Friday, 29 September 2017

Chateau Impney


A location near the M5 motorway at Droitwich Spa seemed like a good idea, to break our journey back from Cornwall prior to a day at the Severn Valley Railway steam gala. We found ourselves in a rather incongruous set-up for rural England - French chateau architecture with Brummie accents.

The internal design of the modern annexe to which we were assigned had a noticeable “prison wing” look to it. We thought that we were going to have to sing for our supper, too, because the barman forgot to tell the kitchen what we had ordered.

Nor had we taken into account the Birmingham Velo cycling event, which did it’s best to cut off access to Bridgnorth, where we were due to meet our friends the next morning.

However, the hotel interior is very grand and imposing and the surrounding grounds and parkland are magnificent. The story behind the hotel is interesting, too, if a little quirky. John Corbett, a philanthropic Victorian employer who made his money from salt, returned from France with his French wife and built her a new home in the style of the chateaux of the Loire and Versailles, which they both so much admired.

How nice was that?

Vive la difference. 
 

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