November’s Newpoint Hotel deals were so successful  with loads of people taking advantage of our special offers and cheap hotel rooms that I’ve decided to extend them into December 2008.

This means that December 2008 room only accommodation will continue as cheap as £15 per person per night.

Woohoo! It gives me a lovely Christmasy feeling to think I’m helping all those people out in these awful Credit Crunch times

Christmas is a time to get together with friends, especially family and I love it. Do you?

Chatting to our visitors in November, it seems like Christmas family get togethers have started early this year. Perhaps, in difficult times, family and seeing relatives becomes more important.

So, if you are thinking of coming to see your family or relatives in Bournemouth, Southbourne, Christchurch or surrounding areas in December, I hope you will consider staying at Newpoint Hotel.

All our rooms are clean and comfortable and most have en-suites.

Free coffee and tea making facilities are available in bedrooms with Freeview television. There is a hair dryer, a fan and free Wi-Fi Internet access.

Bedroom only hotel deals are available at extremely cheap discount hotel rates. However, if you would like to have breakfast, our full English breakfast is very tasty with hunger satisfying ample portions and, for those with religious or personal preferences or on a special diet for health reasons, we also offer a vegetarian breakfast. (Simply ask for a vegetarian breakfast when you book).

The best way to take advantage of special offers and get our best hotel deals is to call me, Christine, on (01202) 425047. If I am not available, please leave a message and I will get back to you. Alternatively, visit Newpoint Hotel Contact page for other ways to contact me.

Merry Christmas

Bye for now

Christine

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel B & B, Southbourne, Bournemouth

Sketched by my clever daughter

If you are thinking of visiting Bournemouth between 24th October 2008 to 1st February 2009 and you like art, museums or would like to explore something a bit different, consider visiting The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum where there is a cheeky new exhibition about ‘the secrets of the saucy seaside postcard’.

The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth, UK, is a wonderfully individual museum. It has art galleries and a museum, a licensed café, a shop and a children’s area. With opportunities to learn, explore or socialise, it caters for a wide variety of tastes and admission is FREE.

The dramatic cliff top where it is located over-looks seven miles of award-winning beaches in one of the last Victorian villas in Bournemouth.

Cheeky postcards! They are a bit of fun and so much part of the history of English seaside resorts with huge nostalgia value.

Hopefully, while you are visiting the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, you will consider staying at Newpoint Hotel. We are a small family run hotel providing cheap budget room only accommodation and bed and breakfast that believes in clean and comfortable rooms and good old fashioned friendliness and service to our visitors. (Unfortunately, you won’t see the picture top right at the exhibition as it was sketched by my clever daughter.)

We have single bedrooms with or without en suites, twin bedrooms with en suites, double bedrooms with en suites and family bedrooms with en suites. Tea and coffee making facilities are in each bedroom as is television and free Wi-Fi Internet connection.

So, if you are looking at what’s on in late November, December 2008 or January 2009, why not treat yourself and take advantage of our midweek or weekend discount breaks at Newpoint Hotel. With room only singles from £15 per person per night, it’s not a big decision

Call me to check out my latest deals and availability on (01202) 425047 or visit Newpoint Hotel contact page.

Bye for now

Chris

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel room only and bed and breakfast accommodation

Folk singers, musicians and devotees welcome at Newpoint Hotel

There is something amazing about folk music. I love the driving rhythms of Irish folk music, the cheerful tum-te-tum of traditional English dance music and the lyricism of acoustic accompanied modern folk songs.

Locally, we are very fortunate to have the Bournemouth Folk Club which is at the Pig and Whistle pub, Queens Road, Bournemouth and has great acts like Flook, winners of Best Group at the BBC Folk Awards 2006.

If you are looking for a traditional joining in folk music session, check out the Christchurch Folk Music Sessions where I’ve heard they are always very friendly and welcoming to visitors.

Folk music apart, there is a huge amount of other music going on in and around Dorset and you should easily be able to find something you enjoy in the Bournemouth and Poole area.

So, if you are staying in Bournemouth to visit the local folk music sessions or folk clubs as a performer or as a listener, or visiting to enjoy other musical performances, remember you will always be welcome at Newpoint Hotel. We have a wide range of rooms to suite all with single bedrooms with or without en-suites, twin bedrooms with ensuites, double bedrooms with ensuites and family bedrooms with ensuites.

All bedrooms have television, tea and coffee facilities. Room only accommodation, where we can offer very big discounts, is particularly welcomed in Winter months or alternatively B & B (vegetarian catered for).

We are minutes from Southbourne Overcliff and Southbourne beaches (at the end of the road) and Hengistbury Head with its views, wild life and historical attractions (not to mention the golf facilities) is a short drive away.

Our accommodation is clean and comfortable with very competitive room only accommodation discounts for mid-week breaks and weekend breaks.

To identify our best deals, check out our Prices page, telephone me, Christine, on (01202) 425047 or fill in the Newpoint Hotel contact form and I will work hard to give you the best deal in town

I look forward to hearing from you!

Bye for now

Chris

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel - room  only and B & B

My brother-in-law often pops down for his own personal writing retreat at Newpoint Hotel. He says it enables him to get away from his family to concentrate on his writing and being somewhere different can also stimulate his creative writing juices.

So it occurred to me that there may be other writers out there, individuals or in small groups, who may also like to do the same and spend a weekend at Newpoint Hotel in Southbourne, Bournemouth getting away from their usual routine to have some quiet time to really concentrate on their writing.

When Rob comes down to spend a few days on his writing, he likes to walk on the beaches and visit Hengistbury Head which has a quiet beauty in the Autumn and Winter. He says it’s the ideal way to relax after writing hard for a few hours.

For those who would like to check out the bright lights, there are all the usual tempting Bournemouth Winter entertainments and shops, of course.

Rob tells me that writers are almost always struggling for cash, and bearing in mind this horrible credit crunch, I have set a special discount offer for writers weekend writing retreats with bargain discount room only rates per night for November 2008 at £16 singles with en-suite, £25 doubles with en-suite (including family rooms with en-suite and up to two occupants) to see how it goes. My two single bedrooms that share a bathroom, I am willing to offer for £15 per night.

All rooms have free Wi-Fi, so you can use the Internet for research, tea and coffee making facilities, a hair drier and television with Freeview.

Writers are also welcome to use  the dining room for their writing if they would like a break from their rooms.

Dining room available for writing when not in use for meals

Why not get together with some of your writing circle friends and have a cheap weekend group getaway? Telephone me to talk about group numbers and I will do what I can to arrange you a group discount rate.

Well that’s it for today! I quite like the idea of having a hotel full of writers. Perhaps you all can give me some tips on how to write this blog

Bye for now

Chris

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel

Hengistbury Head storyboards

Do you like history? I do! Not the history that we used to learn at school which was all about Kings and Queens and wars but history that tells a story about the way things really were for ordinary people in bye-gone times.

I particularly like the story boards that have been put up by Bournemouth Council at Hengistbury Head which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) just a bit down the coast from Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast.

The story boards tell us about the wildlife on Hengistbury Head, including Galloway Cattle, the woodmouse, the skylark and the meadow pipit, but they also tell us about how people lived and hunted on Hengisbury Head and Warren Point between 12,500 years ago and 4,000 years ago during the Stone Age which is really fascinating.

I wonder if there were bed and breakfast hotels in the Dorset Stone Age, or at least the equivalent? I’m sure that people must have given shelter to weary travellers in their caves or mud huts from time to time.

View walking up the path to Hengistbury Head, Bournemouth, Dorset

Mind you, I might draw the line at nipping out on a cold morning to club a wild pig to make the full English breakfasts.

Of course, I suppose England didn’t really exist in those days. It was just a place somewhere out there, perhaps told about by travellers in stories around the camp fires.

Christchurch Bay from Hengistbury Head, Bournemouth, Dorset

Well, all this is very philosophical and the telephone is ringing, hopefully with people wanting to take advantage of my incredible November bed and breakfast hotel deals and perhaps to visit Hengistbury Head and imagine what it was like all those years ago for themselves.

Bye for now

Christine

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast

Windfall apples could be good for making cider!

Everybody I know is offering me home grown produce. What is it about me? Do I look emaciated and underfed? Everything from apples through to courgettes and the occasional marrow has been kindly offered and it seems so rude to refuse!

Of course, I  and my husband are both vegetarians (although I provide a scrumptious full English breakfast at my B & B) which could explain some of their eagerness.

So I got to thinking how I can turn this problem into an opportunity and came up with wine-making! This seemed a really exciting prospect and I had visions of everything from apple cider through to elderberry wine produced  by the bucketful.

Then the six o’clock News came on the television with loads of scary stories about the credit crunch and how we are heading for a horribly deep recession. Quite honestly, I was practically suicidal after they’d finished presenting their doom and gloom scenarios.

Gorse and moorland flowers! Gorse flower wine anybody?

So I decided to do a bit of research on the web to find out what local wines were made  in the Bournemouth and Dorset area and discovered that wine can be made from gorse flowers. Well I love the sight of gorse flowers. They look so beautiful like a rich golden yellow carpet in local beauty spots like Hengistbury Head but picking the flowers might take rather a long time and gorse can be very prickly.

Of course, once the wine is made, it could be so intoxicating that everybody would completely forget about the credit crunch - which might be a very good idea.

However, it was then that I spotted a flaw in all these exciting thoughts and plans. Not only are my husband and I vegetarian but we are also virtually teetotal.

It isn’t that we are particularly against alcohol, although it does seem to cause a lot of problems with people’s health and lives, but we don’t really enjoy drinking wine, spirits and alcohol in general. (We don’t even have an alcohol license at Newpoint Hotel.) So it seems likely that a surplus of home garden produce would simply be exchanged for a surplus of home brewed alcoholic beverages. Suddenly, the wine making idea seemed far less appealing.

However, I’ve often noticed that I seem to cheer myself up when I’m cheering up other people so, never daunted, I came up with an idea to beat huge buckets of depression created by the credit crunch which doesn’t involve getting blotto and destroying our lives.

Southbourne Overcliff at the end of the road from Newpoint Hotel B & B

Starting November, Newpoint Hotel will be launching the juiciest ever cheap discount hotel deals and offers for this credit crunch Winter and that’s a promise!

If you are looking for a job in Bournemouth and need accomodation for a few nights, my hotel deals will be the most competitive ever!

If  you are searching for a cheap hotel for a weekend break, my hotel offers will put a smile on your face!

If you are looking for a discount hotel or a budget hotel with really cheap hotel rooms, Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast is where you should be.

All this and the full English or vegetarian breakfasts will still be scrumptious and the hotel room accommodation will still be as clean and comfortable as ever.

Just give me a call on (01202) 425047. Sometimes I’m not able to take your call immediately so leave a message and I will get right back to you. Alternatively, email me through Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast contact form and I will email or telephone you back, as you wish.

Ha! I feel better already!

I look forward to hearing from you

Bye for now

Christine

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast (B & B)

Single bedroom 5 (share bathroom) at Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast

Bedroom 5 is a single bedroom with a single bed and wash basin in the room. It shares a bathroom with bedroom 2. This bathroom is accessed from the hotel corridor and has a small wash basin, toilet and bath with shower over.

Free coffee and tea making facilities are available in the bedroom with Freeview television.

There is a hair dryer, a fan and free Wi-Fi Internet access.

Wash basin in single bedroom 5 (share bathroom) at Newpoint Hotel

Bedroom only rates are usually available but, if you would like to have breakfast, our full English breakfast is very tasty with hunger satisfying ample portions and, for those with religious or personal preferences or on a special diet for health reasons, we also offer a vegetarian breakfast. (Simply ask for a vegetarian breakfast when you book).

Bargain discount rates for cheap mid-week breaks or budget weekend breaks are often available, especially in Winter months during November, December, January, February and March.

The best way to take advantage of special offers for this single bedroom is to call me, Christine, on (01202) 425047. If I am not available, please leave a message and I will get back to you. Alternatively, visit Newpoint Hotel Contact page for other ways to contact me.

I look forward to hearing from you to book your stay in Bedroom 5 at Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast, Southbourne, Dorset, UK.

Bathroom accessed via corridor shared between bedrooms 2 and 5 at Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast

Bye for now

Christine

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel guest house bed and breakfast (B&B)

Mortarboard graduation hat

I just noticed that Bournemouth University is having its Graduation Ball at the Bournemouth International Centre (B.I.C.) in early November 2008 at the end of Bournemouth University Graduation Week.

What a wonderful feeling of achievement all these youngsters must have and it’s great that so many now have the opportunity of a University education.

Of course, getting to University is only the first step and I know how hard my daughter worked  to get her degree.

So well done all you graduates of Bournemouth University and good luck with what I’m sure will be a glowing future for you all.

I wonder how many of the graduates are mature students? There seem to be more and more people  going back to University to take first or second degrees - some even into retirement age.

Perhaps I should consider going to University as a mature student! I wonder whether I could learn how to make even more scrumptious breakfasts or how to make Newpoint Hotel even more spotless. Somehow I doubt it. I think it’s only in the adverts that you can get cleaner than clean!

Maybe the biggest reason that I couldn’t cope  with going to University as a mature student is all that partying! Imagine, being up to all hours and consuming vast quantities of alcohol on top of all that studying!

On reflection, I’d best stick to what I know. However, if any of the graduands or their relatives who are attending Bournemouth University Graduation Week, or the graduates who will be attending the Graduation Ball need accommodation during that week, with or without breakfast, they will receive a warm welcome at Newpoint Hotel in Southbourne, Bournemouth.

Bye for now

Christine

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast (B & B)

Single bed bedroom 2 with wash basin at Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast

Bedroom 2 is a single bedroom with a single bed and a wash basin in the room. It shares a bathroom with bedroom 5. This shared bathroom is accessed from the hotel corridor and has a small wash basin, toilet and bath with shower over.

Free coffee and tea making facilities are available in the bedroom with Freeview television.

There is a hair dryer, a fan and free Wi-Fi Internet access.

Bedroom only rates are usually available but, if you would like to have breakfast, our full English breakfast is very tasty with hunger satisfying ample portions and, for those with religious or personal preferences or on a special diet for health reasons, we also offer a vegetarian breakfast. (Simply ask for a vegetarian breakfast when you book).

Single bedroom 2 at Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast

Bargain discount rates for cheap mid-week breaks or budget weekend breaks are often available, especially in Winter months during November, December, January, February and March.

The best way to take advantage of special offers for this single bedroom is to call me, Christine, on (01202) 425047. If I am not available, please leave a message and I will get back to you. Alternatively, visit Newpoint Hotel Contact page for other ways to contact me.

I look forward to hearing from you to book your stay in Bedroom 2 at Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast, Southbourne, Dorset, UK.

Bedroom 2 uses a shared bathroom in common with bedroom 5 via a corridor at Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast

Bye for now

Christine

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel guest house bed and breakfast (B & B)

An old church building I snapped somewhere in the West Country

I was just reading about research techniques and genealogy tips which were telling me how to discover about my ancestors and forefathers. The popular television programme ‘Who do you think you are’ got me interested and I’m beginning to understand its fascination.

On the other hand, one of the tips suggested that it could be useful to visit graveyards of long deceased relatives and that this could take me to many far off places, even foreign countries.

I looked for the bit of advice that explained who was going to cook the Newpoint Hotel breakfasts, make the beds and clean the bedrooms but, unfortunately, found no tips in that direction

So, if I have deceased relatives or ancestors resting their bones in some far off graveyard under a spreading oak, I’m afraid they will have to rest in peace without a visit!

On the other hand, if there is anybody out there tracking down their ancestors or long lost relatives and travelling to local graveyards in Southbourne, Christchurch or Bournemouth, they will always be welcome at Newpoint Hotel B & B to spend the night and, over an appetising and nourishing breakfast the next day, I will mercilessly pick their brains about genealogical research before they go off on their searches around the graveyards

Gosh! the thought of graveyards is making me feel all shivery …

I’d best get on with the cleaning … I just hope nobody creeps up quietly behind me. I can be very dangerous with a mop!

Bye for now

Christine

Christine Watson - Newpoint Hotel bed and breakfast (B&B)