UK Reports

UK - Ulverston Dickensian Festival

The eighth Ulverston Dickensian Festival continued to be larger than its predecessor with tens of thousands of people descending on the South Cumbrian market town to celebrate what the committee wrongly call "the town Dickens knew" [there is no evidence he ever went there!]. There was the usual collection of crazy sights [this year's prize must be the mechanical elephant taking rides though the streets] and anachronisms [fairground rides from the second half of the 20th century], but the crowds loved it all and Ulverston's cobbled streets, small shops and alleyways are perfect for such an event. The famous spit roasts were still there with delicious pork rolls on sale from the whole pigs on show; the range of food stalls on the market increased [would the Victorians have had specialist Greek food stalls?] and the queues for the helter skelter and mulled wine sellers were as long as ever. Even more people than usual were dressed in costume, some very imaginative [Queen Victoria was there as ever and a wedding party as well as Bill Sykes and other Dickens characters] and they arrived in a mixture of open top and steam driven buses from the park and ride stations.

But this year's highlight was undoubtedly the acquisition of Gerald Dickens, the author's great great grandson and only male surviving descendant with the family name. Gerald was an actor who now only acts out his ancestor or his creations, and his one-man show was superb, introducing and then performing A Christmas Carol from memory! His voices, mannerisms and timing were so good the audience was spell-bound for nearly three hours. No wonder he is in such demand in the States [hence our difficulty in hiring him before].

I just wanted to write a report, if not on a resort, on an event that is becoming extremely popular. If you haven't been before, make a note to be there in 2007, last weekend in November.
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Cheers,
Ron

UK - The Edinburgh Residence

I am having a lovely lazy New Years Day so decided this was the perfect time to do my report on our weeks stay at The Edinburgh Residence, shall try not to ramble on too much and bore you.

We got the train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh mainly to save Nick driving so he could relax for half the journey and we found that Gner as usual was excellent and now they have Wifi on all their trains it was even better and the journey sped past.
The taxi driver didnt know where The Residence was so I told him it was next to The Bonham which is in Rothesay Terrace and is also part of The Town House Group along with The Howard, so he dropped us off there and would you believe we walked straight past it as its an ordinary door with a brass plaque on it and easy to miss and had to walk back.
On entering the reception area was nice with just a nice desk in a big hallway with a giant Christmas tree twinkling in the corner. There were HUGE portraits of distinguished looking folk high up on the walls and i have to say that the staff were the best we have had come accross anywhere, lovely, friendly but never intrusive and super efficient whisking our luggage away from us and showing us to our room which was on the 2nd floor. We went up in one of those old fashioned lifts where you can get a maximum of 4 people in and you have to close a metal gate and an inner gate and off you go, just
like you get in the old movies i just loved that and used it loads and loads.The Residence is a small and intimate place and only has around 32 rooms all of them suites, it was 3
Georgian houses knocked into one and I could not get over the amazing high ceilings.

We were given one of the Grand Suites overlooking Dean Village so had a super view with a large bay window which is where they had cleverly placed the dining table so you could see over a vast area of the city and it was super to sit eating breakfast enjoying the views.
I have just asked Nick the measurments of our room as I am useless at such things he said that the living area would have been 100ft by 30ft where there was a comfy queen sized bed and a super comfy big squidgy sofa and armchair, big heavy wooden coffee table then an oak cabinet where the tv was hidden inside, there was sattelite tv and a dvd in there as well, opposite there was a similar oak cabinet where there was the fridge and mini bar but it was not electronic so you could put your own drinks inside if you wished they provided milk on a daily basis free of charge no matter how much you needed which was a nice touch, there was also coffee tea etc and a kettle and set of 4 glasses and cups, saucers, plates cutlery etc there was also a microwave.
There was a daily maid service where your very big white fluffy towels were changed and shampoos and bath products and slippers were provided.

The bathroom was absoutely enormous around 60ft long by 12ft wide with a HUGE bath at the end real deep which you could easily fit 2 people in (say no more on that
issue as its before the 9pm watershed), there was also a lovely shower (one of those with a large head where all the water plumps down on you super and hot as well) a bidet and toilet in the centre of the room and washhand basin with super wooden shelving at the opposite end.

There was a large walk in wardrobe (bigger than my own bathroom) with deep shelves at the back and another enormous wardrobe where you could hang up your clothes oh and a good hairdryer not attached to the wall and a dressing table with chair in the living area. The decor was traditional (John and Clare said it was very like The Marriott they went to in the USA). There was no restaurant in the hotel but they did room service you just phoned up your order and could eat either in your room or in the drawing room downstairs which was another lovely room with big comfy sofas very similar to Thurnham. The choice of food was good and ever so reasonably priced, starters from £3-£5 main courses from £6-£18 depending if you just wanted some fancy sarnies(all crusts cut off which makes me happy saves me leaving them) or a steak with all the trimmings, but reception told us that if there wasnt anything we fancied on the menu to tell them what we would like to eat and they would try their best to accommodate us so you cant ask for more than that.
You also had to fill in a form if you wanted to enjoy breakfast in your room and the time you would like it to be delivered, there was a huge choice for breakfast so we only ordered one between us and shared it as all i have is some toast and Nick ate the rest and it was bang on time every day so that was another nice touch.

The only downside that i can think of is that you didnt meet or see many of the other guests we did meet one nice couple in the Drawing Room where we enjoyed afternoon tea one day who were there from Essex they have been owners for the past 10 years and love Edinburgh and they explained that your allowed to split up your week if you wish so they usually have a weekend and a midweek break, this was their first time
celebrating Christmas there and had really loved it.
What the place lacked was a bar where folk may meet up, you could have waiter sevice but most folk seem to stay in their rooms to do that, the lad at reception told us there used to be an 'honesty' bar there but folk werent that honest so it was taken away shame !!!
There was also internet access in the drawing room and some of the bedrooms.
We enjoyed a fantastic festive meal on the night we arrived at The Bonham which is its the sister hotel about 6 doors away so not far to walk.

When Andrena and Arthur came to take us out to tea we were shown around several of the rooms by one of the lovely members of staff who has worked for them for the past
6 years he is from South Africa and loves Edinburgh, he was telling us that every one of them was different which was lovely to see and they are busy refurbishing some of them,
the Town Houses were 'magic', again the young lad told us that when The Town House Company bought over The Residence they bought all the unsold timeshares and rent these out as hotel rooms. The only exchanges are studios which is what we were given but you
can upgrade for around £50 per day to one of the larger apartments, but ours was quite large enough thanks we were in apartment 20.
I would definately stay there again, the staff all made you feel real welcome and very special and if i was lucky enough to see a week with II i would book it straight away, perhaps if i am lucky that shall happen in another 10 years time ???

Lots of Love Mo xxxx xxxx

Mon Jan 01, 2007
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