I spent Monday evening in Cheltenham - staying at an Edwardian themed B&B that's halfway between the station (where I arrived) and the town centre (where I was training on Tuesday). It's one of those rare places where they do everything right (right for the quality leisure guest, mind you - a bit fussy for business visitors in my personal view). The real coffee, served in the lounge a few minutes after I arrived, was a welcome and unusual supplement to the hospitality tray in the room (it's something we do too, but it ain't common). The host - gracious, welcoming, and just the right chattyness too.



A full breakfast in the morning - again, slightly more the leisure market (and I note that the other guests were leisure) and again that professional approach from the young lady waiting at table who also checked me out. I'm going back there next time I'm training up that way and "voting with my feet" is a true measure. Again, I will add that this level of breakfast care and attention - whilst it's very rare - is exactly what we provide; I guess my pleasure was in finding somewhere else where there's clearly a similar team spirit and standards through and through to us (and I guess I heave a huge sigh of relief that Butler'si isn't in Melksham!

A wish for a mid-evening light meal and a desire not to be sitting alone in a restaurant while all around me are groups, lead me to look for a fast food joint in the town centre.



One was open and I took a deep breath as I walked in past two members of staff smoking in the doorway. To my left, the section was blocked off and was in serious need of tables clearing and cleaning.

I placed my order and was surprised to see a paper bag for takeaway service gotten out. "May I eat in", I asked and was assured that I could, with a cheerful smile too but "all the trays are filthy dirty so I'm giving you a bag ..." and indeed there were trays around and a mess at many tables, when I went to eat; I did find a clean table and as I was finishing, one of the smokers came back in and the young lady who had been on the till came out to start cleaning tables.

Oh dear - what a contrast. Next time, I'll take a book or laptop into Cheltenham and sit quietly in Wethersppons or a rather interesting Thai restaurant I noted; BK in that town is now in the "only if I'm very rushed" category and I don't expect to ever be that rushed in Cheltenham!



Cheltenham does have some of the elements of its transport right too. It's a shame this isn't still a railway but I wasn't the only person using it as a footpath to get from the current station to my final destination. A final stretch along a little river / parkside but close to a modern Waitrose took me to where I was training. Other elements - so many old buildings that could do with a bit of TLC and footpaths which are in abysmal condition, complete the story of contrasts.
(written 2013-04-03, updated 2013-04-06)

 M401 - Well House Manor - Seeing how others do it
  [17] Differing tastes - (2004-08-17)
  [514] Crazy Day-sies - (2005-12-02)
  [619] If its Sunday, it must be the Norland - (2006-02-23)
  [693] The on line booking experience - (2006-04-21)
  [699] Extremes costs of getting on line - (2006-04-25)
  [714] Room for Octopuses - (2006-05-08)
  [736] New Tape Librarian - (2006-05-28)
  [966] CSL, KISS and RTFM - (2006-12-05)
  [1011] Well House Manor and Beechfield House, Hotels, Melksham - (2006-12-29)
  [1026] The Wheatsheaf 2, The Bell 0 - (2007-01-09)
  [1091] The Psyche is all wrong. - (2007-02-24)
  [1205] Arrival and Departure experiences - another hotel - (2007-05-26)
  [1287] Work and play at Well House Manor - Football and Shell Shortcuts - (2007-08-02)
  [1301] Plastic or China - (2007-08-12)
  [1333] Kasteel Elsloo - Michelin rated hotel. - (2007-09-05)
  [1347] Wireless Internet Access at hotels - an update and some pitfalls - (2007-09-12)
  [1354] Match the Bedroom to the Hotel - (2007-09-17)
  [1356] Crystal Ball - How long do I need to be online? - (2007-09-18)
  [1374] Maidenhead Coffee Challenge - (2007-10-02)
  [1406] Away or home - which do I prefer? - (2007-10-25)
  [1413] The little gestures that can really count - (2007-10-27)
  [1454] From Sunday to Monday, from Melksham to the Balkans - (2007-12-03)
  [1458] The wrong way to put up prices - (2007-12-05)
  [1525] Just one thing let the service down - but that is my memory - (2008-01-31)
  [1547] New bathing idea for hotels from Hotelympia - (2008-02-20)
  [1597] Comparing hotels - as a guest and from the proprietors view - (2008-04-01)
  [1672] The Composting Cone Challenge - (2008-06-10)
  [1758] Lindors Hotel, near St. Briavels, Wye Valley - (2008-08-18)
  [1915] Quietly putting prices up - (2008-12-02)
  [2007] Launch of Melksham Food and Drink Festival - (2009-01-24)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2127] Call in the professionals! - (2009-04-12)
  [2308] A new place in pictures - (2009-07-28)
  [2311] Floor to ceiling - (2009-07-30)
  [2413] Sanity checking the price, and selling up to increase income - (2009-09-21)
  [2441] Not your cup of tea? - (2009-10-08)
  [2502] Monday night, Tuesday night - (2009-11-13)
  [2885] Twenty Questions - (2010-07-24)
  [2911] Feeding the Grockles - (2010-08-09)
  [3054] Longhope Hotel - (2010-11-16)
  [3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
  [3368] Well House Manor hotel, Melksham - recommended to you by our customers - (2011-07-23)
  [3754] Eyes Wide Open - (2012-06-06)
  [3776] Some traps it's so easy to fall into in designing your web site - (2012-06-23)
  [3794] Should hotel staff sit on the toilet in the customer bedrooms? - (2012-07-02)
  [3900] The Xxxxx Guest House in Xxxxxxxxxxx - my stay reviewed - (2012-10-20)
  [3963] National TV - Melksham - 9th January 2013, Pre-alert. - (2012-12-27)
  [3970] Comparing four VERY different places to stay - (2013-01-11)
  [3975] Being an amateur hotel inspector helps me run a professional hotel - (2013-01-14)
  [4081] Pushing down the advertised price, pushing up the total price charged. - (2013-05-08)
  [4091] A reminder of why we opened Well House Manor for our customers - (2013-05-17)
  [4093] More things to make sure that we do NOT do ... - (2013-05-18)
  [4109] What might you find at a tiny bed and breakfast? - (2013-06-03)
  [4177] Setting and publishing your hours to suit your customer base - (2013-09-18)
  [4245] It always happens to me when I'm in Borehamwood! - (2014-03-06)
  [4255] Making a personal gain from a more expensive business hotel stay - (2014-04-02)
  [4321] Are administration / review charges on hotel guests acceptable? - (2014-11-20)
  [4348] Taking my life in my hands in Swansea - (2014-12-11)
  [4373] A long and disappointing evening - (2014-12-30)
  [4443] Seventh stay away this year - and it's still only February! - (2015-02-25)

Back to stdClass in PHP - using an object rather than an associative array

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to Curl and curling from PHP

Sessions, forms and validation in CodeIgniter - early examples
Seamless, integrated IT - we have a long way to go!
CodeIgniter - an excellent PHP framework with an easy start point
Curl and curling from PHP
The highs and lows of customer service - Cheltenham
stdClass in PHP - using an object rather than an associative array
An overpractical test of our backup strategy!
Using web services to access you data - JSON and RESTful services
On Salford Docks - mind over matter?
Frameworks - learning through exploring and understanding data sources