A Life Less Ordinary, News & Events

The Morning Cuppa: Return to its Gilded Age

Posted on September 3, 2024

Monday, 2 September 2024

It’s Labour Day in the States. Always this day has marked the end of summer in Michigan. In Spain the first Monday after the end of August also marks the end of summer. August holidays are over and with it the holiday makers who vanish in the wee hours of the morning  causing massive traffic snarl from Calella to Barcelona. Seemingly overnight the weather shifts and the light’s opacity grows serene.

The wind turns, coming down from the Pyrenees and the Med feels cooler. Autumn is on the way. And with it Euro Militaire. Well, not anymore. Euro has been gone now for eight years. Whilst Euro Miniatures Expo blessedly bought us die hard Leas Cliff Hall junkies an additional three years, the combination of Covid and Brexit killed it off entirely after the 2019 addition. 

This is our last summer season in the Costa Brava after twelve years.  With our little boy almost of public school age, we knew this day was coming. We’re planning to spend most of the year in the States. Lifestyle shift. We’re counting down to a different sort of “Day Of” and thankfully, I think we can make a final SMC in Holland come October before our final exit to the Sates.  

Was just outside talking to my groundskeeper. It is his first day back to the house after one week of holiday. I noticed two things this morning. How dark it was a 6 in the morning and also how chilly it was. If I were outside for any length of time this morning I would put a jumper on. The calendar changes from August to September and just like that, Autumn is on the way.

I’ve been meaning to write about our

latest stay at The Clifton Hotel Folkestone. I’ve been a guest at The Clifton since 2003. Twenty-one years. From my first visit I knew I was somewhere extra-ordinary. In a world of Premier and Holiday Inns, a hotel like The Clifton is set apart. Even back then with all its quirks and eccentricities it was charming. The staff was — and remains —welcoming. In 2016 The Clifton was heavily renovated, exterior repainted and most of its public rooms reimagined and modernized. Yet it still retained oh so much of its original Edwardian charm. A year later a Marco Pierre White Steakhouse opened within the Clifton and took the old Gilded Age hotel to another level. The bedrooms held out for a few more years. Covid set things back, but by 2024 all  have been renovated with high speed internet included and centralized air-con and heating on demand. I’m told it is the only hotel on The Leas with such modernizations. The Ocean Bleu bar has been updated again, delightfully so in fact.

At the end of my last stay in 2022 I was informed the rooms I knew would soon be gutted and renovated. I had no idea what to expect and I am pleased to say I am in no way disappointed. 

I have a long history and affection for room 111, alas it was advanced booked by another lucky guest. Philippa — the sage of reception and bookings — has since my very first stay advised me wisely.

She recommend guest room 108. As this is my lucky number and a room I’d never stayed in previously we agreed to it without hesitation. The first thing I noticed upon arrival to the first floor (second floor in The States) was all new doors with card key entry as in many a modern hotel, yet the hallways retained their Edwardian charm and gorgeous furnishings. When we opened the door to room 108 we were bathed in the most glorious sunshine from the massive floor to ceiling bay windows of the bedroom. One could not help but be awestruck by the impressive antique French bed. A remarkable centerpiece to this room.  

Crossing a beautiful Oriental Rug we enter a dressing room with full length mirror and built in wardrobe with included iron and pressing board as well as a wine refrigerator, safe and coffee service. All up to date and new. Turning into the washroom, I was bathed yet again in sunlight from a floor to ceiling windows,

the lower pane of which is privacy fogged. The bathroom is new with beautiful grey and white granite tiles. The stand alone bath is a work of art and the taps highly polished. The sink and vanity is spacious and new as is the separate shower with cascading shower head and hand held wand all of which produced an endless supply of hot water upon demand. It feels more like a spa in a five star hotel than The Clifton Hotel I have known all these years. We spent far too much time enjoying the rooms luxury whilst pulling up the latest a pay-per-view Tom Cruise film on the large flat screen television. 

There is also full room service available, something I could have only dreamt of a few short years  ago. And whilst the renovations offer a new level of luxury the staff continues to be the same highly trained crew I have known for years. 

I am grateful to the hotel manager Neal who has brought The Clifton to where it is now through those lean years during the Pandemic and also to Philippa for her kind and patient help. These of course are the most important ingredients in a great hotel — its people.

The hotel has now returned to its Gilded Age appearance of yesteryear when Folkestone was THE place to be seen.

Stay. Experience. Dine. Enjoy. The Clifton Hotel is again the best hotel in Folkestone. In my eyes, it always has been.

The journey is everything.

x