Hotel News & Gossip

[DaveR]

The Afternoon Tea looks very pleasant!

[Yorkie]

So do the young ladies!     

[hollins]

Yes, they are lovely girls, both from Switzerland.

[Fester]

You were hoping to get to Switzerland recently weren't you H?

But I recall that you were thwarted.   Family reasons.

[hollins]

Yes, my mum was taken ill but ok now. Hope to try to go again in June when the meadows should look like this photo below.
Mrs F looks lovely. She is braver than me going on that ride in the middle of all the shops and pubs!

[Trojan]

So do the young ladies!     

Mmmmm, tea & crumpets. 

[SDQ]

The Head Chef of Bodysgallen Hall (Gareth Jones) is on the Great British Menu this week if anyone is interested.
BBC 2 or BBC HD at 6.30pm every evening this week.

[Micox]

Used to go for conkers to the footpath by the stream which led to the Hall. Entrance by the ford in Marl Lane. Always floored by the unusual all pervading powerful smells there which i now know to be wild garlic. I suppose this place is lost now?

[DaveR]

Sadly, yes. I think Trojan and I were talking about that ford on Marl Lane not so long ago, I used to enjoy walking as a kid from the ford along the stream and then up into Marl Woods alongside that stone wall. It all disappeared under the Link Road (with the exception of the path up into Marl Woods bit). Progress? I think not.

[Trojan]

Yes, I believe it was on the Llandudno Junction thread.

Are you sure you're not thinking of Marl Hall Mike?

[Beet95]

I am an employee of Bodysgallen Hall and worked for the company for 15 years before its donation to the NT.

What never fails to amaze me is the fact that members of the NT feel that for the price equivalent to any decent magazine subscription, they can pass comment on a subject they know very little about!!

I am not going to go into the details of the donation as the press release issued in 2008 explains everything. Indeed if you looked at the previous press release in the late '90s when the NT accepted protective covenants, it may make even more sense to you. It really isn't anymore than an extremely generous donation!! ( biggest gift since WW2 in fact).

Historic House Hotels is a company within the NT, run as it always has been, by the same management. Richard Broyd is still the chairman and along with the board if directors very much still calls the shots! There has been no changes and certainly no rescue of a failing business!!

It may be of interest to know that no members of staff at HHH receive any NT benefits. NOT ONE! Even the staff who have been with the company for 30 plus years. We do not hold NT staff cards and even an NT volunteer who carries out an hours worth of work holds more benefits than the staff.

We receive NO funding from the NT and all maintenance and upkeep is carried out under our own budgets.

ALL of our profits go the NT.

A constant irritation is the arrival of NT members looking to wander around the hotel and estate, when it is absolutely clear in the NT handbook that we are open as a HOTEL, and all guests ( whether NT members or not can enjoy the building and estate if joining for coffee, lunch, dinner etc. This is to protect our business as many residents and regular guests would not return if the house was swarming with guided tours etc.

There is no denying that the NT do good work, but don't be led down the garden path without knowing some of the facts!!

This isn't a bitter response but some people need to get off their high horse!!

[Yorkie]

Rant over - but what is the problem?   I am an NT Member and have been coughing up my subscription for many years, and feel that generally the NT do a good job with all the properties and land they look after for the Nation.    Why should the Staff get benefits over and above their generous salaries?   

The volunteers do not get paid and, presumably, are NT Members themselves, so what extra benefits do they get?   Just a tea or a coffee and a couple of biscuits.  Do you get watered and fed whilst on duty?

Stop griping and just be thankful that you work in such beautiful surroundings and for such an understanding organisation.
 ££$

[Fester]

Whether you love him or hate him, the Forum is never a bland place when Yorkie is around! 

[Yorkie]

Whether you love him or hate him, the Forum is never a bland place when Yorkie is around! 

You'll miss me when I'm gone!     

[temperancellandudno]

Hello

Without engaging in too much controversy, this does seem a very forthright view expressed by Beet. I take most of the points raised, but don't agreewith then all.

I have been a life member of the NT for 25 years. I called in recently at Bodysgallen, but my pocket could not stretch to afternoon tea for myself and my better half.

I'm puzzled, frankly, at the NT. If they want their employees to be enthusiastic about the NT, why don't they grant one or two privileges - e.g. one free entry a year to local properties like Bodnant, Penrhyn, Plas Newydd? Maybe that might enable people working at Bodysgallen and other NT places to enthuse about the NT and its properties. Given the pay involved (hardly stratospheric in any hotel), the NT would hardly be cutting out a vast source of revenue, because most employees would not be able to afford the entrance fees to their properties.

And why not a little notice at Bodysgallen (couldn't see one) that explains the connection with the NT, permits discreet visits to the gardens by NT members (and maybe they might favour tea afterwards). Surely it is helpful to get people to know the place, so that they are more likely to go through the door? After all, we have Heritage Open Days coming up in England (Heritage Open Doors in Denbighshire) and that certainly gets people to visit areas and properties of which they would otherwise remain unaware.

I have an annual card for the Historic Houses Association, and they do include hotels that are historic. Naturally you cannot poke round bedrooms in such places, but I am sure that it helps some people to go through the door to consider weddings and other events, and indeed to think about afternoon tea (and the second mortgage!!).

Just a thought, not attempting to raise any controversy.

T