Royal connections but not that luxurious -Durham Marriott hotel

Advantages: Comfortable, convenient for city sight seeing
Disadvantages: luke warm bath water and average food in restaurant

...Durham Marriot Hotel Royal County Old Elvert, Durham DH1 3JN A BIT OF SCENE SETTING: This hotel is part of the Marriott chain but is an old hotel which was once the home of Elizabeth Bowes an ancestor of the Queen Mother. Apparently it was often visited when it was privately owned by Edward VII when he was up in Durham. It has had quite a large series of extensions and now boasts 150 bedrooms, some of which are suites and family rooms all and have en suite bathrooms ( As you might expect in a hotel I would have thought). This is a four star hotel right in the centre of Durham so perfect for a city break as you can park your car in the hotel (complimentary) car park and walk round the city which is very compact and just a hop over the road from the hotel. We booked on the internet and got a special deal for two night?s bed...

catsholiday 17.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Durham Marriott Hotel Royal County, Durham

The Beautiful Burren, County Clare, Ireland

Advantages: Very peaceful, gorgeous scenary, unspoilt landscape.
Disadvantages: Can be very cold/windy, not much in the line of 'shopping' except gift shops

...Being from Clare myself, it is an absolute pleasure to be able to tell you all about this wild, harsh but absolutly beautiful place in the North of the 'Banner County', in South West Ireland. The Burren comes from the Irish/Gaelic word Boireann, which means stony place, and is a massive area of hugh limestone pavements covering a vast plain of land, said to be about 300 sq. kilometres. It stretches for miles and miles, through valleys, up mountains and hills, and alongside rivers and streams. It features some of the rarest flora and fauna in the whole country, a spray of colour against the harsh, grey landscape. It offers absolute peace, a type of spiritual tranquility that you just want more of. You can stand in the middle of this land, and breath in all the fresh air you can take, and you may not see a single person for miles...

Evil_Irish_Twin 20.10.2004 · Read review
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Review of The Burren (Ireland)

Brilliant reviews for Boutique hotels

Advantages: Lots of honest reviews on interesting hotels
Disadvantages: Hotels can be quite expensive to stay at

.... The book starts with the hotels in England and the header page again breaks down the regions and lists the hotels featured in each region. There is then a section for each region. There is a lot of information, for example the Cotswolds ? it tells you how to get there, some local knowledge of some places worth visiting and there is a diary of events. There is also a section called ?worth getting out of bed for? which gives lots of activities for the children, the say tripper and details of local markets and places to shop. This is repeated for all regions in all 4 countries. The regions featured are: England Cornwall The Cotswolds Cumbria Devon Dorset East Sussex Liverpool London Northeast Somerset Peak District Suffolk Thames Valley West Sussex Ireland Belfast County Meath Dublin Scotland Edinburgh Glasgow...

wolfey59 20.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Mr. and Mrs. Smith - UK & Ireland Hotel Collection - Juliet Kinsman

Yeats Tavern & Davis Pub

Advantages: Handy stop-off on your travels
Disadvantages: A busy venue at all times of the day

...Driving northbound on the Sligo to Donegal road (N15) you are sure to drive through the picturesque village of Drumcliff. The Churchyard here is internationally recognised as the burial place of the poet WB.Yeats making this the definitive heart of Yeats Country. Drumcliff is also home to The Yeats Tavern Restaurant & Davis's Pub. One of Sligo?s oldest drinking and eating establishments, this fine pub/restaurant has been owned and run by the Davis family for over thirty five years. From the drinking mans local of the 1960?s, progressing on to their first menu of fresh fish, soup and sandwiches in the 70?s, the new century has seen this pub evolve to become a quality venue for eating and socialising. Open seven days a week, and only five miles from Sligo town, this is a popular spot frequented by both locals and visitors alike...

Weespud 24.10.2004 · Read review
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Review of Sligo and Leitrim (Counties in Ireland)

Marriott County Hall, London

Advantages: Central location, friendly attentive staff
Disadvantages: expensive drinks

...& parnips and banoffee pie to follow. We found the per head price which included half a bottle of pinot grigio was very reasonable compared to prices here in Scotland. Overall we had no complaints. the only downside was the price of drinks. Two glasses of wine cost almost £15. I would recomend anyone to use this hotel as a base for a weekend away. It is a two minute walk from Westminster tube, right next door to the BA London Eye and central for everything. If you are looking for a romantic weekend then the County Hall is the one for you. There is a spa on site to pamper you (payable directly) Or if you would like a very special wedding or civil partnership then use this hotel. The events team & banqueting manager do everything they can to help and nothing is too much bother. Whatever you do have a brilliant time at this hotel....

ged1967 24.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of London Marriott Hotel County Hall, London

Why You Should use an Irish Builder.

Advantages: Awesome, thought-provoking UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Disadvantages: Not accessible for the physically disabled.

...I'd never heard of Newgrange before I went there. Which may explain why I was totally blown away. I first visited in 1999, when I was over in Ireland staying with my husband's family. It was a chilly, damp day in April when they suggested we might like to see an area known as Brú na Bóinne - in English, "the dwelling place of the Boyne". This turned out to be a collection of prehistoric sites in County Meath, located in a wide meander of the River Boyne about an hour's drive north of Dublin. The most famous of these antiquities is Newgrange, a megalithic "passage tomb" richly decorated with ancient works of art. (Although there is much debate over whether Newgrange was more than just a tomb - more about that later.) We headed for the visitor center, which lies between the towns of Slane and Doghedra, near the village of Donore...

Ali1000 28.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland

Striding in the Steps of Giants

Advantages: Dramatic views clothed in the mysteries of both legend and science
Disadvantages: Access for the handicapped is necessarily restricted

...Ireland thrives on legends that blend myth and reality in an unknowable measure. It is a land of saints and dragons, warrior-kings and gods, fairies and giants. It is a land of mystery and music. And at the northernmost edge of this green and magical island lies a geological formation that has fascinated its human visitors for centuries--and that, quite naturally for Ireland, is mixed inextricably with legend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Legendary Finn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The legend of the Giant's Causeway features Finn McCool (also rendered as MacCool or MacCumhaill), a wee lad of a giant merely 52 and a half feet tall, who is said to have built the Causeway. Details associated with Finn's remarkable feat vary considerably with the telling. One common version holds that the gentle, fair-haired Finn found himself in a shouting...

BawBaw 28.04.2004 (06.05.2004) · Read review
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Review of County Antrim (Ireland)

Irelands hidden treasure

Advantages: Stunning scenery, good craic, not touristy
Disadvantages: Slightly inaccessible

...immediately contrasted a little inland by the mystical lakes of the Donegal highlands?. It reminds me of Cornwall and the highlands of Scotland ? so if you like either, you?ll love County Donegal. ++ WHERE IS IT? ++ Donegal is the most northerly part of Ireland (above Northern Ireland), which is a bit weird when locals talk about going ?up? to Belfast (which is geographically south). With a spectacular 200 mile coastline, County Donegal is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and north; Counties Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh to the east and Counties Leitrim and Sligo to the south. ++ TELL ME A BIT ABOUT THE HISTORY (BUT DON?T BORE ME!) ++ Donegal?s original name was Tir Chonaill, meaning ?the land of Conal? (one of the 12 sons of Niall of the Nine Hostages). In the early seventeenth century, the English changed the name to that...

Maia 14.06.2003 · Read review
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Review of Donegal (Ireland)

Be Careful Not To Wake Finn MacCool

Advantages: Spectacular natural structure
Disadvantages: Cold, wet and windy iost of the time

...The Giant's Causeway is a must if you are sightseeing in Northern Island. It is an amazing natural stone walkway which stretches out into sea. It is world famous as County Antrim's 'wonder of the world' and although similar structures to this can be found off the coast of Scotland (Fingal's Cave) and in Iceland, this one is the most striking and awesome spectacle of them all. All around you is the wild and windy Atlantic Ocean, off the coastline of County Antrim. The Causeway itself looks like a stack of huge squared off blocks, all on top of each other. The fabulous colours of the rock range from bronze and red, to dark grey depending on the light and the weather. It is made up of more than 40,000 closely packed basalt columns. Some of these are as much as 90 feet thick. The highest columns reach about 40 feet...

jan007 09.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of County Antrim (Ireland)

Dorset County Hospital

Advantages: Friendly, Efficient, Very Clean
Disadvantages: None, apart from waiting time

...I am at present resting at home after an operation on my left shoulder, made necessary after a clumsy fall that compressed the shoulder joint. After a regimen of physiotherapy and steroids it was deemed that an operation called a subacromial decompression was arranged and took place at the orthopaedic unit of the Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, Dorset. I was given a choice of three hospitals, in line with the government's policy of offering a choice and I feel that I made the correct decision. The choices on the list were The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospital, Poole General Hospital and the Dorset county. Bournemouth was too far away, Poole is not a very nice hospital so I was left with Dorchester . First Impressions Once the appointment for surgery was made I was asked to attend a Anaesthesia Pre...

JeffFromPoole 15.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Dorset County Hospital