Bali Fun Trip

A gondola massage in California

balifuntrip — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:10:58 +0000

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You won’t catch a Venetian doing it, but in Coronado Bay off the Californian coast couples can have a massage in a gondola

I’ll never look at a gondolier again without a smile crossing my lips. Why? Did I have fun in Venice, being serenaded by a Latin lothario? Did I stay at the Venetian hotel in Vegas, transported around the property in one of those gondolas that are as cheesy as gorgonzola?

Nope, I took a trip on an “authentic” 33ft gondola off the Coronado Cays near San Diego, for a couples massage with my hubbie as part of our stay at the Loews Coronado resort.

Leaving from the hotel’s private marina we were paddled out to sea on our gondola, then lay face down on twin massage tables while two masseuses – Kim and Yvonne – worked away at our tired old bones.

Disappointingly, the two gondoliers didn’t sing Italian songs to us, but they were young and seriously hunky, and they at least had Italian folk music playing – makes a change from the usual far eastern mood music.

They didn’t get our “Just One Cornetto” joke, but they did keep their eyes firmly on the horizon and the gondola sailing smoothly while the therapists did their best to work round us in the space available and maintain steady sea legs.

Complimentary Domaine Chandon, a good Napa Valley sparkling wine, and chocolate-covered strawberries were served during the final 10 minutes of the “experience”, which lasts about an hour, and we sat back, by then in dressing gowns, and took in the views.

I used that moment to chat to the masseuses about the job. Yes, predictably, it is mainly couples celebrating a wedding anniversary who opt for this treatment; and although it is totally weather-dependent, San Diego has 267 “mostly sunny” days a year, so that’s rarely an issue.

Unusually, this was a massage taken entirely lying on your front, with no flipping over to give the passing yachts an eyeful – or the planes and helicopters from the nearby Coronado military base. I can’t say that added to the experience – our arms and the fronts of our legs were decidedly underworked, but overall it was a fun way to spend an hour or so.

As a destination resort, the 439‑room Loews Coronado Bay ticks a lot of boxes. Among its on-site amenities are three restaurants – one award-winning and with views of the San Diego skyline and Coronado Bay – three swimming pools, three tennis courts and direct access to the Silver Strand State Beach. The hotel is situated on a private 15-acre peninsula jutting out into the Pacific Ocean and it’s just 25 minutes from downtown San Diego. The low-rise town of Coronado is a little gem, reminiscent of a Disney village, and a perfect piece of Americana.

Whether the whole massage experience is worth $419 is another matter, but it is certainly one of the world’s strangest …

If next time you visit Venice you find the Grand Canal full of floating massage-gondolas, you’ll know where the idea came from.

• The Loews Coronado Bay (loewshotels.com/coronadobay) has doubles from $209 B&B, and the gondola massage costs $419 per couple. United Airlines (08458 444777, united.com) flies from Heathrow to San Diego from £470 return. For further information on California, see visitcalifornia.co.uk

Kyoto on a budget

balifuntrip — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:00:11 +0000

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Nicholas Coldicott hunts down the bargains in Kyoto, Japan’s famous – and famously expensive – former imperial capital

First, the bad news: Kyoto can be a crushingly expensive place to visit. It’s packed with once-in-a-lifetime attractions at once-in-a-lifetime prices. But here’s the good news: many of the best bits are cheap, if not free. Here are some low-cost highlights.

Visit: Katsura Rikyu

Where else but Kyoto would one of the world’s greatest gardens be a C-list attraction? The city is so overloaded with grand temples, shrines, gardens and villas that this 17-acre former imperial garden often falls off the radar. It doesn’t help that the Imperial Household Agency issues only a few visitor permits a day and doesn’t accept walk-in tourists. But it’s worth the effort. Katsura Rikyu is a 400-year-old retreat with arguably the city’s greatest garden. The ponds and pine trees create miniature landscapes that mimic famous scenes from Japan. The buildings are often described as the finest example of the restrained, tea-house-style sukiya architecture that minimalists and modernists alike cite as an influence. Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius have both said Katsura Rikyu changed their thinking. If you want to understand Japanese gardens or classic architecture, this is the place to come. And it’s free.
• Bookings: Imperial Household Agency Kyoto Office, 3 Kyoto-gyoen, Kamigyo-ku, +81 75 211 1215, sankan.kunaicho.go.jp/english/index.html. Tours Mon-Fri, 9am, 10am, 11am, 1.30pm, 2.30pm, 3.30pm

Eat: Oku

The Miyamasou ryokan is one of Japan’s great dining destinations. Up in the forested Miyama mountains, north of Kyoto, chef Hisato Nakahigashi serves kaiseki (a traditional, multi-course dinner) prepared with wild vegetables, herbs, fish and meat, all sourced from within 20km of his kitchen. If you can afford it (prices start at ¥15,750, around £130), and don’t mind the 50-minute drive from central Kyoto, it’s a meal you won’t soon forget. But there’s an easier, cheaper way to try the man’s food. In 2008, he opened Oku, a cafe in Kyoto’s Gion district. The original plan was to use the space as a retail outlet for a line of lacquerware that Nakahigashi designs with a young ceramicist – and it developed into a cafe because the chef wanted to let people test-drive his plates and bowls. So you can now eat a tapas-style sampler of Miyamasou cuisine, along with miso soup, rice and pickles for £20. And if you like the tableware, you can buy it on the way out, though not on any shoestring budget.
• 570-119 Gionmachi-Minamigawa, Higashiyama-Ku, +81 75 531 4776, oku-style.com

Buy: Karacho cards

Karacho isn’t an obvious choice for a budget itinerary. The company specialises in woodblock-printed paper (karakami) at prices that will make your eyes pop out of their sockets. When it was formed back in 1624, Karacho was one of many companies making karakami by hand. Now it’s the only one. You can find their designs on sliding doors and wallpaper in luxury hotels, ryokan, castles and tea shops. If you want to take a screen home, expect to pay upwards of £1,600. But these days you can also pick up hand-printed business cards (£29 for 50), greetings cards (£10 each) or postcards (£4) bearing the company’s classic designs.
• Cocon Karasuma, Karasuma Dori Shijo-sagaru, Shimogyo-ku, +81 75 353 5885, karacho.co.jp

See: maiko

Geisha, or geiko in Kyoto parlance, are traditionally off limits for tourists. Even your average Kyoto-ite doesn’t have the connections to arrange an evening in a teahouse with the painted ladies. Some high-end hotels, ryokans and restaurants stage informal dinners with maiko (apprentices), but these feel like the geisha equivalent of a speaking engagement. The girls do a short dance, then join you at your table for small talk and parlour games. Unless you speak their language or thrive on rock-paper-scissors, you’ll get more for your money at the seasonal dance extravaganzas in kaburenjo (arts theatres). Each of Kyoto’s five geiko troupes has its own theatre. For a few weeks a year they stage public performances (tickets from £17, advance booking essential). The people’s favourite is the Miyako Odori by the Gion geisha troupe, dedicated to the cherry blossom season. Cheaper still, loiter on the olde-worlde streets of Pontocho or Hanamikoji in the early evening. It won’t be long before you see a maiko scuttling to an appointment. It’s one of Kyoto’s most popular photo ops, though the girls are heading to work and no more want to stop for tourist snaps than you want a camera shoved in your face on your morning commute, so be discreet.
• Gion Kobu Kaburenjo, 570-2 Gionmachi-minamigawa, Higashiyama-ku. Box office: +81 75 541 3391, miyako-odori.jp. Daily April 1-April 30, 12.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm, 4.50pm

Stay: 9hours

Kyoto has half a dozen design hotels, but this is the only one that charges less than £40 a night – 9hours, a capsule hotel by industrial designer Fumie Shibata. Like any other capsule hotel, it offers a fibreglass oblong in a great location at a rock-bottom price. But while most evoke dreary, dystopian hatcheries, this one is genuinely comfortable and looks better than some top-end hotels. Shibata used a monochrome palette, creating an all-white lobby, lockers and showers, black and white amenities and curvaceous white pods set into a jet-black wall. Graphic designer Masaaki Hiromura added ideograms to guide guests from entrance to locker to shower to pod and back again. You don’t need a word of Japanese; navigating 9hours is iPod intuitive. The capsules aren’t as claustrophobic as you might fear – there’s room to sit upright – and they have amenities that you wouldn’t expect of budget accommodation. The pillows are six-part ergonomic masterpieces that support your neck no matter how you sleep. In the morning, the alarms use light rather than sound, nudging you into consciousness by progressively brightening the capsule. Given the proximity of the other guests, this is no trivial convenience. And, perhaps best of all, you set your own check-out time. Despite the hotel name, you’re allowed to stay for up to 17 hours, and as nice as the place is, there’s no chance you’ll want to be there that long.
• Termachi Dori Shijo-sagaru, Shimogyo-ku, +81 75 353 9005, 9hours.jp/systems/index. Rooms from £38pp

• Nicholas Caldicott is a freelance writer based in Japan. He wrote the first Time Out guide to Kyoto

10 of the most unusual hotels in Tokyo

balifuntrip — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:11:17 +0000

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Tokyo has an unusual hotel to suit every taste, whether you want to spend a night in a pod hotel, at an urban onsen, or stay with a Japanese family, says Richard Smart

• As featured in our Tokyo city guide

Shinjuku Kuyakusho-mae Capsule Hotel

That unique Japanese experience – a night’s sleep in a tiny pod – in the heart of the city. There is very little here to appeal to visitors other than the novelty of doing something very Japanese, but the shared facilities, including a bath and sauna, are clean, and there are lockers for customers carrying a lot of luggage. The hotel is for men only, and – be warned – customers include drunk businessmen who have missed their last train home and are looking for somewhere cheap to stay. Rooms are cramped at two square meters, and have a television for those unable to sleep. A basic restaurant in the hotel also offers cheap snacks and light meals.
• 3F, 1-2-5 Kabuki-cho Toyo Building, Shinjuku-ku, +81 3 3232 1110ars-shinjuku.com. Capsules from around £30

Tokyo Disneyland Hotel

Since it opened in the early 1980s, Tokyo Disney has been the most successful of the multinational’s resorts. And once the company’s original customers had grown up, it realised it had there was a brand new market out there – for adults. One of the results was the Disney Hotel. It offers all the expected amenities for the price, but the real selling point in Japan is the theme rooms, which thirtysomethings flock to. Peter Pan, Snow White and Alice are among the Disney character rooms guests can stay in. Lucky guests may also get to see a Japanese couple tying the knot in the company of Mickey Mouse.
• 29-1 Maihama, Urayasu-shi, Chiba, +81 47 305 3333, disneyhotels.jp. Doubles from around £300

Sukeroku No Yado Sadachiyo

Offering a strange mixture of traditional Japan and modern tackiness suitable for guests looking to “discover” the country, this ryokan has numerous “courses” for guests to try that demonstrate old-fashioned Japanese dining entertainment. Japanophiles will love the place, with its fading forms of entertainment such as geisha dancing, traditional comedy and ancient party games. And, if you must, there’s karaoke too.
• 2-20-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, +81 3 3842 6431, sadachiyo.co.jp. Rooms from around £80pp, entertainment extra

Asakusa Hotel & Capsule

This is a rarity in that it offers both standard rooms and small pods for men and women to sleep in. Capsule hotels are often men-only, due to the risks for women staying in places with questionable clientele. However, the Asakusa guarantees safety and is located in a part of town that is much quieter once the sun goes down. Internet and shared washing facilities are on the fourth floor. Standard hotel rooms are cheap and cheerful, with little beyond the most basic amenities. The hotel is in a decent location for visitors looking to explore the Shitamachi (downtown) area of the city.
• 4-14-9 Kotobuki, Taito-ku, +81 3 3847 4477, hotelink.co.jp. Capsules from around £20, doubles from £50

Ooedo-Onsen-Monogatari

This is a traditional hot-spring countryside resort transplanted into the heart of the city. Rooms range from futon-only with access to shared hot springs to the height of luxury – top-end rooms with open-air baths and saunas. The onsen may prove a little contrived for long-term residents, but for first-time visitors it offers a genuine Japanese experience in central Tokyo. The shared indoor, outdoor and foot baths, with the water pumped from 1,400m underground, can be used without booking a room.
• 2-57 Aomi, Koto-ku, +81 3 5500 1126, ooedoonsen.jp. Rooms from around £160

Komadori Sanso

One of the most “out of Tokyo” experiences you can have within the city limits is a stay at the Komadori Sanso, a secluded lodge high in the mountains. Getting there can feel like almost as much of a challenge as it would have in the days before public transport, involving a three-hour journey taking in two trains, a bus, a cable car and a 15-minutes walk. But it’s worth it, with breathtaking scenery and solitude awaiting at this basic accommodation in the grounds of a mountain shrine. The lodge is perfect for relaxing, but the real draw is the waterfall endurance takigyo training offered by the shrine – guests learn to meditate as a waterfall thumps down on them.
• 155 Mitake-san, Omecity, +81 4 2878 8472, hkr.ne.jp/~komadori/komadori.html. Doubles from around £80

I-Cafe Akiba Place

Since the economic reverberations after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, many Japanese were left jobless. The final refuge before homelessness became the 24-hour internet cafe, which can be found wherever there are train stations. Customers are given a small booth with a comfortable reclining chair and a computer for surfing the internet. Shelves are also filled with manga. Some will also have shower facilities and discount offers for people staying for more than a couple of hours. The I-Cafe Akiba Place has all the facilities one would need for the most comfortable and cheapest night’s stay in Tokyo.
• Akiba Place 7-8F, 3-15-1 Soto-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, +81 3 5298 0126, i-cafe.ne.jp. Around £15 for nine hours, shower facilities and twin seats available

Hilltop Hotel

Tokyo may not have artists hang-outs in the vein of New York’s Chelsea Hotel, but the Hilltop Hotel is as close as it gets. A favourite of the late Yukio Mishima, the hotel was used as offices by the US military during the occupation before being converted into a hotel in 1954. It retains a historic air, with most rooms fitted with antique furniture, and writing desks add to the atmosphere. Two rooms also have small gardens. In a city known for demolishing and rebuilding once a generation, the Hilltop has managed to maintain charm and offers guests a true escape from the ultra-modern city.
• 1-1 Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, +81 3 3293 2311, yamanoue-hotel.co.jp/eng. Doubles from around £220

Super Hotel Ikebukuro

The Super Hotel chain distinguishes itself with a level of service that seems a little excessive, even for Japan. While staff are generally friendly and hands-off, what are notable are the tiny touches the hotel makes to stay ahead of the pack. As well as six types of pillow to choose from, mattresses are flipped after 30 sleeps, air is purified, and the pyjamas and slippers provided are scientifically manipulated to increase comfort and relieve stress. The feel is one of surreal sterility, but perhaps this is the hotel of the future: a place where tiny innovations give guests a better night’s sleep than they would get at home.
• 2-62-14 Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, +81 3 3984 9000, superhoteljapan.com. Doubles from around £75

Yasuda no Ie

Minshuku – homestays where visitors stay in the same house as a family – are few and far between in Tokyo. Yasuda no Ie is relatively central for those looking for a more adventurous stay in the capital, around 15 minutes from Shinjuku. Simple rooms with either western beds or futon are relatively cramped, but people don’t visit these places to stay behind closed doors – the pull is to briefly intertwine with Japanese family life. At Yasuda, the family speak a little English (don’t expect in-depth conversation), and are welcoming to foreign guests. Shared washing facilities and a fridge on both floors are as luxury as the accommodation gets.
• 1-56-29 Matsubara, Setagaya, +81 3 3322 5546, minshuku.or.jp/shokai/yasuda.html. Doubles from around £50

For more information go to the Japan National Tourism Organisation’s website: jnto.go.jp/eng

• Richard Smart is a freelance writer based in Tokyo

Selamat Datang di www.Jembrana.Net

balifuntrip — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:06:14 +0000

Yup, sesuai judul, saya selaku admin ingin mengucapkan selamat datang kepada siapa saja yang membaca artikel ini. Selamat datang di www.Jembrana.net . Sebuah blog dari masyarakat jembrana untuk masyarakat jembrana. Satu hal yang harus diingat, ini bukan blog pesanan pemerintah, pemda atau apalah istilahnya. Blog ini semata-mata akan menunjukkan kebanggaan saya sebagai masyarakat jembrana. Nantinya di blog ini akan berisi informasi tentang jembrana yang dikemas dari sisi berbeda, mudah-mudahan tidak monoton atau membosankan.

Mungkin ada yang bertanya, kenapa blog ini beralamat di www.jembrana.net, bukan www.jembrana.com ? Jawabannya, untuk domain jembrana.com saat ini dimiliki oleh bule, yang kalo nggak salah berasal dari Italia. Dulu saya sempat menawar untuk membeli Jembrana.com dengan harga $1000 / 9 juta-an , tapi ditolak mentah-mentah. Kayaknya si bule itu udah kaya, jadi nggak perlu uang lagi, oleh karena itulah, sebagai alternatif saya menggunakan domain Jembrana.Net. Oh,iya sebelumnya blog jembrana.net ini digunakan oleh teman saya yang merupakan calon fotografer profesional. Dan mari berharap dia akan menyumbangkan karyanya untuk ditampilkan di blog ini .

Dan satu lagi, sengaja tanggal 1 Februari ini dipilih sebagai tanggal “launching” adalah supaya bersamaan dengan perayaan hari raya Galungan dan tentu saja saya berharap berkah Hari raya Galungan ini bisa memberi manfaat untuk kita semua.

Sekian dan terima kasih, salam hangat dari negaroa.

Après-ski sophistication in St Anton

balifuntrip — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:01:47 +0000

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After dark, St Anton, in the Austrian Alps, is all loud Euro-pop and raucous drinking, right? Not if you stay at one of the resort’s sleek new boutique hotels

Imagine the rowdiest local pub you know, where 99% of the customers are absolutely smashed, embarrassing drunken behaviour is condoned and the crowd dances and stamps on the tables to awful, awful music played at full blast. Then imagine the landlord of this debauched venue deciding to convert the upstairs into a hotel. Not a flophouse for passed-out pissheads. A stylish boutique hotel. With a fancy spa. Sounds a bad idea, doesn’t it?

And yet here I am, paddling out into a sleek turquoise infinity pool. Fat snowflakes drop onto my wet hair as I swim slowly through steam towards pine trees, and there is not a sound except the gurgles from a stream in the gorge below.

It is perfectly peaceful. Heavenly. So much so it’s hard to believe that just around the corner throngs of beered-up Germans are swigging steins of weissbier, knocking back Jägermeisters and singing along to “heeyyyyyy, hey-ey ba-by… ooh! ah!…” played from mammoth speakers.

For on the other side of the building to my gorgeous spa, so cool with its exposed brick walls, designer chairs and colourful pouffes that it ought to be a nightclub, is the Mooserwirt.

Anyone who has skied St Anton’s world-class slopes knows the Mooserwirt. It is an infamous institution of intoxication. A sprawling multi-levelled place with a huge outdoor terrace, where more beer is served (per square metre anyway) than in almost any other bar in Austria, and 37km of plastic tubing feeds booze up to the busy bar, where there is space for 2,000 beer-swilling customers – a largely German-speaking contingent who chant the lyrics to Euro-pop après ski anthems (“Hey! Wir woll’n die Eisbären seh’n! O ho ho ho hoh!”) and stomp in their ski boots.

It appears in every list of the world’s best après ski bars – along with its neighbour the Krazy Kanguruh, which has a policy of giving free champagne to girls who take their tops off to dance. And probably nowhere in the world is chucking-out time so dangerous. Forget 2am outside Newcastle’s roughest pubs: when the bell rings at these two bars, some 500 beered-up people put on their skis and stampede in the dark from the top of the final run to the resort village.

But now there is an alternative to this perilous descent. After five decades of trading in hangovers on what was once his family’s farm, owner Eugen Scalet has extended his family flat above the raucous bar and turned it into the boutique Mooser hotel.

If you’re a guest here, you simply take your woozy head round the back of the building to where sliding glass doors lit with sparkling lights lead to a lobby whose designer tables are decorated with artistic bowls of fruit and wreaths of winter flowers, stagger up into your gorgeous suite and pass out on a high-spec bed heaped with expensive bedding.

When St Anton’s newest mountain sanctuary opened in early December, the question in every potential guest’s mind was, would you be able to hear the music? The answer is no. Even out on my decked balcony, where I slump on a Fat Boy (a posh beanbag) covered in a sheepskin rug and sip a beer from the complimentary mini bar, I strain to hear the beat, and inside with the doors shut it is completely inaudible.

This is certainly no party hotel. Interestingly, Eugen says that 90% of bookings so far are from people who have never drunk in the Mooserwirt. The Mooser is hip in a refined way, with nine suites and eight double rooms. There is Italian designer furniture from Moroso, lighting from Foscarini, leather sofas, Bose stereos, and a Zirben Klimabox to naturally purify and scent the air. Electronics control the blinds on the balcony and the bathroom, which is in a glass cube at one end of the room (the loo is separate). It is all very well thought-out and stylishly executed.

My only gripe – and it’s a pathetic one – is that it’s a bit too comfy: too warm, the bed too padded and soft. But it is classy. Very. Yet the same building is hosting performances by peroxide-haired Hamburg dance act Scooter, and by DJ Ötzi himself (of Hey Baby fame).

They and other Germanic Euro-pop royalty are in town the weekend I’m there, performing live at the Mooserwirt for German channel RTL, which has filmed a show in the bar every December for the past 11 years, taking it over for the weekend with a sort of extremely well-lit mini festival.

Although it is thrilling to see live lip-synching and know that silver-catsuited dance troupes are, in Austria at least, still alive and high-kicking, I think I’d rather have witnessed the usual Mooserwirt shenanigans. (The regular DJ, Gerhard, has been there since 1994. He is now 62 and still plays seven days a week.) But then I surprise myself by feeling more drawn to the spa and the guests-only hotel bar, with its view down blue-white slopes to the twinkling lights of the resort, than to noisy crowds and pre-mixed spirits on tap. Maybe it is not just the Mooserwirt that is growing up.

At 8pm, when the mountain bars close, we hotel guests can take a cosy seat in the superior Mooser bar, beside a panoramic window, watch the mayhem spill out from the Mooserwirt down the mountain, then be left in peace to enjoy starry skies and a beautiful meal. (If you want a bit more life, it’s a €10 cab ride into town.)

The Mooser’s bar and restaurant are not open to the public, so no one staggers in half-cut to request a kebab. We enjoy delicious dishes such as silky pumpkin soup, ox carpaccio, smoked Arctic char, perfect wiener schnitzel and tender tender steak. Next morning brings a great breakfast of bircher muesli, meat, cheese, fruit and extras such as omelettes and beef tartare with toast. But the real bonus is that you’re already at the top of the slopes, ready to clip into your skis and, before the lifts even open, hit the hill and begin exploring this fantastic ski resort.

The hotel is fabulous (it should be: it cost €12m) but it is not without competition. There is a glut of stylish high-end, hi-tech new hotels in St Anton but, wonderfully, they are all owned by local families, who have expanded existing businesses. The new 26-room M3 hotel, though rather more bland than the Mooser, is owned by the three brothers who run the Hacienda restaurant beneath it, widely considered the town’s finest.

High design and sophistication is part of a trend in St Anton. Even the Krazy Kanguruh has changed. Under new owner Mario Matt, a professional skier, it has been poshed up (for the worse, I fear) with expensive lighting and shiny fittings, while its old owner, Swede Gunnar Munthe, has gone off to launch his own hotel, the Reselehof.

On the main drag, a new bar, the Murrmel, looks like a sleeker offering than the popular Piccadilly and Scotty’s, while the favourite bar of Scandinavian skiers, the Funky Chicken, has been replaced by Anthony’s, which includes a pizza place and a steak house, with another boutique hotel – Life & Style, complete with rooftop Jacuzzi – opening upstairs next winter.

No one wants St Anton to lose its reputation as a fun resort, but the mayor is trying to put the stoppers on the growing problem of noisy drunks taking over the streets when they come down from the mountain, a problem worsened by the smoking ban. Locals are sick of the racket, and indeed of the sick, of which there is lots, apparently, and the mayor is pushing bars in town to ban ski boots, so people are forced to go home and change – and sleep.

Of course guests of the Mooser need not worry themselves about such tawdry issues: in the steam of the spa they can immerse themselves in this stylish, grown-up version of one of the world’s most famous party resorts.

• Kaluma Ski (01730 260263, kalumatravel.co.uk) is currently the only UK tour operator to offer the Mooser hotel, with seven nights’ half-board including BA flights from Gatwick, transfers and the Kaluma concierge service, for £1,260. Kaluma also offers stays at the M3 and, from next season, Anthony’s Life & Style Hotel. For resort information see stantonamarlberg.com and tyrol.com

Gemma Bowes

Emma’s eccentric Britain: a games weekend, West Sussex

balifuntrip — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:11:54 +0000

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At a medieval style manor, Emma Kennedy summons the spirit of Agatha Christie with a weekend of traditional games

The Bailiffscourt Hotel & Spa has the air of a small medieval village. It’s all golden sandstone, ancient oak doors and polite windows latticed with lead. So I’m surprised to learn that it was built as recently as 1927. It was the grand folly of Lady Moyne, a woman so taken with the look she had her London residence, in Grosvenor Place, redecorated to resemble the gloom of a medieval hall: walls were blackened with smoke, her furniture was dark and her seats were Spanish, plain and upright. She even had the lighting dimmed with thick parchment lamp shades. I’m no psychologist, but I suspect Lady Moyne was less an interior decoration whizz and more morbidly depressed.

That to one side, Bailiffscourt, a small estate of cottages, was her vision, and although Lady Moyne is long gone, her medieval dream remains. It’s now owned by a man called Pontus Carminger. I don’t get to meet Pontus, but it’s the greatest name I’ve ever heard. In my mind’s eye, he’s got an extravagant moustache and might be a Bond villain. I shall never know.

What I do know is that I’m here for a games weekend. Bailiffscourt has teamed up with those purveyors of old-fashioned games, Jaques of London, and I’m going to be playing a handful of oft-neglected but traditional English board and card games.

I had been planning to bring my mother but she’s the worst cheat in the western hemisphere. I’d rather start world war three than ever play her at Trivial Pursuit again, so instead I’ve brought Alison, a stickler for everything being above board and shipshape. I once played Scrabble with Alison and had to argue for over half an hour that yes, “qi” was a legitimate word and I should be allowed to play it for a score of 74. She refused to believe me and wouldn’t let me play it. We were on the same team.

I meet Chris, the games concierge and hotel manager. He’s affable and dapper, and he’s explaining the subtle nuances of a game called Shut the Box, which involves dice, numbered wooden slats and a degree of tactics and cunning. He offers to play me. At this point, a French waiter dressed in a kilt tugs me by the sleeve. He’s looking anxious.

“Whatever you do,” he whispers, “do not play him at Shut the Box. He’s a terrible cheat.”

And with that, he whisks away down a dark corridor. Alison narrows her eyes. Chris is off the menu. There’s something a bit Agatha Christie about all this and I’m loving it. As I settle myself into the card room and prepare to do battle, I am secretly hoping for a distant scream, a weeping chambermaid and the discovery of something unspeakable. Instead, we’re going to kick off with a quick round of Happy Families. We’re using the Jaques of London cards, which have the original designs. We become obsessed with how far Mr Block the Barber is punching above his weight with his wife Mrs Block, while hoping that he’s going to be OK when he finds out his son is a homosexual, which, we opine, he clearly is.

Next up, we tackle Crokinole, a variant of the old English game of squails. Eight wooden discs have to be flicked or shoved from the edge of a round board towards a small hole. I am quite good at this, although Alison isn’t happy with my shoving. She’s smelling a rat. And so we move on to table skittles, trumps bagatelle and original ludo.

At this point, I turn to Alison and ask if she’d like to finish the evening with a game of Scrabble. She agrees and within three moves I try and play QI. She’s not amused.

Bailiffscourt is in a wonderful setting – it backs on to the sea and a haunted pub, the Black Horse Inn, is a five-minute walk away. And the spa is gorgeous – its Drift Away massage is one of the best I’ve ever had. Just never play Chris at Shut the Box. Just never.

• Bailiffscourt Hotel & Spa, Climping, West Sussex (01903 723511, hshotels.co.uk) has games breaks from £280 a night for two, including dinner, bed and breakfast. The spa is open to nonresidents. You can order all games from Jaques of London (01732 500200, jaqueslondon.co.uk)

Emma Kennedy

Emma’s eccentric Britain: a games weekend, West Sussex

balifuntrip — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:29:42 +0000

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

At a medieval style manor, Emma Kennedy summons the spirit of Agatha Christie with a weekend of traditional games

“Whatever you do,” he whispers, “do not play him at Shut the Box. He’s a terrible cheat.”

At this point, I turn to Alison and ask if she’d like to finish the evening with a game of Scrabble. She agrees and within three moves I try and play QI. She’s not amused.

Emma Kennedy

Emma’s eccentric Britain: a games weekend, West Sussex

balifuntrip — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:16:12 +0000

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

At a medieval style manor, Emma Kennedy summons the spirit of Agatha Christie with a weekend of traditional games

“Whatever you do,” he whispers, “do not play him at Shut the Box. He’s a terrible cheat.”

At this point, I turn to Alison and ask if she’d like to finish the evening with a game of Scrabble. She agrees and within three moves I try and play QI. She’s not amused.

Emma Kennedy

Emma’s eccentric Britain: a games weekend, West Sussex

balifuntrip — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:00:21 +0000

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

At a medieval style manor, Emma Kennedy summons the spirit of Agatha Christie with a weekend of traditional games

“Whatever you do,” he whispers, “do not play him at Shut the Box. He’s a terrible cheat.”

At this point, I turn to Alison and ask if she’d like to finish the evening with a game of Scrabble. She agrees and within three moves I try and play QI. She’s not amused.

Emma Kennedy

Win a set of Alastair Sawday guidebooks to Britain

balifuntrip — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:04:17 +0000

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

The final treat in our Advent Calendar is the chance to win a set of six Alastair Sawday guidebooks to Britain, worth £100