Lisbon launches and Welsh wonders – Smith’s latest boutique hotels
Posted by Anthony on June 3rd, 2009I confess I’ve been out of the office for most of this month, sampling some of Smith’s spectacular honeymoon hotels in Thailand and Bali (but more on that later – I’ll just say for now that Amandari in jungly Ubud may have just become my favourite place in the world, and that the spikily pungent durian fruit is still a taste I have yet to acquire).
However, while I was gallivanting in the tropics, the less workshy members of the Smith editorial team were hard at work introducing the latest crop of pizazzy pads and boutique boudoirs to our online hotel collection. June’s holiday wish list has a distinctly Iberian theme, and we’re currently tossing an old peseta coin to try to decide whether to head south for a slinky slice of offbeat cool at ME Barcelona, (pictured above) or one of our gorgeous new additions in Portugal’s Lisbon. With three boutique hotels in the city to choose from – Chiado 16, a sophisticated, hilltop 17th-century bed and breakfast, the laid-back, powder-blue townhouse Heritage Av Liberdade and an ultra-chic art deco paradise at Heritage Hotel Britania – we could be throwing that coin up for some time…
And we haven’t ignored the crunch-inspired trend in the UK for holidaying closer to home either. This month sees our Wales hotel collection grow by four. Take your pick from Fronlas, an eco-friendly Edwardian townhouse in Carmarthenshire, The Grove (left) an 18th-century Pembrokeshire manor, a luxe guesthouse in Snowdonia at Ffynnon and a dainty gastro-boutique The Drawing Room (below) in the rolling Powys countryside. In Suffolk, we’ve also added an elegant former rectory at Gosbeck and Milsoms Kesgrave Hall, a stunning manor house – both of which are less than three hours from London.
Next month, we’ll be making more Spanish eyes at some superlative stays in Mallorca and Madrid, and bolstering the British ranks with new hotels in Edinburgh, Yorkshire and Hampshire. We may even cast our glance Stateside for a New York minute, and add a tempting twosome near the Big Apple. Bet you can’t wait…
Dammit, do I have to push you down a flight of stairs to get your job?!? Or sabotage your office desk with those stinky durians?
Love all these hotels!
By jen laceda
On June 3rd, 2009
No, Jen, just expose my dodgy expenses records and you’re probably a shoe-in…
By Anthony
On June 4th, 2009
The Gosbeck Rectory is fabulous. ME Barcelona feeds my hip, funky side. Looking forward to next month!
By Deborah Milne
On June 4th, 2009