A weekend in Arundel

Yesterday we toddled along the coast to Arundel, this side of Chichester, to join friends for the birthday celebration of our friend Lucy Hards.  Arundel, which I had not visited for at least fifty years, is dominated by a fine castle, home of the Duke of Norfolk (although not his real home, since he lives in a house in the grounds, which is more convenient).  The town itself consists of a small number of streets full of elegant seventeenth and eighteenth century houses. 

Lucy's partner Emma had booked us into dinner at The Town House, pictured above.  If you are passing anywhere near Arundel, I thoroughly recommend a visit to this excellent restaurant - not only for the food, which was delicious, but also for the ceiling - not something I usually mention in restaurant reviews.  However, this one is exceptional: someone in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century installed a sixteenth century Florentine coffered ceiling, made from gilded walnut, which is something of great beauty.  It was a pleasure to be eating under it - and in my case the foie gras, halibut and honeycomb parfait were made even better for the experience.

I would like to be as complimentary about the Avisford Hilton, where we stayed the night.  They'd given us a great price, so I suppose I should have suspected we would not be in the lap of luxury.  It's a sprawling hotel two floors tall, and the staff were kind and willing.  The effect of the endless corridors was depressing, with doorclosers on every door giving a prison-like effect.  Our room was hopelessly overheated, which made sleep difficult, even with the window open and the heating turned off in both bedroom and bathroom.  The other guests looked as if they had been bumped off an overbooked flight to Alicante - snobbish I know, but it's not what you expect from a Hilton.  You'd have thought you couldn't go wrong for £89 for a room and breakfast, but it's not much good if you can't sleep!  What was particularly galling was that I subsequently discovered that we could have stayed in a nice room in The Town House for about the same amount -  grrr.

Antony Mair