Saturday, February 27, 2016

The Bel & The Dragon’s new Kingsclere hotel takes hospitality to new heights

  • The chain was co-founded by Joel Cadbury and fellow Etonian Ollie Vigors
  • Kingsclere is house to their latest opening, on the main street of the village
  • Tastefully decorated, the hotel boasts nine bedrooms and a drawing room
  • But, it’s the exceptional hospitality that actually makes this place stand out 

The Inspector

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The Bel & The Dragon chain means business.

Co-founded by Joel Cadbury (scion of the chocolate company) and fellow Old Etonian Ollie Vigors — that the 2 used to have actually a stake in the Groucho Club — there are now seven in the group, every one of within an hour or so of London.

This is the latest, in Kingsclere, merely down the road from where Clare Balding grew up at her father’s racing stables.

Lovely: In testing the latest Bel & The Dragon opening in Kingsclere, the Inspector finds exceptional hospitality

Lovely: In testing the most recent Bel & The Dragon opening in Kingsclere, the Inspector finds exceptional hospitality

It’s on the main street of this very Berkshire village and used to be the Swan pub.

There are nine rooms squeezed in to various nooks and crannies, every one of tastefully decorated along with sumptuous duvets and pillows, an absence of clutter and muted colours.

So far, so predictable. Yet exactly what sets this place apart is that if you’re staying here you are treated differently to everyone else. 

For starters, there’s a large drawing room for residents, along with comfy sofas, a card table, plenty of books, espresso machine and help-on your own bottles of Sipsmith damson vodka — the distillery handily owned by Cadbury.

How straightforward it would certainly be to turn this in to one more bedroom and your hard earned cash in. Good on them for resisting.

Get outdoors: Though it may be tempting to stay inside the cosy hotel, a walk on Watership Down is recommended

Get outdoors: Though it could be tempting to continue to be inside the cosy hotel, a walk on Watership Down is recommended

Our room has actually furniture from Loaf and nothing on the walls except three small botanical prints above the bed. 

There’s underfloor heating in the bathroom and several Bramley products. 

Yes, the loo makes an awful racket, Yet this is a building dating spine to 1513. 

More annoying — Yet perhaps equally as unavoidable — is that noise from the bar wafts upstairs.

No complaints whatsoever along with the food: basic classics along with a sophisticated twist. 

The fat, crispy chips are irresistible.

And we love the means the bar has actually its own identity then you move in to the eating room, which meanders here and there, along with several open fires. 

A walk next morning on Watership Down rounds every little thing off nicely. 

The posh boys have actually done good.



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The Bel & The Dragon’s new Kingsclere hotel takes hospitality to new heights Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Blog baru

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