The Chocolate Boutique Hotel, Bournemouth
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Given all the chocoholics in the world, it’s surprising it took so long for an hotelier to open an establishment catering specially for them.
But then Gerry Wilton came at his Chocolate Boutique Hotel in Bournemouth not as an entrepreneurial innkeeper, but a purveyor of chocolate fountains looking for another way to use them.
The man who supplied a fountain for Jordan’s wedding to Peter Andre is now supplying in-room mini-fountains to guests at his Bournemouth boutique hotel. It caters in spades for visitors with a deep love of the silky confectionery which is actually good for you in small doses.
Though overdose is what you are more likely to experience at the 13-room hotel which also serves as a base for Gerry’s excellent truffle-making workshops. They are packed out every fortnight with chocoholics keen to make their own after-dinner treats with vats of pukka Belgian 64 per cent and whipping cream.
Many come just for the day - but those who don’t stay overnight are missing a unique immersion experience. This is a pleasing little place in the back streets of Bournemouth’s less fashionable West Cliff district, a 15-minute gentle uphill stroll from the town’s handsome seafront.
An Edwardian house painted cream, with a piping of chocolate brown, the Chocolate Boutique Hotel’s rooms have names which will be familiar to those who frequent the confectionery aisle of their local supermarket.
Ours, called Seventy Per Cent after what’s considered the gold standard for cooking chocolate, was beautifully decorated with headboards and matching wall panels of lush chocolate and gold silk.
Even the bath towels, in brown waffle cotton, looked like soft chocolate bars, and naturally there was in-room chocolate galore in all varieties - milk, dark, white and fruit-flavoured.
But the piece de resistance for many guests is the in-room fountain you can order to await you, simmering nicely by the time you check in, and served with halved strawberries and pink and white marshmallows for dipping. Sickly after a while, but great fun for the first 10 minutes after you dive in, having anticipated the delights of warm liquid chocolate all the way down to Bournemouth (South West Trains does the journey from London in less than two hours).
The hotel has no restaurant, but a groovy bar containing a 60s-style automatic cocktail machine which dispenses chocolate-favoured libations at the touch of a screen. Downstairs, breakfast choices range from full English to vegetarian options - and naturally, there are chocolate pancakes and the world’s best drinking chocolate - rich and dark with almost an espresso kick - served in large shot cups from a machine in the corner.
Chocolate workshops take place every fortnight in the breakfast room - and at other times for hen parties and other groups who like to hire the entire hotel for a night or weekend. They get up to chocolate portrait-painting and all sorts - it would be hard to think of a better time for a group of girls who love chocolate or an extended family looking for multi-generational fun to celebrate a silver or golden wedding anniversary. It's clearly with the girlies in mind that owner Gerry has just added a chocolate stiletto-making workshop, for all those fashionistas craving an edible Choo - or should that be choux?
jBut you don’t even have to like chocolate to enjoy this quirky, friendly and reasonably-priced hotel. Its one of many fresh new enterprises livening up a once-sleepy resort whose Surf Reef and university are introducing its broad white beaches and other charms to a whole new generation.
South West Trains serves Bournemouth from London Waterloo in less than two hours.
Durley Road 5, Bournemouth, UK
Contact tel: +44 1202 556857, fax: +44 1202 552455, e-mail:
Cost standard double room: £££, family room: £££
Services spa, hotel bar
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The Chocolate Boutique Hotel, Bournemouth
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