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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 Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own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))
Location, location location. And a chance of a giggle!

I think carefully before I post a negative review online about a hotel I stay in while I'm away; I'm very conscious of just how much heartache a review that's even a spot or so off perfect - five crowns not six - can give.

So let me start with a positive. Six crowns out of six for the location.
For working on the Science or Business Park in Cambridge, or at the Innovation Centre, there's really only one hotel that's anywhere nearby. It's not with any of the main booking engines though.
In the past I've stayed at the Hamiliton Lodge (who, alas, closed for demolition and redevelopment last December), or if they were full at the Orchard Park Premier Inn - excellent if you're driving, and set behind suburban streets with little in the way of facilites and nothing in transport if you're using public transport.

Anyway - I searched online, by name (because I made a note of it on a previous visit) and found the Lovell Lodge. Value for money? At £93 at the lowest room rate, it felt a bit steep - it had better be good.

I took a few pictures ... take a look.


The room felt fitted out down to a price rather than up to a standard
 

Rooms were as large as possible because corridors were as narrow as possible
 

Perhaps a previous guest had stolen the toilet roll holder
 

The soap dish in the shower had seen better days
 

The shower compartment had been missed off the regular cleaning cycle
 

Note the choice ONE OF on the breakfast menu. Protecting customers against obesity, perhaps?
 

In a similar vein, breakfast was served with toast - a single slice of toast
 

In the room I was in, the shower and toilet had been fitted as an afterthought - but a very long time ago - and the fittings and decor was showing its age
 

The bed, and the rest of the room

Some things that only words can tell - such as the walls, which were described as "paper thin" on some of the online reviews I have read. No - they weren't; they were certainly thin and (had I been a light sleeper) I would have been disturbed - but as it is, I can be positive and offer sleep quality four crowns out of six. Fine for me.

Good staff - customer service - a feeling that you're welcome even if the facilities are a bit dated are important, and I can forgive a very great deal if that's what I find at a rundown, overpriced hotel. Alas, the staff at the Lovell Lodge didn't seem interested in their customers. It would have been very much easier for them to stop in the kitchen and chat than to have to serve breakfast, and there was no interaction from a "hello have you had a good journey" (that was replaced by a grunted "yes" through to "have you had a good stay" - I suspect the lack of the latter was because of a knowledge that the answer would not have been positive. Had there been even the slightest hint that they were interested in their customers, I wouldn't be writing this - and I would be able to give them more than one crown out of six for customer service. They do deserve 1 - breakfast was served, the room was made daily, and they weren't actually rude.

And the $64,000 questions at the end of reviews are "would you stay there again" and "would you recommend to a friend". And my answer may surprise you. Yes, I would stay again - at £53.00 per night rather than £93.00; it felt safe enough, reasonably secure (but my goodness the locks were old) and I enjoyed having a giggle at some of the things. And I would recommend it to my brother in law Phil - a now-retired manager of a Doubletree Hotel, who delighted in making sure everything was just so for his famous, and other, guests. But, Phil, don't take you wife Rachel to the Lovell Lodge. You will never hear the end of it!
(written 2015-02-01, updated 2015-02-04)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Z200 - Places
  [66] A Taste of Ireland - (2004-09-28)
  [70] Red Luas - early life and times - (2004-10-02)
  [92] Hard work, Hard sell - (2004-10-18)
  [186] Lull - (2005-01-22)
  [218] Golden Nugget - (2005-02-17)
  [403] Full circle - made it back to an old haunt - (2005-08-05)
  [670] Architectural Heritage - Devizes - (2006-04-04)
  [685] A couple of days away - (2006-04-15)
  [713] Pictures from my travels - (2006-05-07)
  [727] A journey, an arrival, a people - (2006-05-21)
  [730] Reading the newspaper and working with other restrictions - (2006-05-23)
  [740] Finishing up in Dhahran - (2006-06-01)
  [778] Weekend in Ireland - (2006-06-26)
  [886] Signs of Leek - (2006-10-04)
  [1147] A picture (mostly in words) of Helsinki - (2007-04-14)
  [1204] Spot the difference - (2007-05-25)
  [1229] Where am I? - (2007-06-11)
  [1244] FolksFest Bristol - German beer, Bratwurst and music - (2007-06-24)
  [1298] From Leeds - (2007-08-10)
  [1307] Troy, up state New York - (2007-08-17)
  [1425] Melksham v Ely - (2007-11-09)
  [1456] Right up to the top of the City - (2007-12-03)
  [1457] A day in Ljubljana - (2007-12-04)
  [1460] Christmas fare in Ljubljana - (2007-12-05)
  [1524] Nottingham - just text! - (2008-01-30)
  [1536] A Weekend in Liverpool - (2008-02-10)
  [1537] To Wales - where theres still a toll on the bridge - (2008-02-11)
  [1590] All Change, Portsmouth Harbour - (2008-03-23)
  [1617] Steam Engines at Bressingham - (2008-04-20)
  [1624] From Freddie the fallow - (2008-04-27)
  [1638] Pictures far apart - (2008-05-10)
  [1639] Minehead Marauder - (2008-05-11)
  [1652] Old Sarum airfield brings back fond memories - (2008-05-24)
  [1714] Hillier Gardens, Hampshire - (2008-07-20)
  [1715] Pictures from South Hampshire - (2008-07-21)
  [1730] Punting on the Cam - (2008-07-31)
  [1755] Istanbul - (2008-08-15)
  [1804] Colvin and Carlisle - (2008-09-20)
  [1807] A sad town in the sunlight - (2008-09-22)
  [1837] Alfred the Great - (2008-10-13)
  [2205] An evening walk in Carrickfergus - (2009-05-29)
  [2207] North Antrim Coast - a jewel thats well worth a visit - (2009-05-29)
  [2316] Guadalajara - a special tour of a lovely city - (2009-08-01)
  [2387] to Clifton Down and Avonmouth - (2009-08-30)
  [2392] Lymington, New Forest - some pictures - (2009-09-03)
  [2411] Further North - long summer days and lovely countryside - (2009-09-19)
  [2624] Skyline and looking up in London - (2010-02-04)
  [2733] Travel Troubles and Jesus again - (2010-04-21)
  [2754] At Arlington and the Pentagon - (2010-05-07)
  [2799] Nuremberg - some pictures - (2010-06-08)
  [2802] After the Perl course in Nurnberg - (2010-06-11)
  [2808] From home to Nurnberg - journey pictures - (2010-06-13)
  [2809] Frankfurt in 90 minutes - (2010-06-13)
  [2897] The Land of the Black Labrador - (2010-08-01)
  [2907] Dartmouth, Kingswear and Torbay - (2010-08-07)
  [2985] Right place, right season - (2010-10-04)
  [3064] On the way to the course this week - (2010-11-22)
  [3070] Belfast, on a cold November evening - (2010-11-25)
  [3175] The Rhine in winter - (2011-02-19)
  [3185] Day Trip to Hereford, in pictures - (2011-02-26)
  [3204] Two views of a war memorial - (2011-03-17)
  [3297] A long day, a long journey, and families and similarities the world over - (2011-05-22)
  [3330] A lot of exercise this week - (2011-06-21)
  [3353] Off the beaten track - non-quite-so-tourist spots - (2011-07-10)
  [3393] Rodwell Trail, Weymouth - (2011-08-15)
  [3529] Sharpness, Gloucestershire - a place in transport history - (2011-11-25)
  [3595] Looking up - (2012-01-27)
  [3603] Another cold night - (2012-02-03)
  [3631] Getting around Dublin by public transport - some observations - (2012-03-01)
  [3654] On a sunny afternoon in London - (2012-03-15)
  [3667] A modern area of Cambridge - some thoughts provoked? - (2012-03-22)
  [3803] A Walk on the South Bank - (2012-07-13)
  [3854] Busmans Holiday - I like being a busman - (2012-09-02)
  [4011] From Salford - (2013-02-19)
  [4052] The PHP course this week is in... Salford - (2013-03-26)
  [4125] The first Luas of the morning - (2013-06-29)
  [4182] Welcome to Salford and Oldham - (2013-09-30)
  [4184] A fond memory - (2013-10-02)
  [4203] A weekend away - Four in a Bed returns to Happy Donkey Hill - (2013-11-09)
  [4214] A busy week, and a long flight - (2013-11-24)
  [4220] Thun, Switzerland - (2013-12-14)
  [4331] Musings on a Welsh town - (2014-11-28)
  [4348] Taking my life in my hands in Swansea - (2014-12-11)
  [4477] Yesterday - off on leg one of our holiday - (2015-04-29)
  [4479] Pictures from around Rekjavik - (2015-04-29)
  [4480] Crossing between continents - (2015-04-30)
  [4486] Newark to New York - the PATH suburban railway - (2015-05-05)
  [4488] Election day, 2015 - (2015-05-07)
  [4490] What and where are the Azores? - (2015-05-09)
  [4497] Around the world from Melksham - (2015-05-25)
  [4643] From last July (2015) - (2016-02-08)
  [4671] Ruby training, half a world away - (2016-05-14)
  [4683] Saudi Arabia or Weymouth? - (2016-05-22)
  [4729] The oldest part of Los Angeles - (2016-11-23)
  [4730] San Juan Capistrano - (2016-11-23)


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Location, location location. And a chance of a giggle!
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Python - even named code blocks are objects
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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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