Weekend Off
June 28, 2008
Peace in the early morning and an hour at my disposal to frantically make attempts to get the garden in a fit state for my best friend, a garden designer and superb natural gardener, to inspect it when she comes to lunch tomorrow. Why do I bother? Surely a 40 year friendship can survive my utter uselessness in her eyes. Or possibly not. I’ve got people for lunch today, too… my 86 year old mother and her toy boy – a stripling at 82. They are great companions… he lives in Cornwall, she in Wiltshire, and they meet for outings and the odd cruise or weekend in Prague. The perfect relationship I would say!
Meanwhile, Leo and I are busy increasing the entries on the Hotel Guru … we now have well over 600 hotels for you to choose from. Lists for Dublin, both in the city and outside in the surrounding countryside, are going up over the next few days following my inspection trip there, and Brighton is beginning to take shape… I’m going there to suss out the hotel scene for you next week. David Atkinson, one of our contributors, is currently looking at more hotels in North Wales for us and I will be going to South Wales, including the newly revamped Hurst House on the Marsh, part owned by actor Neil Morrissey, in the next fortnight.
But for now….back to the gardening. I live in fear.
By the way, if you are thinking of going to Venice, consider the Metropole for its fantastic position and its charming idiosyncracy, not to mention its Michelin starred restaurant, the only one in that peerless city. I’m glad to see that a couple who use our Hotel Guru online guide agree with us about this long standing, family owned hotel… go to http://www.thehotelguru.com/best-hotels/Italy/Venice and click on the entry for the Metropole to read their glowing review.
