I am sure that I say this a lot on this blog but it is rare for me to get five minutes to myself, let alone an entire 24 hours. So when the Bristol Marriott asked me and my husband if we would like to stay and review the hotel I practically bit off their hand at the chance. No housework, no cooking, no answering emails, and a break from ten hour stints in the workshop (which is now practically a sauna) sounded heavenly.
I haven't stayed at a Marriott before, but I have stayed in quite a few hotels in Bristol (before I moved here and me and my husband didn't want to stay with his parents) and I can honestly say that this was a pleasure. Located next to Cabbot Circus and Quaker Friars, which is about as central to Bristol as you can get, the entrance was incredibly grand, we were only going to drop off our bags as we were early for our check in, but the Marriott already had our room ready. We were given a family room on the tenth floor, as we were advised it had the best views, and they weren't lying. You could see all of Castle Park, Cabbot Circus, and beyond.
A Family room at the Marriott Bristol City Centre consists of two double beds, and a bathroom, with all the usual tea and coffee making facilities, towels, a wide screen TV, desk, arm chairs and a hairdryer. If there wasn't anything we needed we were told we could call the front desk.
Having been in Bristol now for coming up to three years(!) I thought it might be a good idea to eat in a few places I hadn't been before. There are untold amount of amazing places to eat in Bristol, and if I am being honest despite being a London girl, the food here is more varied and better than what I have eaten in trendy Shoreditch or BBQ joints in Soho. If you don't know your way around Bristol then there is even a really awesome app called 'wriggle' which works with local Bristol food establishments to give you special offers and discounts and a chance to explore and eat at new places.
I decided to try Bagel Boy near St Nicholas market, as it had been highly recommended by fellow Bristol Bloggers Hayley and Lily and I was not let down. With weird cat tapestries on the walls, De la Soul on huge speakers, intimate booths, sofas, a long communal table, Bagel boy has an undeniable casual Bristol feel to it, and the bagels were out of this world. I chose a ploughman's but swapped the ham out for salted beef.
Feeling very full up, we walked off our lunch back through St Nicks Market (which if you are visiting, is filled with street food stalls and little independent shops) all the way back through Broadmead and Cabbot Circus, (Bristols shopping quarter) back to the Marriott. With all the high street shops and more high end shops like Harvey Nichols in Quakers Friars, Bristol is an ideal place to go shopping as it is all self contained, but still has an incredible amount of variety and character.
When we returned back to the hotel there was a note and some chocolates from the front desk in our room that were so cute I wanted to cry. Earlier in the week I had tweeted;
and some post cards with the Marriott 'things to do in Bristol' bucket list that included; The Banksy Walking Tour, Bristol Zoo, Walk around College Green, see the SS Great Britain, have a Pie Minister pie, and attend the Bristol Harbour Festival!
Making a mental note to try a Pieminister pie, my next move was to try the swimming pool. Friends outside and inside of the internet will know that my natural state is in the water, like a buoyant water baby fish, so I practically ran all the way to the terrace floor, where the restaurant and gym and leisure facilities are. The pool provides towels for you and has large changing rooms with lockers, showers, hairdryers and even plastic bags for your wet kit.
I spent about two hours in the pool which was heated and moderately sized, even sitting here writing this I am wishing I was back in it. The pool also has a sauna, however as an overly warm person on a good day, I refrained from going inside, however lots of other guests were switching between the sauna and the pool. Andrew sat at the side and was able to read and relax on the pool furniture
As we were super tired from swimming and it was now late on a Sunday, we decided to order room service and watch some TV and admire the Bristol view at night time. I ordered my Pieminister pie (with double mash because I love mash) and Andrew had a gourmet style burger. I have had much room service in my time, and usually it is from frozen pre packaged, which is fine because it is large catering, however the food was amazing, and we got it within thirty minutes from ordering.
Whenever I stay in a hotel I am always unexplainably tired, I suppose because you are fitting lots of things in the day time, and I was going to have a long bath and try out my new products in this months birch box but after eating we pretty much fell straight to sleep, and with no cats or other people around to wake us up, we slept straight through to our wake up call!
We got showered and dressed for breakfast, which you can have in your room, but we decided to check out the terrace restaurant. Breakfast was a buffet, and there was so much breakfast food (my favourite kind of food) on offer I was overjoyed. I went for a full english rather than a continental, and there was even a fried egg station where a member of staff would cook you egg or pancakes to your specification. For me (an egg enthusiast) this was the height of sophistication.
We took our coffees (and soft drink for me) out on to the outside terrace area which was a sun trap even at 10am, to wind down before packing up to go back to the realities of home.
My stay at the Marriott Bristol City Centre was nothing short of fantastic. The service was excellent, the rooms immaculate, and were filled with all the conveniences you would expect and more. Little touches like this multi charger next to the bed for your phone, so you don't have to plug it in half way across the room, and fun personal things like this swan towel folding competition.
*My stay and breakfast and use of the facilities at the Hotel was paid for by the Marriott Bristol, however all views are my own, dinner and lunch were of my own expense, links to any websites on this post were also not required but were at my own behest*
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