Meet the Cast of InnSanity

Living the life of an hotelier in southern England sets the stage for a rather unique life, and if I add in that I've often been likened to the infamous Basil Fawlty from the Fawlty Towers series, once by a former BBC TV newscaster in the national press.

My blog and book, InnSanity – Keeping Inn with Basil Fawlty: The Confessions of an Hotelier, delves into the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of being an hotelier. I am married to Ally, herein referred to as Sybil, and her sister Bev is Sybling. Ted has much more to offer than Manuel but is equally short. Together we owned and ran a sixteenth century manor house hotel in Dorset. The hotel was lovingly converted into a 21 bedroom hotel and fine dining restaurant, holding two AA rosettes. The hotel is accessible to all.

The chefs are the “men in white coats,” because the only thing missing from their uniforms are buckles at the cuffs of their white tunics to tie their hands behind their backs when they flip. Usually, one of the main cast goes with them. They work in the 'snake pit' or kitchen.

The restaurant team come from all corners of the globe and there are always a number of budding Manuels who speak only French or Spanish to 'smooth' the diners experience. The waiters are often calm and professional looking, highly trained and sometimes motivated; however, the duck on the surface of the pond looking cool is often paddling like fury to keep afloat.

The housekeeping staff are headed by our “Perfectly Maid’”...Barbara, or just Barb. She does so much more than keep the building and the rooms presentable and is as much a tourist attraction as any...it is essential to meet her if you stay. She is three score years and more than ten, but paddles faster than those a third her age...formidable and irreplaceable.

The pressure cooker of an industry cooks a daily broth of fun, frivolity and, sometimes, fury. The point of the book is to accurately depict my life trying to serve the thousands who came to sample the fare, the area, the building, and the cast. The hotel is set in the heart of the Isle of Purbeck, surrounded by all that is great about the green and pleasant land. The Jurassic coastline, historic buildings and Castles, not to mention Thomas Hardy and Enid Blyton...endless opportunities await anyone interested in seeing it.

Enter the customers, some come with a mindset to enjoy. It maybe the food, the building, the area, or maybe Basil and his supporting team. Then there are those who would happily turn in to finger clicking demons who made our life hell. The highs are like a drug and I need a regular fix, the lows have turned me prematurely grey and hunting for a psychiatrist..."There is enough material there for a book," one once remarked in Fawlty Towers.

Anyone who has seen Fawlty Towers will be aware of how things went some three decades ago in the fictional hotel in Torquay Devon. Hotel Babylon gave a more modern take...but the real life happenings will unfold here, as they did over eight years, and hopefully, once published, will sell in bundles. It is enough to earn a hotelier money, make him happy but, in the end, hunt for that padded cell.
I hope you enjoy what will follow now that you know the players.

~Andy Hageman