The Cromwell

Heading down to see my dad today, my sister is also visiting. J’s sister arrived lunchtime to stay with her, and I left to head south shortly after. A good journey, I went straight to dad’s.

I am staying at the Cromwell Hotel, as is my sister. My first meal out anywhere since February 2020, it all felt very strange, but OK as the place was quiet. It was a tapas bar two minutes from the Cromwell, the young lady who served us was Spanish. She was more than happy with the result of today’s women’s World Cup final.

The hotel is so named because an original farmhouse on the land was owned by John Thurloe, Oliver Cromwell’s secretary during the Protectorate. He was effectively Cromwell’s Spymaster general. The frontage of the hotel dates back to the 1920’s, an ideal location on the Great North Road and less than 30 miles north of London. The interwar years were probably it’s heyday, it’s now owned by two brothers and seems to be doing fine,