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There are some hotels where you can immediately feel part of a city’s fabric. The Galle Face Hotel, circa 1864, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is one. The Baron Hotel in Aleppo, Syria, where TE Lawrence (of Arabia) stayed is another.

These are places where the story-fuelled walls almost whisper. Where the links to history are more important than the thread count on the bed sheets, or the depth of the spa, or whether there is a phone by the loo. Where guests might not give a jot whether the TV is flat screen, LCD or the LOL version.

These places are neither grandiose nor ostentatious. They don’t have to be. For they serve up something far more memorable. A link to times that need to be remembered. And in their rooms, foyers, cafes and bars you don’t necessarily need company. Contemplating who has gone before you can keep you entertained for the better part of a bottle of red.

If there is ever a conference of such dazzlingly aged whisperers Hobart’s Hadleys Hotel will be invited along. First man to the South Pole, Roald Amundsen, and Errol Flynn are part of Hadley’s rollicking past. So is the Duke of Penrieve who passed through in 1868. I stay in a suite named for him.

The double-door entrance to it is suitably regal but, whether they’re Victorian-era or not, they remind me of the age of Philleas Fogg and Passepartout more so than royalty. I stand in front of them, wish I had arrived by balloon, then open them with a flourish.

Inside the three-room suite is a lounge with a dining table and writing desk. Furnishings of British green leather and dark polished timbers mix with the high ceilings and ornate cornices. More double doors, mostly glass, gloriously separate the lounge from the bedroom (the bed is excusably contemporary for it is far larger than those circa the Queen Victoria era). All of it is wonderful. I want for nothing except a portmanteau to stow in the bedroom.

The one fault of captivating hotel rooms is that you never want to leave. I order a Tasmanian tasting plate (smoked salmon, oysters kilpatrick, scallops, Bass Strait trevally and pickled octopus, $16.50), and a heritage cheese selection ($16.50 also) from the hotel restaurant. Room service delivers it all and I wallow equally in the food and the setting.

Next morning, managing somehow to leave the room for breakfast, I meet an older couple. They might be closer to 80 than 70 years old. “We’re from wild, wild Sydney,” says the lady with delightful cheek afters she beats me to the last copy of the morning paper. They’re spending a week in Hobart. Every night will be spent at Hadleys.

Kat Little is the hotel’s general manager. She reckons the hotel is one of Tasmania’s treasures. She is also presiding over its $30million extension.

The extension will add 128 suites (to the existing 71), a-la-carte restaurant and cafe. New conference facilities, including a new grand ballroom but will remain faithful to the hotel’s heritage theme. In addition, the old stables will become a wedding centre but the sandstone walls and timber beams will remain in place.

The new suites will feature turn-key facilities to connect adjacent rooms. One room will be configured much like a traditional hotel room while the other will have self-contained facilities including a kitchenette. The two rooms, once con-joined will become a small apartment and be perfect for families or couples travelling together.

Individual suites will have plasma TVs in the lounge and the bathrooms as well as touch-screen lighting, wireless broadband and environmentally friendly aircon.

The new suites in Hadleys will cost from $229 per couple per night for a room with a city and harbour view – the views extend over the top of Tassie’s parliament house to the city’s marinas. The 9th floor two-storey penthouse with exterior deck, hot tub and 75m² of floor space will cost from $900 per night.

Katrina Little took on the Hadleys’ role specifically to preside over expansion and vitally, she’s not going to let the upgrade detract from Hadley’s no less valuable historical links. The extension will be completed around December (2010) but Little is currently in the process of displaying a whole lot of other treasures that have been found in storage rooms under the hotel. Black and white prints, silverware and some large leather bound reservation journals and accounting legers will soon be on display.

There is no word yet on when facilities for those who arrive by balloon will open.

www.grandmercurehadleyshotel.com.au

One more Tassie thing

A Rwandan Australia Friendship Association based in the Huon Valley has been assisting a small community of Rwandan genocide survivors since it was formed in the 1990s.

The club, run by volunteers who live in and around Hobart, sells five different types of coffee ($4.50 for 100 grams and $7.90 for 200grams plus postage costs) and three styles of tea ($5 for 100g) as a way of raising dollars for projects in Tassie and Rwanda.

Not surprisingly the coffee club has received lots of media coverage over the years. According to spokesperson John Middleton sales always increase after a mention in a paper. It’s reason enough to write about it now.

www.rwandancoffeeclub.org and jmiddleton45@bigpond.com

Image credits: courtesy Hadleys Hotel

The information was correct when published in 2010. Prices and information may have changed.