Hilton Garden Inn Abingdon Oxford Marcham Road Abingdon
The hotel has a proper restaurant called the Pavilion Pantry, which sounds like a cricket club for snacks. You can get a full English breakfast that includes the sacred trinity: sausage, bacon, and beans. The beans sit there, orange and smug, daring you to mix them with the egg. You will mix them. It is the law.
They also have a 24-hour convenience shop in the lobby. This is where you can buy Pringles, a sad sandwich, and a toothbrush when you inevitably forget one. I once bought a single-serve wine there. It cost £8 and tasted like regret mixed with blackcurrant. I bought two.
The “Fit” Stuff: Gym and Pool
There’s a gym with a treadmill that is perfectly calibrated to make you feel slow. There’s also an indoor pool. The pool is heated to a temperature that is just short of “I’ll get in.” It feels like a warm bath that forgot to commit to being warm. But it’s clean, and there are no screaming children—mostly because you visited at 9 PM like a renegade.
Hilton Garden Inn Abingdon - The Oxford Magazine
Fun fact: The hotel’s fitness center has a sign that says “Please wipe down equipment after use.” I’ve seen that sign more than any human should. It’s my life’s wallpaper now.