Frogg Manor Hotel
Classic bourgeois country house hotel? Not exactly, but, an immensely enjoyable Englishman’s home offering an unlikely combination of plush surroundings, 1930’s music and frogs. When you have read the signs saying “WELCOME TO FROGG MANOR, AN OASIS OF NORMALITY THE MAD MAD WORLD IS NOW BEHIND, PASSPORTS AND VISAS NOT REQUIRED AT THE MOMENT” and when you’ve seen the human-sized frog in a polka dot tie pointing the way, you will know you’ve sighted something odd. The debonair John Sykes, often seen wearing a brown fedora and usually to be heard humming is only mildly eccentric. Christened after a girlfriend nicknamed Froggy, the hotel has been established for 20 years and has a devoted clientele. Throughout, the furnishings are lavish, the furniture Georgian and Victorian. The large ochre and brown sitting room is the picture of gentility, with Regency armchairs, sturdy sofas, classy glass, china and rich curtains.
It’s genuine. All except the frogs that is. There are several hundred, in straw, ceramic, wood and brass, you name it. If frogs are not your thing, the musical recordings of the 1930’s/1940’s should put you in a good time mood. In fact, everything about Frogg Manor revives the spirits.
The bedrooms are creatively decorated, furnished and lavishly equipped and for pure romance an en-suite room in a garden tree “The Lady Guinevere Suite”. Comfort is paramount, mattresses are the very best, sheets and pillowcases the finest Egyptian cotton, or, as an added luxury, Irish linen on request. All bedrooms are equipped with T.V., radio, iron, ironing board, direct dial telephones and hairdryer. Biscuits, several choices of tea, coffee and cocoa. The restaurant is open for dinner, seven days a week but only by prior reservation with a gourmet menu utilising locally sourced beef, lamb and chicken. Fresh fish daily. Food preparation sympathetic to food intolerance. The restaurant conservatory seating, affords stunning views of the garden and at night when floodlit with the table lights dimmed, the effect is pure romance…