Thought Hilton hotels were all cookie-cutter properties favouring the bland over the beautiful?

Think again.

Le Hameau des Pesquiers Ecolodge & Spa on the French Riviera is one of the more memorable reminders that the U.S hospitality behemoth also offers accommodation that’s delightfully unique.

This gem, which opened in July 2022, is part of Hilton’s ‘Curio Collection’, a set of ‘individually remarkable hotels’.

Le Hameau des Pesquiers lives up to the billing, I discover, being alluringly artisanal and transfixingly fetching, with sincerely charming service thrown in for good measure.

It’s a magical place to stay in a spellbinding location, with beaches that rival the Maldives just moments away.

The property lies in the Port-Cros National Park, on a stunning double tombolo that connects the port area of Hyeres (a favourite holiday spot for Queen Victoria) with the picturesque Giens peninsula – with the paradise ‘Golden Islands’ of Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Le Levant short ferry rides away.

In front of the hotel is the sparkling Mediterranean, behind the Pesquiers salt marshes – inhabited by flocks of flamingoes – and all around are eye-catching trees.

Le Hameau des Pesquiers is a haven, and like all the best havens, it’s easy to miss.

There’s no roadside signage, so if you’re driving approach slowly and keep your eyes peeled for a dusty track blocked by a thick wooden security gate on the left, a few minutes south of the port area.

We arrive in a Renault SUV hire car we pick up via booking.com on the outskirts of nearby Toulon, and once I’ve hopped out to state our business to reception via an intercom, the gate slides open and I park up in the (dusty) car park – then enjoy palpably feeling my blood pressure drop.

I’m staying at the 48-room hotel with my six-year-old daughter and French partner, who grew up in Hyeres.

She is stunned at the transformation of the site – for it was occupied by eerie abandoned buildings for decades.

Between 1806 and 1990 they were owned by a salt production company that mined the nearby marshes, then fell into ruin when the operation ceased.

In 2014, the local Lelievre family – whose hospitality portfolio includes the Grand Hotel Des Sablettes and La Table du Port restaurant, both in Toulon – set about transforming the hamlet into a ‘five-star eco lodge’.

They didn’t construct any new buildings, but carefully restored the old ones, blending them into the national park and recycling surplus stones and chopped-down trees into walls and fencing in the grounds.

The 1885 ‘customs building’ that once housed officers in charge of monitoring salt exports is now the hotel reception and spa, which features an inviting indoor pool.

The ‘clock building’, which dates to 1803, used to be offices for the salt firm, but today contains rooms, a bar and the principal restaurant – ‘Saliniers’ (Saltworks).

There’s also a chapel, dating to 1875, where a service is held every Sunday morning.

Most of the buildings were used as accommodation for saltworker families. Now they’re honey-hued hotel rooms par excellence.

Ours is enormous – a family room with a giant double bed, sofabed, two terraces (front and back), outdoor hot tub and elegant wooden décor. I particularly love the over-sized vintage-style rain shower – and there’s a hat-tip too for the brush on the front porch for dusting off sand.

On-site activities? For starters, I enjoy the therapeutic experience of simply ambling around the property.

In the reception area there’s a magnificent giant wooden seahorse guarding the entrance. From there, walkways formed of small planks of wood laid over sand connect the various buildings, lorded over by towering pine trees.

There’s also a beautiful Middle-earth-esque evergreen oak decorated with little lanterns. I half expect Gandalf to stride out from behind it.

Opposite its gnarled branches is the Saliniers restaurant and its lavender-lined terrace, where we enjoy lunches, dinners and breakfasts.

The service is prompt and chirpy and the food is impressive – the sea-bass ravioli with octopus ink and slow-cooked tomatoes on the lunch and dinner menu is delicious, as is the calamari carpaccio starter.

And breakfast is an utter joy, with bowls of pastries and plates of fruit placed at every table and guests treated to a buffet that includes mouthwatering homemade jams, honey from the hotel’s beehives, and orange juice from a giant self-service Willy-Wonka-style orange-crushing machine.

The hotel has its own verdant garden that’s harvested for ingredients for several of the properties in the Lelievre portfolio.

One evening, aperitifs are served around an adjacent firepit, a thoughtful chance for guests to chat with each other and members of staff.

We sip rose as a chef procures vegetables from the garden to slice up and serve with hummus.

Taste buds are also tickled at a little picnic spot with parasols next to the beach, where superb lunches are served up from a cute little blue kitchen trailer.

And on the glorious beach itself, staff deliver drinks and organise sunloungers and parasols. No need to throw any towels down at dawn in this neck of the woods.

When we’re not at the hotel, enveloped by tranquillity, we’re lolling on the frankly astonishing beaches of Porquerolles and Port-Cros, where shoals of fish swim around swimmers’ legs in gin-clear waters, and lazing on the stunning family friendly mainland beach of L’Estagnol, a 30-minute drive away. There the water is bathtub-warm and shallow enough for small children to walk in for a good 70 metres from the shoreline. 

Le Hameau des Pesquiers isn’t quite perfect – there are slip-ups by the staff, such as forgetting to make up the extra bed for our daughter and giving us decanters of water in the restaurant, but no glasses to drink it from (every time).

But the staff are so lovely these minor oversights are easily forgivable – and besides, we’re just too relaxed in this beach-comber-chic oasis to care.

A 173-year-old church has been converted into a modern home with luxurious trappings and put on the market for a staggering £2.2 million.

The eight-bed property, found near Reading, Berkshire, has been kitted out with contemporary decor on the inside.

But many of the original features on the exterior remain intact – offering an impressive contrast to the trendy fittings inside.

Untouched fixtures of The Holy Trinity Church include stone walls and colourful stained-glass windows that depict religious imagery that have remained untouched.

When daylight hits the historic artwork, it changes colour before shining onto and reflecting off the large glass dining table.

The living room area, which typically would have been used to host a church choir, holds several original religious items including crucifixes, scriptures, as well as an altar.

It has been transformed with a modern fireplace and velvet sofas, with the flooring also updated.

In one of the bedrooms, there is a free-standing bathtub, adding to the luxury vibe of the property.

Many of the bedrooms also have slanted roofs thanks to the church’s original design.

The stunning property from 1850 has seven bathrooms in total. And the entire house has been updated to include modern trappings such as security cameras and energy-saving smart home kit.

‘Victorian Church to Contemporary Home. In 2017 in the rural village of Grazeley, Berkshire, the conversion of a Victorian Grade 2 Listed Church was completed,’ the listing reads.

‘It has been transformed into a beautiful, sophisticated and unique, 5-bedroom home of c.3500 sq. ft. in 2020.

‘The Coach House, an ancillary building was converted, to provide a further 1400 sq. ft of flexible accommodation ideal for staff, additional family members or office/gym/recording studio.

‘The original Victorian church was built in 1850 and the conversion sympathetically retains original features whilst providing flexible living accommodation.

‘The property has a completely new roof and flooring system with a self-supporting steel frame for the new 5-bedroom home.

‘Essentially, this is a new house built within a church.

‘High-tech with all the latest facilities, including underfloor heating, ventilation system, CCTV with clever and energy-saving smart-home technology.

‘The original church door leads into an impressive entrance hall which in turn leads to the Dining Room and Lounge.

‘This huge open space has the pulpit and the stunning stained-glass windows have been retained, extraordinary ceiling heights and feature lighting create Wow-factor in abundance.

‘The ‘new house’ sits perfectly inside the church with two additional floors making use of the high ceilings.’

The home is being marketed by the Unique Property Company, London.

You’ll never look at a hotel mini fridge the same.  

A super buff airline pilot has revealed how you can stay fit in your hotel room, by using various pieces of furniture as makeshift gym equipment – including the cooling unit. 

Joey Miuccio, 28, from Florida, regularly posts about keeping fit on the go, but for those who don’t have gym access or time to get outdoors, he demonstrates some simple yet effective moves using everything from a chair to a mini fridge and even a mattress.

In a TikTok video titled ‘best hotel room full body workout,’ Joey starts off by bench pressing a bench. He says if the bench in your room is ‘too light and you can toss it around… then grab a bigger bench.’

After performing literal bench presses, the pilot turns his attention to ‘chair squats.’ 

He performs these by putting the desk chair over his head while enthusiastically squatting up and down. 

To work another part of his body, he goes on to perform shoulder presses with the chair by raising it up and down while kneeling down on the floor. 

The rolling chair then has another function as an ab rolling tool. 

To do a run of ab rolls, Joey leans on the chair with his hands and rolls it back and forth while kneeling. 

Moving to another part of his hotel room, Joey unplugs the mini fridge. 

Instead of using it to keep food and drinks cool, he says you can use it as a functional weight to ‘do curls and get jacked.’ 

In the clip he can be seen straining as he lifts the bulky unit up and down. 

To finish off his hotel room workout in style, Joey instructs viewers to ‘just do a handstand… cos you’re feelin’ good, you’re feelin’ jacked. And that’s how we do it.’

Many viewers thanked Joey for his simple workout tips. 

One commenter wrote: ‘That’s hilarious but practical at the same time.’

And another said: ‘Saving this because I’m going on tour next month and will be away from my home gym.’

One viewer asked Joey to ‘bench the mattress next,’ and he bowed to the request.

In a follow up video, the fitness enthusiast filmed himself lifting his hotel room mattress up and down by extending his arms and legs. 

He explains in the caption that lifting the mattress serves as a ‘bench press and leg press all in one,’ and it provides ‘great full body movement.’ 

In another video, Joey shows how you can do a simple ten minute workout minus furniture in your hotel room. 

Some of the moves he performs atop a bathroom towel include pushups, squats, in and outs and crunches.

After a minute’s rest, he then goes into close grip pushups, jump lunges and then long sit ups ‘all the way to touch your toes.’

Thanks to his sweat-inducing workout antics, Joey has built a loyal following online, with more than 175,000 followers on TikTok and 183,000 on Instagram. 

Feeling down? Now you can learn how to cheer yourself up from experts in feeling jolly: The world’s happiest country to launch a unique online masterclass in happiness

By Ailbhe Macmahon For Mailonline

Updated: 08:26 EDT, 15 June 2023

Grab your whisky, not Wellington boots, for Pure: A unique music festival in London

By Oliver Pickup
Updated: 11:05 EDT, 20 September 2011

If you were worried that you would have to wait until summer 2012 – through the long, cold winter and spring – for your next festival hit, fear no more.

For this weekend there is a unique event in East London that is sure to warm your cockles – and you can leave your Wellies at home, too.

Because the first Pure Festival, held at The Garage in Highbury Corner on Saturday and Sunday, will see scores of top bands and musicians fuse with whisky tasting – a heady combination, I’m sure you will agree.

Headline acts include the Danish pop-noir duo The Raveonettes, James Yorkston, Steve Mason, Smoke Fairies, Kassidy and Electric Soft Parade.

And they are joined by Martin Rossiter, Hatcham Social, Sissy and the Blisters and more.

Meanwhile, included in the £28.50 ticket price is the chance to sample and learn about single malt whisky, blended whisky and Bourbon. 

Whiskies on offer include esteemed Scottish single malts such as Ardbeg, Talisker and AnCnoc, Irish whiskey from independent distillery Cooley and premium blends such as Whyte and Mackay and Dewar’s. 

Meanwhile respected whisky writer Dominic Roskrow will present The World Whisky Masters Medal Winners, and there will be plenty of award-winning whisky for all to sample.

Roskrow is an authority on whisky, author of the World’s Best Whiskies and recipient of the scotch whisky industries highest honour; Keeper Of The Quaich. 

He will be bringing a number of medal winners from the recent World Whisky Masters, a rare opportunity to sample some of the finest blends from around the globe.

Whisky sampling will take place with distillers leading Pure festival goers through their individual whiskies between 4pm and 7pm. 

Revellers will be able to move at their leisure from one distiller’s stand to another, sampling whichever whiskies they wish to taste as part of their ticket price and enjoying the music.

A spokesman for the festival said: ‘Pure aims to educate people on whisky in a fun and informative way and the festival is a unique opportunity to sample a number of fantastic whiskies in a relaxed, informal setting. 

‘Brown spirits are enjoying a huge renaissance in the UK from both male and females and there is a real demand to know more about the origins and the marked differences in different brands.‘

Go to www.purefestival.com for more information and to buy tickets – doors open at 4pm, while whisky tasting is from 4-7pm