Britain: Bringing the outside in

AAP

Afternoon tea in the Garden Room at The Athenaeum overlooking London's Green Park is a leafy affair.

It feels as if the outside park and trees are moving inside as the room's windows look out on the Living Wall, created by French architectural botanist Patrick Blanc (described as a crazy French guy with green hair).

It's a vertical garden covering one wall of the five star hotel's 10 floors – an area of 260 square metres – with more than 260 plants – mostly rare species from temperate and tropical climes.

It uses a unique self-irrigation process; feeding time with a "cocktail of nutrients" has become London's newest tourist attraction!

As we sip our drinks, Alison Wheatley, the hotel's marketing manager, explains it has recently undergone a renovation with all the windows now floor to ceiling and many with Juliet balconies, to make the most of the beautiful views. The atmosphere is light and airy.

"We wanted to bring the outside in," she says of the hotel's location at 116 Piccadilly in Mayfair, so close to the city's famous parks, including Hyde Park.

As well as new apartments, it also now has a three-bedroom Rooftop Suite, a penthouse with panoramic views across the city.

You can go for a walk or take one of the hotel's bicycles across Green Park to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace or venture up to Hyde Park or explore the weave of old cobbled streets, cute shops and bars of Mayfair.

Or you can just stay in and enjoy its comforts – from a concierge who greets you by name almost as soon as you've arrived to high tea in the Garden Room, to savouring one of the more than 270 malts in the Whisky Bar (some the last few bottles from moth-balled distilleries) with a plate of whisky nibbles to having a quick G and T in your suite before heading out for dinner or a show.

Or you can enjoy a spa treatment either in your room or the hotel's Spa, or visit the gym, jacuzzi, steam room or hairdressing salon. Breakfast is also not to be missed – it's fabulous. And the restaurant serves "quintessential British dishes".

And there's no guessing who you might run into in the lobby.

The Athenaeum is a home away from home for a whole host of West Coast American showbiz people – and is increasingly the same for Aussie and other international celebs.

Sandra Bullock, Omar Sharif, Michelle Williams, Emma Samms, Samuel L Jackson, Renee Zellwegger, Hayden Christiansen, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras, to name a few.

Over the years it's hosted Joan Collins, Lynda La Plante, Robert Mitchum, Robert Wagner and Jill St John, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Albert Finney and Michael Douglas.

In fact, the former general manager Sally Bulloch, who had been an actor, and her showbiz contacts kept the whole place buzzing for about 30 years.

As one newspaper reported when she died last year in South Africa, "her hospitality was legendary. She was known from Hollywood to London society, she was the face of the Athenaeum for 25 years".

A family business, it's the sort of hotel that attracts loyal customers – and loyal staff, including Jim, the doorman, who's been there 15 years.

"Some guests stayed here with their parents as children," Wheatley says. "And a lot come back, because of the staff."

The hotel has what it calls "Your London Home" experience, including a Kids' Concierge, age-specific toy boxes and playstations and DVDs and a deal where children under 12 eat for free. There's also baby essentials – nappies, wipes and a cot all waiting for you when you arrive. And even bikes and kites and birdseed for a visit to the park.

Rooms have also been equipped with the latest technology from plasma-screen TVs, Bose docking stations to free high speed wi-fi access and a complimentary mini-bar for snacks and soft drinks.

"The aim is to make your stay as stress-free as possible," says Wheatley. "We wanted to take it one step further and it's been really successful."

The hotel's tongue-in-cheek decor is "all about London" from perspex boxes of lead soldiers and guards, to rows of miniature red London buses to a rose collage made from old copies of The Financial Times to black and white photos of the great city in the rain.

It was the hotel after all that Maggie Thatcher and Dennis chose to stay in for three months (in the Penthouse) while their house was being re-decorated.

If you have to venture out, some things to do in the area include:

See the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace

Take a picnic to Green Park

Enjoy a reasonably-priced high tea from silver teapots at the Wolseley on Piccadilly.

Get lost in the backstreets of Mayfair, and then stop for a pint at one of the pubs frequented by toffy-accented Sloanes.

Shop at the boutiques and department stores of Knightsbridge

Marvel at the paintings at the Tate Gallery, the home of British art from 1500 to the present day.

Visit the museums of South Kensington

Eye the wares at the Borough Market, London's oldest food market, on the south bank of the Thames.

Head up two blocks to Fortnum and Mason and drool over the fine fare – cloth cheddars, chocolates, pates. A bit of England on a plate.

IF YOU GO

For Christmas, a festively decorated basket of DVDs full of Christmas films will be delivered on arrival, as well as gender appropriate toy boxes. Biscuits and milk will be provided for kids who want to wait up for Santa.

The Kids Concierge Team will also organise an itinerary to ensure the best stay in Christmas London including ice skating, Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland, sightseeing and suitable theatre trips. An English Christmas lunch will be served in the hotel's The Restaurant.

For New Year's Eve guests can enjoy an un-rivalled view of the fireworks displays. The Athenaeum has Park View suites available over the New Year period starting at £350 ($NZ805) per night. The Rooftop Suite is priced at £1,900 ($NZ4,362) per night.

The hotel's easy to reach by tube from Heathrow, take the airport express to Paddington Station and then a taxi.

* The writer was a guest of The Athenaeum and VisitBritain, flying Singapore Airlines.