Somewhere for the weekend


Address: The Glasshouse, 2 Greenside Place, Edinburgh EH1 3AA.

Telephone: 0131-525 8200.


First Impressions: Edinburgh's latest hotel is a bijou Gothic castello skewered by gigantic runaway ice tray two minutes from the east end of Princes Street.

The Eton Group have spent £7m grafting a 65-bedrooom boutique hotel on to a cinema complex and the stained sandstone facade of the 150-year-old Lady Glenorchy Church. Scarlet and gold station clock hanging from the battlements feeds the air of Ruritanian fantasy. Inside, the feel is 1950s cool: right-angles, high backs, stained Honduran mahogany, chocolate 'n' mustard tones, enough chrome to clothe a battleship. Porters are draped in black aprons, chambermaids wear pleated dresses with shoulder puffs and demure white aprons. Reception's three stainless steel candleabra and ornate ceiling tiles are a homage to the building's origins. Slabs of modern art reassure you that this is, indeed, the 21st century.

What are the rooms like? Parquet flooring, cannonball-sized paperweights, L-shaped settees, electronic trinkets including portable telephones and screen-mounted, swivelling (in suites) TVs. Suites have balconies that could stage table-tennis tournaments; on the north side, sybarites can contemplate St Mary's cathedral's injunction to 'Walk Humbly'.

The bathroom: Heated floors and mirrors. Atmosphere is provided by monochrome studies of soft-focus nudes with a curious proclivity for being shrink-wrapped; a subliminal reference to the Scottish weather?

Just another headache-inducing urban style ghetto? No. The unexpected two-acre roof garden with arched timber pergola, raised beds of porcupine heather plants, lawns framed by ash trees, conveniently-glued shingle and view on to the more chaotic forestry of Calton Hill is a superb nerve-soothing coup de theatre.

The restaurant: Only for breakfasts: £16.50 (cooked), £13.50 (continental).

How much? De luxe double room from £175; suites range from £225 to £375 a night.

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