We've done a fair bit of travelling of late, Hev and me this summer, and me on my own most of the rest of the year. And I like to post a review to Booking.com if I can remember much about it. Here are some from this year.
September 2026
Holiday Inn Express Stoke On Trent
Obviously being an old fashioned hotel, you get a TV with an aerial (so live TV, which is smashing) but don't expect a Smart TV with apps or any of that nonsense.
We had an accessible room which was lovely, but had a green safety fire exit light above the door, which lights your whole room up like a fairy grotto through the night. I slung a black jumper over it myself. If you have thick black underwear, or a small towel that should do the trick. You could, alternatively, modify a more complete light-excluding device using a shoe box and some masking tape, but I couldn't be arsed.
West Bow Apartment, Edinburgh (above)
Great romantic location, at the foot of the "Harry Potter street". So there will be people outside, and a bagpiper. If you like bagpipes outside till 8 at night you'll be happy. You couldn't be more central.
Landlord very helpful, came and replaced toaster when we found it didn't work.
Working Smart TV, so if you're subscribed to apps (eg Iplayer, Youtube) you'll be fine. If not, it has no ariel so you will be telly-less. There are two wifi routers, both of which work fine.
The smell of oil and grease from the bistro below is all pervasive and makes you feel unclean. My wife washed some clothes and dried them in the lounge, then found when we got to our next destination that they smelled of chip fat so needed washing again. If you're sensitive to this, it might trouble you. Acrid is the word.
The noise from the flat above, and from people coming in downstairs, comes through quite a bit, and we had some people who would come in at 2 in the morning. It sounded for all the world like they'd come up our stairs into our flat, but they hadn't, then we could hear their feet and voices from above. Again, we may have been unlucky, but if you're a light sleeper, this could keep you awake.
And parking prices in Edinburgh have gone nut nut! Eight quid an hour? There's people working in these cafes can look out at a parking meter earning more per hour than them. The solution is what we call The Long Walk. Set your satnav for South Lauder Street, and you'll find that area is outside the controlled parking zone. Leave your car there for free, it's a half hour walk back.
Self contained apartment, Glasgow
A lovely little self contained apartment. Working Smart TV (no aerial though, so you need to have subscribed to apps, eg iPlayer, Youtube) to be able to watch anything. Great kitchen, very smart design all round. Free on street parking and good shops nearby. Had the weather been a tiny bit nicer, the garden looks amazing.
And I didn't hear the trains at all, so I wouldn't worry about that.
There was a smell, I'm afraid, throughout the flat, a bit like milk that had gone off. It was rather all pervasive. I'm sure it didn't last long (possibly a recent guest had left some milk that had gone off, or surfaces had been cleaned with a smelly cloth). But the smell slightly soured our time in the flat, which was otherwise excellent.
The Chambers, Leeds
A splendid apartment with an amazing view (we were on the top floor). I think we got a bargain price, because the quality was a lot higher than many other places we stay, and usually pay more.
Good working Smart TV, great kitchen and shower etc. Complimentary bread and eggs were a very impressive extra. Parking and a friendly reception, in a convenient and quiet end of town, all made it perfect.
No complaints, I hope we manage to get as good a deal next time we're in town.
August 2026
Maze Apartment, Hull (5 nights, above)
A lovely, if stark, little apartment. The windows are set a bit high up, so don't go expecting a view. And it's a shared kitchen, if you hadn't noticed that in advance (I hadn't). Good working TV with trad channels through an aerial (which I love), and smart TV apps (if you subscribe to them obviously). So make sure you're already signed up to iPlayer, Youtube and the rest, and you've got it all on tap.
The shared kitchen was quiet when I was there, only ever saw two other people. And the parking was great and convenient.
I was there during that period in the summer when Hull smells. It doesn't last for long, and once the rains came it went away. But for a while, phwoarr!
Sevenstay Plus, Liverpool
Good location in quiet end of town, good parking just across the road. Helpful friendly staff at venue. Clean room.
They ask for a photo of your passport or driving licence. In advance, by email. All before they take a £150 deposit (which must have been mentioned in the small print but I hadn’t seen it).
We booked on Friday for a Saturday night stay. Then, as we’re driving up, we find we’ve got emails asking for photo ID - for both of us - before they’ll give us the key code. And they need our credit card details in order to take a £150 deposit, on top if the room charge that we’d already paid.
This was most stressful, hung over us all through the drive up, and felt unnecessarily intrusive.
The room itself:
Avoid Room 101. There is only one window, which opens onto the noisy aircon extractor from the building next door. Which means you have the choice of an airless night with the window closed, or the noise of that machine all night.
The room’s own aircon didn’t work
The TV is a WiFi-only telly, no aerial, which means you can’t get regular Tv channels, it relies entirely on apps which, if you don’t already pay for, you can’t use. IPlayer was installed on one tv (in the lounge) but not on the other (in the bedroom) and when the WiFi went down, as it did regularly, you were left staring at a buffering picture.
Also the shower control was broken meaning, at one point, we feared we’d not be able to turn it off )I found a way).
July 2026
Stable Yard Rooms, somewhere in the wilds of Yorkshire (above)
Lovely location, nicely decorated, smart wee apartment, in a delightful little village
There was rust in the kettle and the TV was unreliable.
The rust in the kettle I saw when I first rinsed it out, and it reappeared after each boiling. I don't know if it's in the water or the element, but make sure you fill the kettle up, so you don't end up pouring it into your cup.
The TV is one of those aerial-less set ups, so everything has to come though the wifi, which kept cutting out. I changed to all the various choices of wifi, and they kept cutting out in the middle of shows I was trying to watch on iplayer. There seemed to be a Live TV option, but it would never work. I tried to download Youtube onto the set, but it needed an Amazon Firestick password so I couldn't.
This is a small consideration, and most folks probably don't need a TV, but with unreliable wifi, a wifi-only TV is a nightmare.
Sutzus, Coleraine
A lovely greeting from my smashing host, despite how late I arrived. Followed by a lovely breakfast, couldn’t have been better.
(Negative comments?) Only that I couldn’t stay longer
Sperrin View, NI
A smashing self contained flat, with a working Smart TV which really suits me
No complaints. I mean, the lounge and kitchen takes up most of the space and the bedrooms a bit tiny, but unless you need to dance around the foot of your bed every morning you’ll be fine.
Ashwoods House, NI
Great room, working Smart TV, which suits me. Self catering facilities are shared and work fine, a bit like a shared apartment I guess. I ate out on the balcony, which is lovely.
No complaints. Prepare to book your time to use the kitchen for breakfast and you’ll be fine.
Manorview, NI
Great location - I went for a walk in Drum Manor Park and saw the old ruined house. Smashing. Also a working Smart TV which was great. Lovely host smashing breakfast - the best scrambled eggs
No complaints. Recommended.
June 2026
Ramada Coventry
On one of the hottest nights of the year, I was delighted to get upgraded to a Superior Room on the 13th floor - with amazing full working aircon. Couldn't have been cooler, and it really was hot out there in the middle of the heatwave. Oh, and I'd only paid £65 for the room, so a great result.
Sadly the telly is rubbish. One increasingly gets used to Smart TVs, so this rather old fashioned in-house system, with a restricted number of lo-res live channels and no way of putting Youtube or iPlayer on the screen*, is a bit of a shame. That said, it was on a brilliant swivelling stand which enabled you to see it from both ends of this lovely long Superior suite. So had there been anything on worth watching on live TV (which, for a non-football fan, in the middle of The World Cup, there really wasn't) I'd have had a great view. As it was, I watched stuff on my phone.
*There is some sort of in-house App on offer that you can download. But, just for the one night, I was wary of it and didn't explore it further.
The Lodge, Kings Lynn
Lovely couple running the place, splendid breakfast, but the star item was the telly. A Smart telly, that works and also has an aerial, so you can get proper live telly, plus I was able to watch iPlayer and Youtube. But even better, it's customised. It's been mounted onto an old, vintage, dressing table, in place of the mirror, giving you a stylish item to look at even when it's not on. Total Changing Places meets Grand Designs.
No complaints, highly recommended.
Kings Highway, Derby
Good location, great free parking. Also the block of rooms is a nice distance across the car park from the pub, so I couldn't hear the fun of the World Cup match, which went on late and I'm sure get very loud.
Through no fault of yours, it was the hottest night of the year so far, in the middle of a heatwave, and the windows only open an inch and a half. So, despite the fan that you'd laid on, it was impossible to get any cool air into the room. Hottest night I've spent in years, naked on top of the sheets and still baking.
This is not a problem that will recur for another 11 months, I should imagine.
Holiday Inn Express, Braintree
You know what you're getting with a HIEx, this didn't disappoint
The weirdest feature, which seems to occur at almost every HIEx*, is that the TV (Samsung) has BBC 1 HD (Channel 101) but it has no sound!
So you have to watch BBC1 in lo res, or hope it's showing a silent movie. All other channels are fine. Why does this keep happening? Only ever BBC 1 HD, only ever Samsung TVs, almost always at Holiday Inn Expresses?
*NB This has not happened at any subsequent HIEx! In fact there were four I stayed at after this date that I didn't even mention in this blog because the reviews were just "no complaints". Perhaps they got my notes?
The Blossoms, Liverpool
The location is quiet, though I could hear fellow residents a bit, and I could park for free on the street. Good shops nearby so I was able to forage for myself.
No real complaints, though the sound bleed from the other floor was noticeable, not too much. Let's just say it's a cosy little room, with everything squeezed in. The Tv works well, which suits me.
Staybridge Suites, Brighton
Better breakfast than I expected (they said continental, but as far as I could see it was a full buffet breakfast, just like a HIExpress) + a Smart TV that works (you don't get that at HIEx)
It's an aircon-based place, with windows that don't open (at least our room was), so on one of the hottest nights of the year we had the choice of the noise of the aircon, or getting really hot, when a window that opened would have been just right. (I don't know what we do if we have a pandemic again, but let's worry about that when it comes, eh?)
March 2026
Restored Circus Wagon, North Yorkshire (above)
This was the most novel place I've stayed (I'm usually a hotel, not a camping person). A tiny little wagon that blows around in the wind and is freezing overnight (it was one of the coldest nights of the year), with the toilet and shower block a walk across a field, with a little fan heater to warm it up, and fairy lights to light it, no TV, and I didn't get the wifi code.
Had the most enjoyable night. Honestly. It was a novelty, and who doesn't want to tell everyone they stayed in a circus wagon?
This would be a lot more bearable in warmer weather, and won't suit lovers of comfort and luxury. But for an anecdote-worthy change, at a brilliant price, it was well worth it.
The owners contacted me the next day apologising that they hadn't known I was staying (which is why they didn't give me the wifi code, and I imagine there would have been more fresh bedding had they known) and offering to give me a discount, but I declined. I got what I expected and enjoyed it.
You'll have to be prepared for it being cold in cold weather, and it is very small. Once the bed's folded out, it fills the cabin. And brace yourself for a freezing walk to the toilet, shower and kitchen. But if you're a regular camper you won't think twice about it and will love it
My Books And Where To Find Them...
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