I always feel a little anxious as I arrive at a hotel (especially in the early hours of the morning!) no matter how confident I was when I booked it, and the dingy alleyway or hutong where this hotel is situated wasn’t helping. But as soon as the great big hotel door swung open I was in Chinese heaven... big red lanterns, check, old fashioned courtyard, check, traditionally dressed receptionist, check, oriental water feature, check, I couldn’t wait to get to my room.

It didn’t disappoint - my room itself was tiny but stunning, like sleeping in a flower. The shower room itself, including the toilet, takes up about a quarter of the room and the floor was a kind of reflexology floor with real pebbles set into it, so you get a little foot massage with your shower.  Unfortunately it makes it harder to dry out and did start to smell a little bit damp after a few days, but it has the most gorgeous lotus flower pattern and it made me feel prettier just looking at it.

The wardrobe covered with butterflies, the sink with flowers, the telephone, every little space was covered with beautiful detail. The bed was incredibly comfortable, and most exciting of all someone had left me an English copy of Time Out for Beijing. I read it cover to cover five times just glad to read some English!

Once I saw the alleyway or hutong in daylight I realised it was very friendly and safe, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend staying here for the location alone. The hotel is a Chinese scholar’s former home and photos and information from the era are displayed around the hotel, so it still feels a little like staying with relatives. Whether it was something to do with chi or just me being messy, these relatives did like to tidy my stuff away and reorganise the towels!

The hotel is wonderfully quiet, and for the first time I didn’t need to switch on the air conditioner so sometimes I found it hard to sleep because it was so quiet! I would be careful to check the windows onto the courtyard are closed as mine were open when I arrived. During the day it was wonderful to hear the sound of children running around the hotel - this is a very family friendly place - and it’s a wonderful sound when you’ve been in China for a while!

Breakfast is served in a small room at the front of the hotel and it is marvellous - good coffee, fantastic dim sum, plus everything you’d expect from a European hotel, pastries, cheese, ham, fruit, juice, even packaged treats for the kids.

In the evening the bar is a wonderful place to hang out (although they are not so strict on smoking in China, so occasionally you’ll find a group of people taking advantage of this), with a big screen TV to catch up on what’s going on in the rest of the world. Best of all the kitchen keeps serving - so I ended up eating at least two meals here - basic but big portions of beef in black bean sauce with a mountain of rice, and an egg for about £3.

The minibar is very reasonable, with a can of Nescafe for when you need that coffee fix, and laundry was the cheapest so far of all the hotels (which was good because everything I owned was filthy).

There’s also a shop where you can buy great value gifts - although they did tell me I could get them even cheaper if I went out and bartered!

The only downside is the size of the rooms - mine was fine as I was by myself, but I think it was supposed to be a double and I am not sure I could have shared it with someone else (or squeezed anyone else into the bed!)

But best of all, are the staff, giving great advice on where to go, and how to get there (they shook their heads when I asked about the bus - apparently tricky if you don’t speak Mandarin), writing down names of shops in Chinese for me, and above all, spending time chatting and making me feel so welcome and as much at home as I could be in Beijing.