Set off from the Midlands, on a foggy, frosty morning – in search of a nativity. Not the well known one in Bethlehem, but the lesser known one in Guildford. No star to follow, did think to stop at Starbucks for coffee, but remembered they charge extra for soya milk, so stopped at another service station instead, and paid £3 each for a small cup of coffee! How is that justified? Remember to look out thermos flask!
On to M&S at the Meadows, Camberley for lunch. An oasis of warmth and light, with prompt service and tasty food, even though they were busy –a recommended pit stop.
Reached the hotel early afternoon, checked in. I know from experience that you need to book well ahead of a visit to get in. I think there would be no room in the Inn for any weary traveller arriving on the off chance of a room. We were directed to an annex building, squeezed in at the bottom of the car park, next to a busy dual carriage way – the stable block? Recently built, at least it didn’t show any signs of wear. I was hoping for a new decor, but the pictures were the same, two floating daisy heads in vermillion and orange on a mauve and purple background. Am I the only person that finds this discordant colour scheme offensive to the eye? Only one set of towels between us, two the next day after I asked if it was an economy feature. I thought the room, and bed was smaller than usual, and only one chair. I asked about this, and was told that all the rooms were the same as the main block, except the one at the end of the corridor – ours! We had trouble with the lighting, whatever switch combination we tried, one bedside light would not come on without the main lights. The other difficulty was the heating. We got the hang of adjusting the temperature, but when the temperature was reached, it not only switched off but went back to a low default setting. Consequently, we woke up one morning to a very cold room, with no heating on.
There are nice things about the hotel, the end exterior wall has a poem spelt out in the brickwork (see photo).Another positive is the hotel’s position. It is near the Spectrum which has an excellent fun pool. We had hoped our grandchildren would come to the hotel for breakfast (kids eat for free), then a swimming/play session, but they were unwell. The hotel is also handy for the park and ride bus service, so we flashed our senior citizens bus pass and went to my daughter’s house in central Guildford, for a fun day amusing two poorly grandchildren, a long day of jigsaws, painting and catch up CBeebies.
The meal at the hotel was abandoned, as the roads back to the hotel were gridlocked (no bus lanes).
Did manage a quick look round town. Quite impressive Christmas lights and displays, mainly on a secular theme of baubles, glitter and lights. Buy, Buy, Buy was the message, which I ignored. Wise men (and women) would require a healthy credit card! Not a flutter of angel wings, and the only Santa was selling the Big Issue.
The main purpose of the visit was to attend the nativity play at my grand childrens primary school, where my grandson, in reception class, was making his acting debut as a sheep. However, the feeling unwell had developed into tonsillitis, (not foot and mouth!) and he was too unwell to attend school.
This did mean we were able to have a lie in, watch morning TV and have breakfast in the Table Table, part of the hotel. Better value than stopping on the motorway, but did have to wait 20 minutes for a cooked breakfast to appear, even though there were very few people there.
So, back home along the motorways, M25, M40 and M42. Finding the nativity wasn’t very successful. No sign of wise men and camels either, I think they would have taken one look at the motor way traffic, and turned back!
Ps. We have stopped at numerous Premier Inns, and have found them excellent, so this one was disappointing. I’m sure it was a one off!
