Columbia Hotel, The Dolphin and Prinsted Guest House in the United Kingdom

We booked into the Columbia Hotel (95/99 Lancaster Gate, Bayswater, London W2 3NS, ENGLAND; phone +44 [0] 20 7402 0021, fax +44 [0] 20 7706 4691, e-mail columbiahotel@btconnect.com). The location is within walking distance of Paddington Station and three underground lines, and it is on two bus routes. Kensington Gardens is just across the street.

This is a former officers’ club for U.S. forces in London. It is now a 100-room hotel, but they still give a discount to U.S. military personnel, active and retired.

The rooms are large. The full English breakfast, included, offered more choices than we have found at any other hotel. We had a very good dinner of chicken Kiev one night. The total bill for two nights’ lodging and one dinner was $307, a real bargain for a hotel in that location.

When the receptionist saw my wife hobbling on a cane, she immediately changed our room to a handicapped-accessible room.

• In the coastal resort of Aldeburgh, we found The Dolphin (Peace Place, Thorpeness, Suffolk IP16 4NA, England; phone 01728 454994, fax 01728 454971, e-mail info@thorpeness.co.uk).

This 3-room inn, a “restaurant with rooms,” was reconstructed in 2000 after the original building was destroyed by fire. The Dolphin is owned by the Thorpeness Hotel & Golf Club and has privileges at the club.

Our large double room was £75 ($124) per night. Hotels in Aldeburgh cost at least twice the price, and I don’t see how their rooms could be any nicer than ours.

An excellent dinner with wine and dessert here was £29.90 ($50) for two. Oddly, in this resort town on a bank holiday Monday, most restaurants were closed and we wound up having a so-so meal at a pub.

• With the Poplars Guest House in Horley having been converted to a private home, we found the Prinsted Guest House (Oldfields Rd., Horley, Surrey RH6 7EP, England; phone +44 [0] 1293 785233, fax +44 [0] 1293 820624, e-mail info@ prinstedguesthouse.co.uk).

It’s not as nice as the Poplars was, but it was a satisfactory place for a night before a flight out of Gatwick. The airport is five minutes away, and the guest house provides free shuttle service 7-11 a.m.

Our double room with facilities en suite was £49 ($80). (May ’03)

TERRY PARKER WALLACE
Flat Rock, NC