Buckingham Place

Our second season Christmas & New Year celebrations were without doubt every bit as joyful as last year. Perfect guests filled the ‘house’ again and an exceptional time was enjoyed by all. A million miles from snow and reindeer a ‘majestic’ (though somewhat fake) white Christmas tree – bedecked with the gaudiest of all baubles; plus, four 10ft high wind blown Santa’s (and Ginger the Christmas pony), set the surreal Christmas scene in the middle of Rekawa’s jungle! Mince pies & Sherry, Turkey & Stuffing, Christmas Pudding & Brandy butter lent the whole proceedings an air of good old fashioned (if slightly ridiculous) authenticity!!

Stress, hard work and late nights go hand in hand with the festive season, though in spite of this the pleasure of a hotel team must go unsurpassed – every single one of us enjoyed ourselves silly and considered every moment and accolade worth our small sacrifices!

For a perfectly magical Christmas Day, sincere thanks go to wonderful guests; Lynda & Chris, Kat & Jack, Kate & Jamie, Katherine & James, Georgina & Noni, Alessia & Luca, Kevin & Desiree, Lawrence & Patricia, Anne & Ed, Anand, Shalini, Shloka & Dhruva and our romantic honeymooners Faye & Nigel. For the spectacular New Years Eve I thank Anne & Ed (especially for staying throughout all festivities), Brian, Jody, Keegan & Maryn, Brigitte & Manfred, Captain Craig, Gregor & Alexa, (more happy honeymooners) Katharine & Richard, Daryl & Shelda, Roland & Bettina, Giuseppe (great cigars), Catherine, Laura & Leo, and (yet more honeymooners) Russell & Lucy.

Congratulations go to the newlyweds, Chef and his kitchen crew, thanks and respect go to Tangalle’s best Kandy Dance troupe and the Pappara Band (also our trumpet soloist cook Ashan) and extra special thanks go to Lynda (for the sequins) and my entire team whom were simply sober, magnificent and faultless throughout!!

Huge thanks to everyone for a magical Christmas and great start to the New Year of 2012… Nick.

British food and travel writer/critic, beat poet and, a long term resident of Sri Lanka – Royston Ellis, spent an entire afternoon with us last month. You can read his review of the hotel for Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times at: http://sundaytimes.lk/110814/Plus/plus_09.html

I have exceptionally fond memories of our first season at Buckingham Place – already I’m nostalgic!

For us it was long hours and hard work, we had a lot to learn quickly and there were certainly some stressful moments. Anxiously waiting for a bar licence to be granted and temperamental water pumps mentioning only two! Nevertheless it was huge fun and what made it so were wonderful guests. The success of our first season, moreover the generous and positive feedback received from every guest who stayed with us made it all worthwhile.

Quite naturally we’d be thrilled to see First Season’s guests again and therefore remind all that by combining seasonally adjusted rates with the current Free Nights offer (open ‘til Dec 15th ’11) it’s just possible that it would cost only marginally more or even slightly less to stay than it did the first time! If you’re interested please email reservations@buckinghamplace.lk to request a Fact Sheet.

Since your departure the hotel has become more widely known and continues to receive overwhelming praise and constructive reviews on Trip Advisor and elsewhere. Apart from waking up earlier to serve our ‘Planters Five’ tea and broadening the appeal of menus by including more Sri Lankan cuisine we’ve changed very little – but there are now some much prettier photos on the website and this link http://www.4shared.com/dir/5hriDXax/sharing.html – the best taken by past guests including Nikita Golovanov, the talented Russian photographer who came to stay recently.

It’s been a fantastic rollercoaster of a year but I enjoy my new life as an hotelier immensely. I’ll likely never rest until everything is perfect so can’t imagine taking a holiday any time soon, but for now I’m confident that Buckingham Place is evolving into the hospitable paradise sanctuary I always hoped it would be with all indicators suggesting that we’ll continue to be blessed with charming, appreciative and thoroughly enjoyable guests well into the future.

If you’d like to return to paradise please let us know soon but whether you do or whether you don’t I sincerely thank you for making our first season so memorable – especially for me, and for your great respect for my hard working team.

I wish you good health, happiness and a great summer.

Very best wishes, Nick.

Big thanks go to Russian guests; photographer Nikita Golovanov and interior design partner Olena. Luckily for the hotel, over pre-dinner drinks I caught sight of Nikita’s photographic compositions of the island, specifically of its flora and fauna. Inspired by these superb photos and a fascinating ‘pairs’ series featuring diverse subjects linked by common threads such as shape, texture and light – I convinced Nikita and Olena to work for us for a day!
The challenge was to show the relaxed character and uniqueness of the hotel, a challenge Nikita and Olena ably met. These new images are yet to be edited by perfectionist Nikita but quite honestly I can’t imagine how they can be improved upon.
Nikita and Olena were charming, talented and interesting guests and the photo shoot was huge fun. We wish them well but hope that a chilly Moscow winter will soon inspire their return to Paradise…
Nick.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Turtles are back!
Witnessing the night-time ritual of giant sea turtles laying their eggs is of course highly memorable, probably more so when one spares thought for just how long they have been doing so and the risk they might not continue doing so forever – unless we wake up.

For millions of years, long before man inhabited Sri Lanka, turtles returned to the islands deserted beaches to nest and lay their eggs, threatened only by other species of marine life and preying sea birds.

With the onset of mans plundering of natural resources and ‘his’ insatiable appetite for development the very existence of sea turtles and virtually every other wild creature in the world is under threat. Perhaps unwittingly we rely too heavily on passionate conservationists to remind and alert us via the media to damage we do to our planet. Thankfully there are other ways we can be reminded and perhaps contribute, something towards saving this planet and its wonderful but endangered species.

One such way is a simple grass roots initiative at a little known corner of paradise – Rekawa Beach, Near Tangalle, Sri Lanka. Adjacent to Buckingham Place (the hotel) an enduring Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) provides a worthwhile alternative to villager income previously derived from selling turtle eggs – a local delicacy until now. Like all charities the TCP has struggles for funds, existing primarily on visitor contributions.  That’s all about to change now with the donation of brand new visitor facilities and a permanent site. Visitor revenues will likely increase as this becomes the premier sea turtle conservation project on the island.

The ‘poacher-turns-gamekeeper’ project over the years has protected thousands of turtles and opened the eyes of similar numbers of tourist visitors, the TCP’s mainstay income.

Awestruck by the spectacle of these giant, pre-historic creatures fighting for survival – as they leave behind their egg-bound descendents on Rekawa’s beach; tourists are often awakened and inspired and many return year after year to help, either by tagging turtles, building capacity amongst turtle watchers or encouraging others to support this worthwhile endeavour financially.

In a fast paced world isn’t it refreshing to hear of smart initiatives to preserve our heritage? By emailing info@buckinghamplace.lk you can find out more about turtle watching such as where to stay, where to go and when you are most likely to enjoy this humbling spectacle. Essentially, Buckingham Place is a hotel ‘next door’, more basic accommodation is nearby, and turtles are back on Rekawa beach from February to July.

A TCP turtle watching fee/donation (payable to TCP) will ensure the continuance of this work to help up to 5 of the worlds 7 species of sea turtle so, why not visit and enjoy what may be your moment of awakening?

Special people and wonderful, hidden away places contribute towards an indefinable uniqueness that inspires many of Sri Lanka’s visitors to return – year after year. Our aim is that by what we offer and who we are that you too will be inspired to return.