HOLIDAY: Doubletree by Hilton (Sheffield)

I believe the Sheffield Doubletree hasn't been a Hilton very long, so it may be that it is in the process of being 'upgraded'. The room we had was fine, but having stayed in other Doubletrees it's definitely not in the same league. The public areas however, are very nice. The bar and dining room were both very nicely presented, but the swimming pool is minute. You would be forgiven for thinking it was a toddlers pool, but sadly not, that is the pool.

Still I went for a swim and did about 120 lengths in 30mins, all the while negotiating a bunch of children, most of whom were fine it must be said. Alas there was one potentially 'special' little bastard who wanted to be in every part of the pool at once and seemed to think the most important thing was to smack his hands into the water and create splashes. Chiefly aimed at annoying me I shouldn't wonder. Oh and as if the pool wasn't small enough, a lane was roped off so that another little shit could learn to swim! FFS.

Searching for pictures for this I thought I had found a photo of a bigger pool, which I thought might explain the odd looks I got from one of the parents. But that turned out to be in the Sheffield Hilton, so it seems that the odd looks were not because I was swimming in the toddlers pool like some sort of aquatic paedophile, but, well I don't know then...

While I was swimming Rose went to the gym. We went back to the room for a bit and then had showers and headed to the bar (where we decided to eat). The bar was really nice and the staff friendly and efficient. We had a few drinks and then both ordered a chicken burger and fries.

The meal was quite nice, though the roll was slightly strange. As usual we forget to ask for no dressing on the salad, but I ate what I could. I have to say it wasn't as nice as the salad at lunchtime. We stayed in the bar for several hours and then finished off the night with a cocktail. Rose had a Tequila Sunrise and I had a Long Island Ice Tea, which was okay but very strong. In future I will steer clear of anything with Tequila in, I much prefer the fruity cocktails, but even Rose's fruity cocktail was somewhat overwhelmed by the Tequila.

When we got back to the room we took some hilarious photos...

I had planned to go for another swim the next morning, but woke up a bit too late to beat the crowds and so decided against it. We had a decent breakfast, with a substantial croissant, and then headed off to Meadowhall Shopping Centre for some retail therapy.