The Cairn Hotel Review

#2 of 37 Hotels in Harrogate

Hotel Class:

Check rates

•  1 hotel reviews »
•  more information »
•  see nearby hotels »

Joseph_Smith's review

My weekend with the Transvestite/Transgender Congress

Rating:

•  see 2 photos »
•  see comments »

The front of the Cairn hotel
see more photos »

Okay, imagine this.  You're in an area where there are many hotels and many more people who need hotel rooms.

It's the season for English holidays (vacations for those of you who haven't read or watched movies) and that equates to the season where lots of English hotels are full.

Here I am, on my own for the weekend to fend for myself in a foreign land.  It's Thursday and I don't have a place to stay yet.  I've called several places and no one seems to have any room at the Inn...

A closer shot of the front of the Cairn hotel
see more photos »

So imagine my surprise when a fairly nice hotel in Harrogate says that they can accommodate me for the weekend.  Beautiful!

As with most hotels, the Cairn offers breakfast as part of the cost of the room.  The breakfast buffet consists of scrambled eggs, sauteed mushrooms, stewed tomatoes, English bacon, fried eggs, baked beans, potato dumplings, toast, coffee or tea, sausage (herb and Leek or Cumberland), fruit juice (orange, apple, grapefruit).... They call it a "Full English Breakfast."  Enough food even for a large, hungry American.

There I was, finishing up my breakfast when it starts to slowly register in my mind that most of the English ladies I'd seen walking in had been extraordinarily... Well, not nice looking.  Once that goes from subconscious to conscious, I begin to notice that these ladies are also seriously tall for women.  That's followed shortly by the fact that some of the ladies seem to be wearing wigs and still others seemed like they probably should have shaved a little more carefully.....

This is England.  There are some cultural differences between our countries.  Could be that this was some sort of strange men's club that required it's members to dress up as women and go to breakfast at a local restaurant.  I mean, we have "The Hawgs," Washington Redskin fans who dress up as pigs in women's clothing and go to all the Redskin home games.  Then they resume their normal lives the following day.

Okay, I'm very "live and let live."  I'm very secure in my own sexuality and I figure everyone elses sexuality is their own affair.  But wading through 60 or 70 extremely well-dressed (I'm talking pearls, silk dresses, furs, and some lovely perfumes...) "ladies" is a little odd.  Following dinner, I felt like I needed to find out what was going on.

Me:  "Um, can I ask you a question?"

Hotel Employee:  "Certainly sir."

"The, um... Ladies in the other room...?"

"Yes?"

"Uhh... I don't want to be rude, but what's going on?"

That's when I found out that I was there during the Transvestite and Transgender Congress.  Apparently an annual event hosted by the Cairn Hotel.

So that was my weekend.  The food was "typical" English food.  The breakfast I described already.  I stayed away from the sausage on day two.  I didn't really care for it and I'm not certain which kind I had to advise avoiding it but it's a minor thing, you'll figure it out.  Oh and yes, I said they had baked beans on the buffet.  I had no idea of the romance your common Englishman has for baked beans.  My landlord eats them on spaghetti.... They eat them cold, hot, with pasta, for breakfast on toast....  I'm not sure why this disturbs me but it does... :)

Dinner was Gammon.  Looked like ham to me.  When I asked if it was ham, I was told very specifically that it wasn't ham, it was Gammon.  Okay, so I'm a stupid American -- Gammon is from an Old Northern French word "Gambe" for hind- leg of the pig or ham.  If one wants a whole ham then a ham is ordered, if one wants part of the ham (usually boned and rolled or cut into steaks) that portion of the ham is usually called Gammon.  Yeah, I had no idea either...  My landlord suggested that ham was served cold, as in a ham sandwich and gammon was more of a dinner thing and always served warm.

Okay, so dinner was HAM, two types of potatoes, green beans and a lovely wine list.

One thing to keep in mind.  I'm very casual.  Shorts and t-shirts.  That's okay for dinner if you don't mind feeling a little out of place.  I couldn't care less but if you want to fit in, I'd wear slacks or pants -- jeans might do at some places but to be sure, I'd at least go with khakis -- and a button down or golf shirt.  I stuck out like a Gammon at a Ham factory in my grubby shorts and tennis shoes (or "trainers" as their called over here) but I'm not rude about it and am confident enough to look someone in the eye who's trying to shame me and dare them to say it...  I'm sitting in a restaurant full of large, English trannies and they're looking at me...?   Yeah, I don't think so M'Lord....

Overall (yeah, finally getting to the review -- sorry), I liked the Cairn.  It advertises that it's the "friendliest hotel in Harrogate."  I'm not sure I'd agree with that but I've only actually stayed at one hotel so far, so...  My room was fairly large and the bathtub in my room was also large.  Long technically, same width and depth as a normal tub, just very long.  I actually indulged and it's been years since I've taken an actual bath.  Actually, I think Serina talked me into a bath about 3 or so months ago but this was of my own accord.

The food was good, typical English I'd think.  They took themselves a bit more seriously than I think was called for at dinner and dinner was a bit more expensive than it might have been considering it was a buffet of only one meat and a couple of veggies but it was well made and the service was good.

Rina Sunshine on Aug. 8, 2007 @ 09:58AM said

Excellent Review! I believe entertaining (in the good sense) would also be accurate.

 Reply to this comment  Add new comment

steverdrew on Aug. 8, 2007 @ 09:58AM said

A couple of points from a Englishman who lives in Harrogate. First, I know of no-one that eats baked beans on pasta or cold, but beans on toast is a type of snack for lazy people or students, or if you are out of other food in the house :-) 2nd, The Cairn is a little old fashioned and stuffy, so I'd expect nothing less than an old fashioned cooked breakfast, but the one you described is fairly typical in a lot of hotels of this kind and rather too stodgy for most of us brits. As for what you wear in Harrogate, you did end up in a fairly upper middle class town in the north of England (a rarity in these parts), but most people in Harrogate do tend to dress up a little for dinner, but quite frankly you shouldn't be bothered about wearing what you normaly wear, no-one is going to care as long as you pay your bill :-) Oh as for the "Ham", it is Gammon you had - get over it. I happened to be staying at the Crown in Harrogate (a much better choice in my opinion) and I can vouch for the trannies, there were a couple having cups of tea and scones (very english don't you know) in the midst of my wedding there (they were nothing to do with us btw). And this is one of the odd things about somewhere like Harrogate and it's infamous Betty's, in the midst of what is a very upper class, pretty, gentile, "quaint" sorroundings, you sometimes come across the strangest things. Sounds like you just did!

 Reply to this comment  Add new comment

Would you like to comment or ask a question?

Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).

Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).