and informative the better. But all too often, one is confronted by a bland piece of badly written corporate mishmash which tells the time of breakfast, but nothing about the hotel’s character. Hoteliers have information which will be invaluable to their guests, ranging from the best local walks and the friendliest pubs to the birds and other animals that can be seen, and and the location of the finest castle. There may also be the odd rule for guests, more likely to be accepted if laid down with a modicum of wit. 

Those hotels who make a point of a good welcome score immediate points. Pen-y-Dyffryn, a listed Georgian rectory near Oswestry with uninterrupted views of the hills of North Wales, has a splendidly informative page about its history dating back to its first rector, who started a school in which the pupils were given “an abundance of classics, but little or not enough to eat.” The owners, Miles and Audrey Hunter,  also provide a detailed list of how the hotel's food is sourced. The venison, for example, butchered by the hotel, “is provided by our private deer stalker from the Clun Forest”. That might even tempt a wobbling vegetarian.

The White Swan at Pickering has a nice dry approach to the vexed problem of what to wear: “We do not have a gymnasium. Please do not let it appear as if we do.” As for ghosts which are reputed to haunt the inn, it says: “If you require a visitation of a supernatural nature, please telepathically contact reception.”

Chris and Alison Davy of the Rose and Crown at Romaldkirk, have put together a remarkable guide to the hotel and its surrounding area of Teesdale. A model of its kind, it contains all the information that a short-break visitor needs to know. It also has a nice line on complaints: “Ugh, we hate them but sadly sometimes we may not appear to you to get it completely right. Please do tell us.”

Adam Raphael

Special offers

Sea and Sun

The arrival of summer (at last) has brought forth a spate of tempting special offers. The Arundell Arms at Lifton, Devon, which is celebrating its 75th year as a fishing hotel cum school, is sponsoring a competition in which the first prize is bed and breakfast for a week for two, including unlimited fly fishing at 1935 prices, ie 14 guineas.This is my favourite fishing hotel. Visit its website and cast your fly.

This is the time of the year to head for the beach. The Seaview, in the Isle of Wight, is offering a stay of three nights (not Friday or Saturday) until the end of June for £435 including dinner, bed and breakfast with a complimentary upgrade to the next category of room. Another fine seaside hotel, Meudon at Mawnan Smith in Cornwall is offering a three-night break for £375 per person. The walk through its sub-tropical garden down to the beach is stunning.

Hambleton Hall, a grand country house hotel, is celebrating its 30th anniversary under the ownership of Tim and Stefa Hart,, by offering a real bargain mid-week stay at £132.50 per person. The offer, based on two people sharing, includes one night in a standard double room, a three-course set dinner and continental breakfast.

Finally, I can't resist the Crown and Castle's (Orford, Suffolk) three-night package, which includes a special three-course lobster dinner, full English breakfast, walking maps, and a box of smoked salmon, prawns, and mackerel starting at £435 for a double room.

.More special offers below, and there are many more are on our Special Offers page.

Hotels, inns and B&Bs with a special offer (click and see)

Send in a Review

Win a free night

This is a crucial time of year for the Guide. The next edition, to be published in October, is about to go to the printers, but there is still time to cram in a last-minute review. The Guide’s reputation for getting it right as well as being up to date depends on our readers sending in reports about their hotel visits. To encourage them, we have a monthly competition for the best review with a valuable prize of a free night for two in one of the Guide’s hotels. The winners of the prize for May, a night at Augill Castle in the Eden Valley, are Stephen and Pauline Glover from Cheshire. The prize for June is being kindly sponsored by Swinside Lodge, a Georgian Lakeland house surrounded by wooded hills and fields. Don't delay. Send in your review, the pithier the better.

Hotel Tales

Basil Fawlty

I booked a room for £100 a night, a great deal than I normally pay. I had been warned that the rooms, being cottage rooms, were small, but I had not bargained for a room in which one of the sleepers cannot get out of bed without rolling over his/her companion. This was clearly a single room let as a double. The cleaning service was almost non-existent. We had to have the furniture cleaned before we could unpack. In spite of promises to the contrary, they could provide room cleaning for only two hours in the afternoon which meant that our room was cleaned once in four days.

The furniture of our double room gave the impression of having been picked off a skip. It was of dubious quality, and not even clean. The bathroom was poky. We were amazed to be charged £138 per night for this standard of accommodation.

My biggest bugbear in the recession is hotels with extra charges that add up to an unpleasant surprise on the bill. Tray charges for room service - they've employed the staff, it doesn't cost them anything extra so why levy the charge? And hotels which charge for wifi internet are going to find themselves losing business. If they have wifi installed it doesn't cost them anything, so why charge? As a marketing/process improvement specialist I can well see why some hotels lose brownie points.

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Plan that summer break

The 2010 edition of the Good Hotel Guide to Great Britain and Ireland is the gateway to your well-earned summer holiday. Discount vouchers worth a total of £150 are included with each copy. They enable a 25% saving off the normal B&B price at participating hotels. A copy of the Guide costs £17.50 (including £2.50 p&p), compared to a retail price of £20.

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The Good Hotel Guide, founded 32 years ago, is totally independent. It receives no payments, no hospitality and no advertising from hotels selected for an entry in the printed edition. Hotels pay to be on the GHG website, but only those hotels which have an entry in the printed Guide are eligible. Selected hotels are recommended by readers, backed where necessary by an anonymous inspection. The British edition of the Guide is published each autumn. Adam and Caroline Raphael, who edit the Guide, are award-winning journalists. Caroline, a former BBC researcher and a travel writer, is editor-in-chief. She has worked on the Guide for more than 30 years. Adam, who previously worked for the Guardian, the Observer, the BBC and the Economist, is the Guide's marketing director. Desmond Balmer, formerly travel editor of the Observer, is editor of the British guide. The Guide specialises in small owner-managed hotels, inns and B&Bs in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and Ireland. It includes budget B&Bs, good value hotels as well as grand country houses and chic city hotels, all offering value for money in their price.range.