Author Topic: Room with a view  (Read 249113 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline hollins

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 3411
Room with a view
« on: July 08, 2011, 10:54:01 am »
Does anyone have any photos of a room with a view that they have stayed in?
Most people take a photo from their hotel room or apartment when they are on holiday.
Maybe someone would like to put the name and a bit of info about the accommodation and whether they liked it or not.
Great views or grotty views would make interesting reading.
Unfortunately, probably not many people take the grotty views unless they are making a complaint but here is a nice one to start the ball rolling.

This is taken from the Hotel Pavillon Henri 1V in St Germain-en-Laye near Paris.
It is a great hotel for escaping the centre of Paris. The views from it are amazing, the service a bit quirky (French)!
It is about half an hour on the RER (fast train) from the centre of Paris.

Offline TheMedz

  • Ad Free Member
  • *
  • Posts: 701
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2011, 11:32:53 am »
Taken in Florence (the original city of the book "A Room with a View") we dropped lucky and got an apartment (first floor in the second picture) with a balcony overlooking the Duomo and the piazza in front of it. A perfect "people watching" location.


Offline hollins

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 3411
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2011, 11:41:48 am »
Goodness me! What a fantastic position. How lucky were you!
Did you book it directly with the owners?

Offline TheMedz

  • Ad Free Member
  • *
  • Posts: 701
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2011, 11:49:52 am »
We booked it through the hotel's web site

http://www.palazzogambaflorence.com/apartments.phtml

That particular apartment was "Rafaello"

Offline hollins

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 3411
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2011, 11:57:18 am »
Thanks for that info. It looks fabulous.
I have some good memories of Florence. I was there for a week in 1982 doing some research on textiles. The company I worked for didn't want to pay much for my accomodation so they persuaded one of our competitors over there to lend me an apartment. It was okay, a bit outside the city, (I had to go in by tram) but it was above an ice cream shop. There were 25 different flavours and I tried my best to work my way through most of them during the course of the week!

Offline Hugo

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 13882
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2011, 02:56:46 pm »
These two photos were taken from our bedroom at the Cliffe Norton Hotel, North Bay Tenby.   For a very small extra charge we had a bedroom with these glorious sea views.
The Hotel is only 2 star and is slightly quirky in its layout but the food and hospitality are 4 star and it is in a perfect location for the town and beaches.   It's very popular with Coach tours and we went with Arvonia Coaches who regularly use this hotel.

Offline hollins

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 3411
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2011, 03:00:41 pm »
oooooo.......dreamy......lucky you!

Offline Trojan

  • Member
  • Posts: 3327
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2011, 01:33:09 am »
The back streets of Llandudno with Trinity church spire rising majestically in the centre, with the Great Orme and Anglesey beyond. Taken from the Imperial Hotel.
Bellringing could be heard through the open window on Friday evenings.

I was moved to this room after complaining about the eyesore of a windfarm viewed from the front of the hotel.




Offline hollins

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 3411
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2011, 08:00:06 am »
I agree with you about the wind farm. How could they do that?
I think the view from your room saved my life one night about 3 years ago.
We had just moved house to the area and took the keys one evening. It was a disaster, the toilets wouldn't flush and the water had to be turned off while we waited for a part.
I got in the car and booked myself in to the Imperial hotel in one of those rooms at the back with the lovely view to the west shore and thought what a terrible mistake we had made.
All okay now though!

Offline Hugo

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 13882
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2011, 03:07:06 pm »
When my wife was 12 years old she remembers having a meal at the Chateau Impney in Droitwich Spa with her Aunt and Uncle. She can remember the place quite well so on her 60th birthday we stayed there over night..  The Restaurant was still the same and even the menu was similar eg.  Prawn cocktail, Back Forest Gateau etc but having said that the food was very good and the service of the mainly French staff was excellent.  
The gardens were immaculate and it was such a lovely day we sat on the terrace until dark having a drink with the guests there.
Earlier in the day we met a couple and they asked us to have a drink with them which we did, the lady was Rusty Lee the chef on TV and we had an hour or so chatting about everything.
We stayed there a year later but things had changed a lot. The French staff had gone and replaced by other foreign workers and the Hotel was in administration. It is in serious need of updating although it is a beautiful building and the gardens were still immaculate. We won't be going back but have some nice memories of the place.

Offline hollins

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 3411
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2011, 07:22:00 pm »
I had to look up Chateau Impney to see which part of France it was in. I got quite a shock when I found out it was in Droitwich.
What an amazing building for that part of the world.
How sad that it has gone downhill.

Offline RichieC

  • Member
  • Posts: 18
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #11 on: July 09, 2011, 08:28:20 pm »
One of my cousins husbands (she has had more than one but not at the same time!) was an investor in the Chateau many years ago and many previous ownerships too.

He didn't take too kindly when those of us in the less opulent section of the family referred to his hotel as the 'Chateau Wimpey'  :laugh:

Offline DaveR

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 13712
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2011, 09:46:09 pm »
"It was built in 1875 by John Corbett, the Salt King, as a present to his wife, a beautiful French governess. Corbett fell in love with her during a visit to Paris and as both had been enchanted by Versailles and the French Chateaux in the Loire Valley they decided to build their own palace in England.

Corbett, son of a wealthy bargee from Staffordshire, at the age of 28 bought the derelict salt works at Stoke Prior, just outside Droitwich Spa. With his engineering skill he was able to turn his business into an extremely profitable company, producing 160,000 tones of salt per annum, and amassing a great personal fortune. Three thousand men toiled on the construction of the building creating the magnificent mansion and park that is today the Chateau Impney. They totally transformed the landscape creating 155 acres of parkland, building lakes, waterfalls and tropical gardens and planting over 3000 varieties of trees, many of which are evident today in their full glory. All this they completed in a style typical of the great French houses. "

http://www.chateau-impney.com/

Offline Hugo

  • Management board member
  • *
  • Posts: 13882
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #13 on: July 10, 2011, 05:26:17 pm »
The Chateau Impney has got the potential to be a good hotel if sufficient money is invested in it.  The room we stayed in was tired but clean and it was quite large. Sorry about the quality of the photos.

Offline DaveR

  • Administrator
  • Posts: 13712
Re: Room with a view
« Reply #14 on: July 10, 2011, 07:01:26 pm »
Oh dear, who put that hideous modern frontage on it?  :(