Hearing a knock at the door, I blink my eyes open and look around the hotel room, unsure if I’m awake or still dreaming. The space before me has all the characteristics of a normal hotel room – a bed, a couple of armchairs in the corner and a pair of empty Champagne flutes on the shelf. Except there is something very different about this hotel room; everything is made of ice.
I had just survived a night in Sweden’s Icehotel, in temperatures of minus seven degrees Celsius, and the knocking sound was a member of staff coming to wake me with a warming cup of lingonberry juice.
The Icehotel, situated 200km north of the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland, is the original ice hotel and this season celebrates its 30th anniversary. The hotel was the brainchild of Yngve Bergqvist who, having seen the work of ice sculptors in Japan, opened an ice art gallery housed in a 2,500 square metre igloo in his hometown of Jukkasjärvi. When some visiting tourists were unable to find a room to stay in the village, it was suggested they could sleep in the ice gallery and Icehotel was born.
Denne historien er fra February 2020-utgaven av Surrey Life.
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Denne historien er fra February 2020-utgaven av Surrey Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The House That Rocks
Transforming an impressive, seven-bedroom Victorian property in Dorking wasn’t without its challenges, but the result is a stunning family home that has had the interiors world raving
REMEDY FOR SUCCESS
Surrey’s Tracy Borman discusses the return of her heroine healer in the final book of her best-selling fictional trilogy
Love Celia
Actress Celia Imrie has travelled the world for work and leisure but wherever she goes there is a part of her which is forever Surrey
EXHIBITION OF THE MONTH
Art & Action: Making Change in Victorian Britain at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village in Compton focuses on the Victorian roots of art activism
Electric dreams
The Range Rover plug-in hybrid brings silent electric motoring to this iconic luxury car
THE OPEN ROAD
Chris Pickering rounds up some of the best drives in Surrey
TOWN AND COUNTRY: Oxted & Limpsfield
With the North Downs looming nearby and glorious countryside surrounding it, Oxted is a town with real “escape from London” appeal and character, while nearby Limpsfield has a superb village vibe with its own community-run pub
Artist to the stars
Known as ‘The Face of Modern British Impressionism’, Mickleham-based Sherree Valentine Daines is celebrating four decades at the forefront of her field
A RIGHT ROYAL WELCOME
The Signet Collection’s inaugural hotel project is a reimagining of a former royal guest house, situated directly opposite Hampton Court Palace
TOWN AND COUNTRY: Godalming & Hascombe
On the banks of the River Wey, Godalming is a watercolour pretty town surrounded by pristine countryside and in-demand rural villages, such as Hascombe
