Counter Culture

I WAS BORN and bred in East London. However, for the last 30 odd years I’ve lived Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim. For those who don’t know, it’s just to the north of Belfast. However one of my favourite towns in Ulster is Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, just over the border from Éire. This part of the world is well-known for being laid back, peaceful and restful. Sadly, I haven’t been anywhere near Co. Fermanagh for a little while, so when the opportunity presented itself to enjoy a very brief family visit and overnight stay I jumped at the chance.
My wife, son and I decided to stay in the Belmore Court & Motel. We’ve passed by it many times during our travels in and around Enniskillen and we’d always wondered what it was like. Could something so centrally located provide that famous Fermanagh welcome and standard of comfort as some more rural locations in the area? The answer is definitely Yes!
Our check in was very simple and the female receptionist was more than helpful. Not only did she tell us where our room was but also indicated the easiest place to park and gave us a small ‘map’ which outlined the layout of the whole complex. We were given details about the restaurant times it was open, costs and so on.
The Belmore is divided into two sections – the Motel area and the Court area which boasts “superior and executive rooms.” We’d booked into the Motel area and were more than happy with it. Our first impressions were very good. It struck us how neat and tidy the whole place was – both inside and out. Indeed, I saw a female member of staff cleaning and tidying up the car park first thing the next morning. The whole complex was incredibly quiet as well. Although it’s situated at the junction of couple of main roads, the double-glazed windows ensure that you don’t hear a thing.
Our accommodation consisted of two large bedrooms both of which had double beds. As we found out later, they were good and firm – but very, very comfortable. Indeed, we all had our best night’s sleep in a long time! (Both rooms also featured really deep and luxurious carpets – definitely an added bonus once we’d got home from a reasonably long walk on our first evening!)
The front bedroom had small vanity unit, iron and ironing board, hair dryer as well as tea and coffee making facilities included. The other bedroom also had tea and coffee making facilities but also doubled up as small living room. This featured a massive wall-mounted TV and a table and chairs by the main window. Both rooms had lots of storage space including really neat open plan units.
Leading from the back bedroom was a small galley-style kitchen. It had everything that you’d need – micro-cooker, microwave (complete with a grill), fridge, toaster, crockery, cutlery and lots of storage. A more than adequate shower and toilet made up the accommodation. Liquid soap, shower gel and lots of towels were all included. Just one word of caution – when you put the shower on hot it really is hot!
The Belmore Court & Motel couldn’t be more centrally located – the town centre is literally a two minute walk away. One thing we love about Enniskillen is the number of small family run shops that exist here (although sadly the recession has claimed a lot of victims here.) For aficionados of medium to large supermarkets, a massive 24-hour Tesco is within spitting distance and Dunnes, Lidl and Asda are an easy walk away.
We went self-catering – but unfortunately when we went out in the evening all the local shops were closed. However, we hit it lucky in Tesco where still in date food had just been reduced. It was perfect for a quiet night in, relaxing with our feet up and watching a history programme on the TV, which boasted both a cracking picture and sound.
The Belmore is also perfectly situated for ‘culture vultures’ as the Ardhowen Theatre is a short five minute stroll way. We took a walk towards it and admired some of the large private houses – and their immaculate gardens – on the way to it. We’ve always fancied taking in a show at the Ardhowen but have not not managed it yet. When we do, they’ll be no guessing where we’d be staying!
We couldn’t recommend the Belmore Court & Motel highly enough. We were absolutely blown away by it. If the Motel (where we stayed) featured ‘standard’ rooms then we can’t wait to check out the d ‘superior’ and ‘executive’ rooms!
You can find out more about the Belmore Court & Motel via their web-site here: http://www.motel.co.uk/
Also check out their Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/belmorecourt and follow them on Twitter @BelmoreCourt