Perfect places to make the most of a capital festive foray

Like a great many people, Martin Hesp particularly likes visiting London during the run-up to Christmas

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I write about it here because, A) I visited recently, and B), being a travel writer, people often ask me for tips on where to stay and what to do in London. This article features two of my favourite places to stay in town.

Like a great many people, I particularly like visiting during the run-up to Christmas, or perhaps immediately afterwards in the weeks when midwinter country-life begins to lose its sparkle. If visitor numbers are anything to go by, this is a commonly held sentiment. How many people do you know who popup to town in November or December to take in a show, do the Christmas shopping, have a special meal, see all the sights and enjoy the festive lights? I know a great many.

We had several reasons for taking GWR’s Taunton to Paddington service recently - with a journey time of just one hour forty minutes, why would anyone drive? The first reason was that my wife absolutely loves soaking up the city's Christmassy atmosphere and she also had gifts to buy and art exhibitions to see.

As for me? Well, I was shortlisted for two prestigious British Guild of Travel Writer awards and, as it is rare to reach the finals in any category let alone two, I felt mildly confident. Surely I'd grab at least one gong? And so there I was at a glitzy awards dinner in the heart of town. Later you could have found me slumped in a very stylish apartment, also in the centre of town, shedding tears of disappointment.

I always seem to fail in London. The hugeness of the place always seems to defeat me. Which, perhaps, has caused me to fall out of love with the place in recent years.

However, on this occasion I was at least mollified to some degree. And that was thanks to the stylish apartment. Let me explain: the other reason I'd decided to go to London at such a busy time of year was because I'd received the following email...