Megan Singleton: BloggerAtLarge.com writer on her staycation in Cambridge’s new hotel

Megan Singleton recently took a staycation an hour and a half out of Auckland to check out the new Clements Hotel.

The hotel is housed in the oldest commercial building in Cambridge and used to be the infamous old Masonic Hotel.

Megan unpacked the new changes - check out the full review here.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks atb.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Travel Time in Megan Singleton joins us, now, good morning,
good morning. You're doing a little bit of a staycation
in Cambridge this weekend.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
And how delightful it was.

Speaker 4 (00:24):
So we're only talking ninety minutes from Auckland now with
the new one hundred and ten section of the motorway,
and this is such a great spot for I'm thinking
of the Hawks Bay kind of people, the Waikato people,
Auckland people are staycation in Cambridge because when was the
last time you visited? Was absolutely fun. So it's a

(00:44):
bit of a birthday weekend for us. So we popped
down yesterday afternoon to stay at the brand new Clements Hotel. Now,
the Clements Hotels got amazing history. It was built in
eighteen sixty six in Cambridge and it has had many
incarnations over the time, but most recently it was the

(01:05):
quite grubby Masonic Hotel.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
I asked this stuff today.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
If any of them worked when it was the Masonic,
and they looked at me like you're kidding.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
They like no, But now it is so beautifully resorted.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Was closed for like four or five years for a
multimillion dollar fit out. It's now a twenty nine room
boutique hotel right there in the Wye Cuddo And we
got the yesterday afternoon.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
It was the most beautiful day. Sat outside on the lawn.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Honestly, all that was missing was the croquet but there
were lawn games. There was petonk and cornhole and genger
and you know, we were sitting around edges with a
little glass of champagne.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
It was I could be anywhere in the world. It
was so beautiful, Like, yeah, loved it.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Oh my gosh, I'm just having a look at it now.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yeah, yeah, no, it's really good.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
And then what they've done also is they've built in
the basement a speakeasy. And I'm talking like I've been
to Chicago speakeasys and all sorts of things.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
It's fantastic.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
It's got like that metal printed seat you know how
to have those in napier, the Art Deco style in
the ceiling and deep velvet curtains and it's moody and
low lit, and.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
That was just a great way to end the evening. No,
it's really gorgeous.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
There's got three rooms in former stables, and those three
rooms can all be interconnected, so you could do like
a single party booking, a family booking, a bridle booking.
Oh it's going to be the spot to be in
the heart of Cambridge. This morning we wandered around. There's
a little Sunday market and it's just such a delight.
So I can't recommend it more highly.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Look, as much as I love the new highway and
being able to sort of bypass some of these places,
I do also miss stopping off. I've always loved Cambridge
and stopping off there, So am I right, Meghan? Looking
at the photos, it looks absolutely stunning and very flash
and a wonderful way for Habby to spend the birthday.
Happy birthday to him. The front looks like it's been retained,
but maybe is there a little bit of a modern

(03:00):
edition on the top level and out the back? Is
that correct?

Speaker 4 (03:03):
That's exactly what they've done, and they've retained as much
of their original features. You've still got the stained glass
windows and a lot of the wooden, beautiful rich wood trim,
but yes, they've got a whole new, modern glass and
metal kind of conservatory out the back which is a
restaurant that spills out onto that lawn, and that whole
upstairs second floor level which is now luxury sweets with

(03:25):
big bathtubs and walk in showers, and yeah, so that's
very white and light in the hallways, quite girly. But
I I just thought it was lovely, like chandeliers and
really really tastefully done. And actually I looked at prices
from about two hundred and ninety dollars a night, so
you don't have to camp.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Down on the beach at all. You could actually go
to the Clements Hotel.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
From the photos I've been taking a look at, I
know what I would pick, and it would be the
Clements Hotel. Megan, it's beautiful. Thank you so much for
taking us there. Appreciate that. Meghan will no doubt have
a blog up at her at blogger at large dot
com shortly. If you're interested for

Speaker 1 (04:06):
More from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen live
to News Talks at B from nine am Sunday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.