Ideas please

[jenniren]

Now that we live on the coast the drive is really too far for M our eldest daughter to get down here for just a day. I'm trying to organise a get together for us all in April (my birthday) roughly between where the girls live - Sevenoaks and Witney. We'd travel the furthest but would happily stay in a hotel nearby for the night. Somewhere around the Staines, Chertsey, Bagshot area could fit the bill. Can any of you recommend a reasonably priced, family friendly pub/restaurant in any of those areas?

[Ally]

I don't know those areas at all Jenni so can't advise but I'm sure someone will be along soon that can. X

[Kaz]

I lived in or near Staines for many years The Swan in Staines is lovely but no idea if its expensive to stay there these days. It might be since they gentrified Staines and renamed it Staines-upon-Thames I'll be in Staines tomorrow, having H's birthday lunch at the Slug and Lettuce on the opposite side of the river. The food at the Swan is lovely, we had a family lunch for B's 18th birthday there, I think it cost me about £200 for 8 of us including our drinks bill...I just looked at the website, seems to compare reasonably with the Premier Inn/Travelodge sort of prices http://www.swanstaines.co.uk/

Just to say don't stay at the Travelodge at The Two Rivers in Staines it is horrible! A room we booked there two years ago was really awful and £100 for the night. The tiles were broken in the bathroom, there was a cheap shower curtain on the basic over-bath shower, the laundry lorry woke us at 5am (bearing in mind we'd had a skin full at the family party the night before) and my sister and BIL had to move rooms on the middle of the night as theirs was infested with midges

[jenniren]

M sent me a few links to look at and The Swan is one of them, looks nice. The other one she mentioned is The Bridge Hotel in Chertsey, do you know anything about that one Kaz?

[Kaz]

I knew The Bridge 40 years ago when it was a disco (had many many happy evenings there) but not since it became a hotel, sorry

[saundra]

Isent there a premier inn anywhere near
Always my first choice

[Kaz]

No, Heathrow is the nearest and that would be dead noisy/busy, but I like Premier Inns too Saundra

[saundra]

Wow premier airports and planes would be great
Fascinate me

[Kaz]

I grew up right under the flight path, Stanwell (the part of Staines I lived in as a child) literally borders Heathrow, so it holds no fascination for me

[Workingman]

It is a long time since I worked down there, Reading and Slough, but Wokingham was not a bad area.

Nowhere near Staines is cheap because of Sunningdale, Windsor and Ascot, with Heathrow, and other things, all being in the area.