Review: Burlington Mansions Holiday Apartments Boscombe

This year was very weird for all of us. Travel-wise as well: we had two trips cancelled this summer. One was our regular summer visit of the grandparents in Hungary which was a bit of a heartache for me, I’m just desperate to for the children to spend more time with my parents as they are getting older. The other one would have been our family holiday in France, but of course that has been cancelled too, because we just don’t want to quarantine as the children need to start school.

So we booked a few days here and there in the UK, a couple of getaways using the money we have got back with the insurance. It was our aim anyway to fly less and do more staycations in the UK because it’s just a bit more environmentally friendly. 

We managed to book the hottest days of the week down in Bournemouth. It was quite hot throughout our stay: we spent 3 nights in the Burlington Mansions Holiday Apartments Boscombe and we hit 34 Celsius in the peak of the heatwave during the weekend. Luckily we managed to find find beaches that were a little less busy.

Our holiday apartment was lovely. We were so happy with it, we were likely to be back. It is about 5 minute walk from the Chine Gardens and Bournemouth Beach. Supermarkets are about 10 minute walk. At the beach there’s a couple of good restaurants to eat.  

The apartment features 2 bedrooms, a flat-screen TV with cable channels, WIFI,  and a fully equipped kitchen that provides guests with a dishwasher, a microwave, a washing machine, a fridge and an oven. Comes with private parking in the front yard.

The apartment is nicely decorated, nothing fancy, but spotlessly clean. The owners supplied us with all the small things we needed during our stay. Cleaning products, sponges, bin bags, sugar, salt and peppers, even tea bags. And we found a box of shortbread waiting for us in the kitchen, which was such a sweet touch. We only did self catering this time as it was impossible to book any restaurants during these days. But we’re used to this and honestly, sometimes it’s just so much easier with two little kids!

The master bedroom is really spacious and has an en suite shower with toilet. The second bedroom is set up for children staying: two single beds. We even discovered children book series – and accidentally, one of them was my son’s current favourite: Captain Underpants. They kept hime entertained for the days of our stay. The separate bathroom and toilet is also very spacious. 

Surprisingly, during the heatwave it kept reasonably cool. Probably thanks to the architecture as there is no air conditioning.

Speaking of which: the building was built as a luxury hotel back in its era. It was a functioning hotel until not long ago when the rooms were turned into flats (apartments) to buy. There’s very little I was able to found out about the former Burlington Hotel, oddly.

As a former hotelier I’m totally fascinated by the building. It was built by Sir Henry Drummond Wolff  in 1868 in Italian Renaissance style, with 200 bedrooms and gardens sweeping down to the sea. It was called Boscombe Towers. Wolff was the man behind Boscombe Chine Gardens and sought to develop Boscombe Spa as a resort to rival Bournemouth.

So what do you think of these holiday apartments in Boscombe?