Ever seen the movie Sister Act? When Delores is shown to her room in the film, which is called a cell, she is horrified by the austere décor. That is how I imagine a church convent hotel to be, but the reality seems a little bit different.
When looking for hotels, price and location are more important to me than a particular brand. While I love a good room and plush surroundings, where I stay is not as exciting to me as flying, which is probably pretty obvious!
A Church Convent Hotel
Recently, I was looking around for places to stay in London. The British capital, for those that may not know, is usually extortionately expensive when it comes to decent hotels.
In this instance, I wanted to stay somewhere near London City Airport and I happened upon a place called The Royal Foundation of St. Katharine. They opened their doors to the public in 2011, though their history goes back to 1147!
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- This looks nice and cosy!
For a three night stay, you can get a single room for under £250 including breakfast. This is cheaper than the Premier Inn, which would be £296 for the same duration, without food. Very good value indeed!
Also, as you can see from the picture at the top, their garden looks tranquil and nice. Certainly a little more pleasant than the standard hotel. I’m quite looking forward to giving it a go.
Overall Thoughts
Staying at what is basically a church convent should be interesting. The rooms don’t have televisions, but in reality, how often does one really sit inside watching TV when on holidays? They have Wi-Fi, which would have been the deal breaker for me if they didn’t have it.
When I originally saw it, I had a quick squizz to see if I needed to be a card carrying member of the Anglican Church, but all is well. They’ll let anyone in, even bloggers! With it’s handy location, it’s sure to be a winner. Now if only there were a posse of singing nuns in black and white habits hanging around to top things off…
Have you ever stayed in more unique accommodation such as this? I’ve seen others like this available in places such as Italy, so it’s not that unusual. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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I stayed with my family in a convent in Rome when I was a child. I think most of the nuns spoke English and some may have been American. It was a beautiful place, and breakfast and dinner were included in the price. The guests were predominantly American or Europeans; mostly families. I think they heard about it from family friends who had also stayed there. We are Catholic; not sure how someone who isn’t might feel staying in that environment.
Interestingly, the only other place I’ve seen this type of stay (not that I have actively looked, mind you) is in Italy, with Monastery stays and things like that. I’m glad to hear it was a memorable stay in a beautiful place. You would hope that people wouldn’t be put off by the religious aspect, but everyone is different, I guess. Thanks for sharing that!
I find this rather fascinating. I look forward to a potential review as questions abound: Is it an active convent? If so, are there restrictions on men staying there? Is it more of a bed and breakfast? Is there a discount for Anglicans? Do they do everything themselves or are lay people involved?
So many questions and I have no answers. There’s a Church so you can go and pray as much as you like, so presumably there are religious people about. No restrictions on the web site, so looks like a normal hotel, just no TVs. I’ll be reviewing it, of course, but it won’t be until the end of the year. All the details will come out then!