Hotel and training centre, Melksham, Wiltshire
High quality accommodation for course delegates, business travellers and the leisure visitor too.

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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
Well House Manor Hotel - on plan for 2009 business guests

Three years ago, we were contemplating the "Well House Manor" project. An offer had been made on "The Old Manor" B&B with a view to turning it into delegate and businessman accommodation for our courses, and had been accepted. It was (at that stage) subject to the inevitably slow property sale cycle in the UK, and that was made more so that our purchase was conditional on planning permission being received to ... err ... do very little in fact! We needed planning consent to reclassify from "residential" to "business"; we had no plans to live at "The Manor" and that made the change necessary. The neighbours were suspicious, and we came to understand why once we learned fuller details of the proposals to develop the site that had been quietly submitted in a prior plan, and rejected.

As a sanity check for myself to make sure that all the jigsaw pieces would fall into place correctly, and as something that we could present as a business plan, I put together a provisional Well House Manor web site describing what we would be offering and how it would all fit. Three years later, and a log file from Google's crawler reminded me of the site, sitting there in some dusty corner. And that gave me a chance to see how close we are to our target.


Actually, we're remarkably close! Amazingly so! So let me just pick at the differences.

1. We had been considering continuing to run the training courses at the building that is now our HQ ... but the availability of two large, ground floor rooms at The Manor has lead us to run the courses there. A sensible move, as it means that the delegate don't have to traipse 800 yards up the road to class, it means that the phones of HQ don't disturb the course, and that we have our home back seeing as we also live at HQ!

2. Breakfasts are much more substantial that we proposed; we've added yoghurt, fresh fruit, hams, other meats and cheeses to the 'short' continental originally planned, and the orange and grapefruit juices are freshly squeezed by the customers - a nice touch that we came across as a realistic option just before we opened.

3. The cancellation terms we proposed seemed sensible, but in explaining them through to staff and potential customers we realised that we should go with something that was more of an industry norm. Leisure hotels tend to require considerable notice and apply heavy penaltys, whereas business hotels know that they need to allow for reasonably last minute changes of plan without scaring the would-be customers off from rebooking. So - although it can hurt occasionally - we allow cancellations right up to the day you're due to arrive, normally at no penalty. Regrettably, we DO have to say "normally" and reserve the right to charge, in order to prevent a tiny minority blocking rooms for possible rather than probable visits.

4. We've added an 0800 (freephone) number with a diversion capability so that the duty staff member can be reached, 24 x 7, wherever they are. And we've extended the range of credit and debit cards we accept to include American Express.

5. We took the opportunity of the VAT reduction last month to round down 2 of the three prices we quote to make it a neat 90 - 80 - 70 system (pounds, per night, double, single, and contract/delegate).

6. Checkout time is 11 a.m. rather than 10:30, and Saturday and Sunday breakfasts are from 8 to 10 rather that the 7 to 9 of the rest of the week.

7. My proposal to call the in-room information folder by the name RTFM was vetoed - and probably correctly. If it's not a term you've seen before, it stands for "Read The F***ing Manual" in the IT technical support business; it might well have puzzled those who were NOT 'in the know', and offended those without a sense of humour who did understand. And I will admit that the term could be regarded as putting customers down in a way I would not wish to do, even in jest.

8. We have mellowed a few policies. The "no walkins" rule still applies to new customers late at night, but we can (and do) take regulars late if they show up at the door, and we'll take new clients with appropriate ID even into the early evening. We don't shout our "no children, no smoking" policy quite so loud; many of our guests appreciate the effect of these policies, but it seems so negative to shout them from the rooftops. And - as planned - we do not have a Gideon's Bible in each room, and again that's not a policy we shout about. We do, though, offer a wide variety of reading materials in our library, which guests may take to their rooms if they wish.

There's a lot of other things that we've done as well as what we planned ... but those changes are the biggest. And in fact the web site was so close to being right, even now, and is search engine indexed, that I have elected to make those minor changes necessary (and the major change of tense!) and leave it up and running.

See the first single page here. See the site that followed it shortly here. And see the FAQ that I wrote as my nuts and bolts concept test here

The full, current Well House Manor site is here if you want to make a comparison, and if you want to book you can call that freephone number which is 0800 043 8225, or use our secure online booking system.

Notes - the picture at the top was (literally!) taken today - it's current. As is the news here which is another page that Google reminded me that I needed to update!
(written 2009-01-03, updated 2009-08-31)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
M350 - Well House Manor - project diary
  [550] 2006 - Making business a pleasure - (2006-01-01)
  [555] Hotel novelties - (2006-01-05)
  [571] Well House Manor - (2006-01-21)
  [677] Sympathetic development - (2006-04-09)
  [720] Planning a hotel refurb - an example of a Gant chart in PHP - (2006-05-14)
  [721] Residential - (2006-05-15)
  [739] The eye - (2006-05-31)
  [744] We can offer a room, but we can't operate on a dog - (2006-06-05)
  [756] Seeing the bricks for the trees - (2006-06-11)
  [776] Naming Rooms - (2006-06-24)
  [816] Above the parapit, Well House Manor - (2006-07-28)
  [844] Hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire - (2006-08-24)
  [855] Fitting our bathrooms - (2006-09-04)
  [858] From the Manor written - (2006-09-07)
  [862] 4 weeks to go - (2006-09-11)
  [881] Coming together. - (2006-09-29)
  [890] Open - (2006-10-09)
  [894] Where quality costs less - (2006-10-15)
  [902] Brand new hotel and training centre, Melksham - (2006-10-22)
  [931] Before and After - Well House Manor - (2006-11-18)
  [932] A tale of a wee wall - (2006-11-19)
  [941] Snagging - (2006-11-24)
  [1069] Rail trouble forced me to buy hotel - (2007-02-07)
  [1087] Telling a story in different ways - (2007-02-20)
  [1098] Three big events - TWSW, Business of the year and the police - (2007-03-03)
  [1211] A lot has happened in a year - (2007-05-31)
  [3014] Well House Manor - the next six years - (2010-10-24)
  [3585] The changing Hotel and Bed and Breakfast business in Melksham - (2012-01-18)
  [3645] Keeping our hotel looking like new, by using our gained experience - (2012-03-09)
  [3847] The Accidental Hotelier - (2012-08-24)
  [3963] National TV - Melksham - 9th January 2013, Pre-alert. - (2012-12-27)
  [3968] Expecting nothing, but prepared for anything - (2013-01-05)
  [4012] A course is not just for a year - its for a career - (2013-02-20)
  [4739] A year of changes for Lisa and Graham Ellis, and Well House - (2017-05-27)

M100 - Introduction to Well House Manor
  [512] Exciting futures - the Well House Manor project - (2005-11-30)
  [793] The Wilts and Berks Canal - (2006-07-05)
  [891] Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire - (2006-10-10)
  [940] Winter at Well House Manor - Open Houses - (2006-11-23)
  [978] Wellhouse Manor, Hotel, Melksham - (2006-12-10)
  [1002] Meet the neighbours - (2006-12-20)
  [1018] Open Source Courses and Business Hotel - products and prices for 2007 - (2007-01-01)
  [1072] Well House Manor in the Snow - (2007-02-09)
  [1112] Bank Holiday country breaks in Melksham, Wiltshire - (2007-03-17)
  [1132] Well House Manor, Melksham, Art Gallery - (2007-04-02)
  [1261] High summer at Well House Manor - (2007-07-08)
  [1332] Melksham Hotel - Five Star Kitchen! - (2007-09-04)
  [1371] Hotel in Melksham at Christmas - (2007-09-29)
  [1384] An email update for past guests and delegates - (2007-10-08)
  [1388] Well House Manor - a year on - (2007-10-12)
  [1492] Well House Consultants Training and Hotel - 2008 news - (2008-01-01)
  [1706] The Story of Well House Manor - (2008-07-12)
  [1866] What a difference a day made - (2008-11-02)
  [1968] Review of 2008 - (2008-12-31)
  [2076] A New Advert for Well House Manor - (2009-03-11)
  [2119] Make your business a DESTINATION business - (2009-04-05)
  [2125] We have lost a regular business guest - (2009-04-10)
  [2425] Weekend and Christmas Promotion - Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham - (2009-09-26)
  [2923] Fresh air and beautiful places in Wiltshire - (2010-08-15)
  [2941] Wedding season in Melksham - somewhere good to stay - (2010-08-31)
  [2978] Christmas 2010 - Well House Manor, Melksham, Hotel - (2010-10-01)
  [3115] Perl, Python, PHP, Lua, Linux, and more - and business hotel too. Menu for 2011 - (2010-12-31)
  [3202] Telling you something about us in just one line - (2011-03-15)
  [3611] A customer thanks Well House Manor - (2012-02-13)
  [3765] Christmas in June? Melksham hotel bookings and Santa train - (2012-06-15)
  [3800] Fancy a weekend away? Try Well House Manor in Melksham, Wiltshire - (2012-07-09)
  [3864] Guest Guide for Well House Manor and Melksham - (2012-09-18)
  [3985] Special weekend at Well House Manor - come and see Wiltshire - (2013-01-20)
  [4147] A hidden hotel gem in Melksham - (2013-07-31)
  [4299] The Best Bed and Breakfast in Melksham? - (2014-09-19)
  [4613] Our best hotel customers help us ... to help them ... be our best customers. - (2016-01-04)
  [4715] Well House Manor - Still five out of five! - (2016-10-30)

G999 - Well House Consultants - Keynote
  [164] Well House Consultants - review of 2004 - (2004-12-31)
  [225] 10 years and counting - (2005-02-23)
  [295] Pricing strategy - simple and fair - (2005-04-29)
  [360] Spring turns to Summer - (2005-06-26)
  [419] Most popular courses - (2005-08-19)
  [428] Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury train service - (2005-08-29)
  [452] Is enough enough? - (2005-09-27)
  [464] Technical Loneliness - (2005-10-14)
  [549] 2005 - Come as a student, leave as a friend - (2005-12-31)
  [626] Not just a pretty face to answer the phone. - (2006-02-26)
  [695] In the hospitality business - (2006-04-23)
  [774] Bed and Breakfast, or Hotel? - (2006-06-22)
  [845] Course scheduling and Geekmas - are they traditions yet? - (2006-08-26)
  [898] Courses at Well House Manor - (2006-10-19)
  [929] Presenting Melksham - for a weekend away in Wiltshire - (2006-11-17)
  [1079] Wilts and Berks - two conference / training rooms in Melksham - (2007-02-14)
  [1161] A contrast in room rates and facilities - (2007-04-25)
  [1245] Ensuring that our tutor answers YOUR questions - (2007-06-25)
  [1317] 2008 course schedule - Perl, Python, PHP, Linux, Java Deployment, Ruby and more - (2007-08-23)
  [1319] Customer feedback - lifeblood of a business - (2007-08-25)
  [1414] What we teach - expained for the non-technical - (2007-10-28)
  [1481] The Christmas Letter - (2007-12-22)
  [1555] Advanced Python, Perl, PHP and Tcl training courses / classes - (2008-02-25)
  [1615] PHP training courses every month - (2008-04-18)
  [1676] A warm welcome for visitors from the USA - (2008-06-14)
  [1748] Hotel room prices - Melksham, Wiltshire - (2008-08-11)
  [1773] The Longest Possible Day - (2008-08-26)
  [1857] November and December Public Course Schedule - (2008-10-27)
  [1859] Wiltshire at dawn - the tourist trail - (2008-10-29)
  [1929] 2009 - Hotel, Meeting, Training Course prices - (2008-12-07)
  [1955] How to avoid duplicating web page maintainance - (2008-12-20)
  [2144] Looking for a career change - Physician to Web Site Designer - (2009-04-28)
  [2216] Past Delegate Offer - Summer Holiday / Weekend Break - (2009-06-03)
  [2228] Where do I start when writing a program? - (2009-06-11)
  [2326] Learn a new programming language this summer. - (2009-08-06)
  [2384] Looking ahead to the Autumn season of training and accommodation - (2009-08-28)
  [2483] Clustering on Tomcat - (2009-10-30)
  [2537] Faster network, but not faster browsing until ... - (2009-12-14)
  [3164] Brown - or Mrs Sally Brown, accountant from Whitstable? - (2011-02-10)
  [4588] What teach you in a week stays with you for a decade - (2015-11-29)


Back to
Moving a directory on your web site
Previous and next
or
Horse's mouth home
Forward to
Where is this IP address, IPv4 and IPv6
Some other Articles
Looking forward, in Melksham, in 2009
From spam to mod_alias - finding resources
Going round the block
Where is this IP address, IPv4 and IPv6
Well House Manor Hotel - on plan for 2009 business guests
Moving a directory on your web site
Required Request
Pettifog and forum boards away from public view
Telling Google which country your business trades in
Plagarism - who is copying my pages?
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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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