Last night I stayed at the Walpole Bay Hotel and Museum. I was in Margate for my new work for Accessible Futures Limited. Now Margate is very fashionable with the media at the moment. Think of The Apprentice with Howard and James trying to rebrand it as a gay resort and think of the Hotel Inspector, Alex Polizzi. I loved the episode where she and the hotel owner, Jane Bishop, battled it out. Honours were equally divided. Jane kept her ‘personal fiefdom’ intact and, while Alex did not grow to love the dismembered dolls, she did come to appreciate the values of this very quirky hotel.
(http://demand.five.tv/Episode.aspx?episodeBaseName=C5143960002).
So, last night I stayed in this lovely building which opened for business in 1914 and reflects the fashions and values of that era. I had a huge room with an old style gas fire and authentic sash windows which rattled all night as the winds came of the sea.
I slept in a high comfy bed with sheets which smelt as if they were fresh out of an old fashioned laundry. I wandered round the displays – photos, clothes, bric a brac -and went up and down in a lift which had the old style double metal mesh doors. This morning I finished my stay with sausage, egg and mushrooms in the restaurant which adjoins the veranda.
I’m back there on Wednesday night. It could become my new second home.