Littlestone Hotel

I have travelled the world (mostly with my wife) and stayed in many hotels from luxurious to dirt cheap. I stayed at Littlestones last months so that I could experience the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. Littlestones is far from "posh" but staying there was certainly by far the most enjoyable experience I have ever had in a hotel. It started with my phone call tp ask for accommodation. All I was asked for was my first name and told "Just call me 15 minutes before you arrive" (I was driving). He could tell from my voice that I was a senior so he gave me a room on the bottom floor. Very spacious (even a walk-in closet) with a large comfortable bed (and some cooking facilities akin to North American motels). The basement floor was just a few steps down with three sofas and a big-screen TV (there are also TVs in the rooms of course). Parking is free and right in front of the hotel. Breakfast is not included but available across the street at the train station. I spent some very pleasant time with two permanent residents and one night there were a bunch of us watching sports in the basement room.A most-enjoyable experience.Now I come to a must-experiencepart of the review. It is right across the street from the main station of the railway. The previously-mentioned railway is the world's smallest regularly-scheduled railway. The steam engines stand about 4 feet high and are dead-on copies of full-sized steam engines. They pull up to about 30 passenger cars. This is no fairground ride. Riding from one end to the other takes about 2 hours (look for Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch on the south-east coast of England on a map). At one end is the Dungeness Lighthouse (say Hi to ticket-taker June for me) Climb to the top and get the view outside. One good plan is riding the train from main-station Romney to that end and have breakfast in the End-of-the-Line Restaurant, than catch another train back. After visiting the Lighthouse of course The train station at Romney (actually New Romney) has a model railroad exhibit building with some working layouts. All-in-all an experienve not to be missed For photos, check out the railway n-line Barry Whaites