2025.10 UK & More – Best Western Abbots Canterbury

2025.10 UK & More – Best Western Abbots Canterbury

After a quick overnight near London Heathrow our first stop was Canterbury and Dover.  In Dover we wanted to explore the iconic castle watching over the Channel, and in Canterbury, the historic cathedral home to the Church of England.  Our home for three nights was in Canterbury at the Best Western Abbots.

Location

The hotel is ideal for motorists.  It had plenty of parking for guests, and was a short walk from the historic center of Canterbury.  After spending a lifetime in Friday afternoon rush hour traffic from Brooklands to Canterbury, I went for a walk after dinner, and its great location was obvious — easy walk to shops, and the cathedral wasn’t much further away.

As well, Dover isn’t far away by car, with it being well-signed you can’t miss Dover Castle.  In all, we were happy with the location.

Hotel

It’s an older building that comes with several additions.  Similar to the hotel we stayed in Edinburgh, this hotel did have a hallway where it was almost completely straight.  The different looks of the hallways were also a hint to areas that had been renovated.

The hotel was undergoing renovations to the dining room (breakfast was served in a substitute location), and this whole section of the hotel as well:

When we arrived for check-in, it was painless, easy and hassle-free.  We had reserved an Executive room with a king-sized bed, and instead were given keys to the deluxe king suite.  It was near the end of the hall, the section that had been renovated, and the room was excellent.

Room

Having been informed we’d had an upgrade was a great start.  Once we navigated the elevator (generously sized for something retrofitted into the building), and hallway we found our room at the end of the hall.

This was a massive space.  When you enter, the bathroom is off to the right, and on the left are a bank of closets, and then it opens into the bedroom.  The living room, is a separate room off to the right by the far wall.

The extra space came in handy, because it enabled me to wake up early and have a place to sit and read without disturbing Little Miss.  Now, the single best part of the room was the freshly renovated bathroom.  It had a massive soaker tub (she highly recommended it), and large shower.  We noticed that the best feature of the bathroom was that the floor was heated!  We never found if there was a switch but having warm tile was a feature I didn’t know I needed in life.  Our visit was in October, so I could only imagine how awesome this feature would be on cold winter mornings.

Meals at the Hotel

The sea of humanity that I shared the highway all the way from Brooklands to the hotel tired both of us out.  Well, Little Miss was so tired she slept through most of the traffic, where I was thankful for a rental car with radar cruise control (hello, automatic space between cars in congested traffic!).  We decided to have dinner at the bar, where it too, was recently renovated.  She tried the fish and chips, I had the schnitzel.  Both were tasty.

To be fair, I didn’t get pictures of the breakfast location because it was always busy.  And, it was in a temporary location.  They had a decent spread of cereals, cold cuts, baked goods and hot food to choose from.  We noticed variability in the staff.  On two of the mornings the staff were constantly in motion, cleaning tables for the next guests, checking, and replenishing items to the buffet.  One morning the staff appeared to be devoid of the initiative that the others had had.  It was like the person wasn’t quite aware of how to best use their time to keep breakfast humming along.

This was a great hotel stay.  Bed was comfortable, the water pressure was great, and the heated floors was a perk I didn’t know I need in my life. 

Explore other parts of this trip:

Part 1 – Air Canada Flight Toronto to Halifax, to London

Part 2 – Hilton Garden Inn, Heathrow

Part 3 – Brooklands Museum

Part 4 – Best Western Abbots Barton Hotel, Canterbury (this post!)

Part 5 – Dover Castle

Part 6 – Canterbury Cathedral & Abbey

Part 7 – Hilton Garden Inn, Silverstone

Part 8 – Hardwick Hall

Part 9 – Newcastle Upon Tyne Doubletree Hotel

Part 10 – Alnwick Gardens & Corbridge Roman Town

Part 11 – Premier Inn Penrith

Part 12 – Castlerigg Stone Circle & Lake District

Part 13 – Hilton Garden Inn Manchester

Part 14 – Isle of Wight

Part 15 – Carisbrooke Castle

Part 16 – Osborne

Part 17 – Heathrow Terminal 4 Hilton

Part 18 – Flight to Amsterdam, Hilton Dusseldorf

Part 19 – Doubletree NDSW Amsterdam

Part 20 – Mauritshuis, The Hague 

Part 21 – Hilton AMS

Part 22 – Flight home via Newark