Wednesday, April 01, 2009

A Night At The Hiltons'

Thanks to the excellent Thanet Observer blog, we now know you can hire Bleak House in Boredstares for functions, corporate events, weddings and private parties. You can even stay there on a B&B basis for the princely sum of £150-£155 per person per night, including 'a fantastic full English breakfast'. The website boasts: 'Previous guests have included some of Film, TV and Sports most illustrious stars.'

Locals will know that the pile was bought by Thanet kings of bling the Hiltons back in 2005. And that they were up before the beaks last month following a contretemps over the mislabelling of a necklace as 'Tiffany', amongst other misdemeanours.

Fortunately there are no claims on the website that Bleak House is the 24ct gold real deal that Charles Dickens wrote about in his famous novel of the same name. That Bleak House was, of course, oop north. The Broadstairs Bleak House, where Dickens wrote the major part of David Copperfield, was at the time called Fort House. The name was changed around 1900, when locals saw they could make a quick tourist buck by cashing in on the Dickens name and, er, bigging the place up into something it wasn't. Plus ça change, some might say!

Book a night at the Hiltons'

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interested to see the music room offers a Kareoke machine and pool table.
No doubt as used by Charles Dickens whilst composing the songs for his hit Musical "Oliver".

Bleakhouse.com is a bit lame , what about ,"Breakfast at Tiffany's ?

Anonymous said...

Maybe this could set a trend amongst local business men throwing open their homes to the public.

Ken Wills could show us his enormous chopper, and possibly Jimmy Godden could display his legendary collection of cigarette lighters through the ages

Anonymous said...

Sandy could run Mediterranean cruises on his yot.

Anonymous said...

I walked past Bleak House a couple of weeks ago and could not believe, the state of the garden .
There are bits of Herras fencing and a collection of old wrecks in the garden. It looks more like the Newington estate than the place Charles Dickens wrote some of his greatest novels from.
Maybe somebody can tell me why the council bought the M&S building in Margate for a couple of million but manged to let Bleak house slip through their fingers and go for a million ? .
A more cynical person might think there had been a stitch up going on.
Also is there a condition of the lease that it is opened to the public for veiwing sometimes?.
I tried to get in a couple of years ago when it was alledgedly having an open day and there was some brassy old blonde selling silly price tickets , is this to cover some sale condition?

Anonymous said...

Roger could do a battlefield tour of his medals culminating in a re-enactment of the war wound which causes him to shout.

Anonymous said...

They could call it the Broadstairs Hilton, at least for the first time in his life Rodger Hilton could sell something with a label that is correct

Anonymous said...

Frank could open a chain of pubs and restaurants serving warm beer and rubbish food. Er...

Anonymous said...

Terry could buy a villa in Portugal and invite top councillors to stay. Er...

Anonymous said...

my sources tell me that as part of the guided tour you get to see the room where Charles Dickens wrote," David Goldplatefield"

The serious book squad be informed.
Other works that have been relabelled are ,

Nicholas SilverNickelby
A tale of two diamante earrings
A Christmas 12Carat Ring
The Pickwick Limited edition vellum Papers
The Large Dorrit

Anonymous said...

Do you know if the Carpetbaggers was also written there? Silly me - wrong author.

Anonymous said...

Now I remember, it was Pickwick Papers.

Anonymous said...

'Enhance your experience with a visit to a local farmers market.
24 hour Tesco and large Sainsbury’s a short drive away'
The Irony

Anonymous said...

Little Goldinit?

Anonymous said...

The Old Not-quite-what-it-says-on-the-label-osity Shop?

Anonymous said...

Great Expectations Followed By Big Disappointment?

Anonymous said...

The Life and Adventures of Richard Swizzlewit?

Anonymous said...

A Tale of Two Tiffanys?

Anonymous said...

NINA HILTON WRITES,
You all think you are so f**%%$ing clever, you bleeding snobs.
Me and me old dad are just giving the punters what they want.
Top nosh and a selection of Dickens memorabilia found out in the shed, at great prices, the list is as follows.

DEBBIE DOES DARTFORD . DVD (WITHOUT BOX) The saucy old scribe!

GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL Writing all those books and staying up late he must have needed the odd snack

TWO BOXES OF BIROS Inscribed with Ramsgate Motor Museum (our experts think this must have been added later) your chance to own a pen that might have written the original draft of Follyfoot

HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY One copy slightly foxed

I need to go back into court now so will not waste any more time on you losers

Anonymous said...

It's up for sale as we speak. A snip for £2 milion

Anonymous said...

it should be bought by a public authority and opened up to the public again.
the house gardens and cellars would be a great tourist attraction.
forget dickens world at chatham , lets have bleak house broadstairs.