a
CONTACT

-
SEARCH
HOME AT FIRST
a
———
a
COMMENTARY
& OPINION—
"STAYCATIONS"

select


———
-
— 2008 —
Travel
PACKAGES
& PRICES:

BRITAIN & IRELAND:
select
• SCOTLAND
• PRICES     
• SALE ON   
      SELECT WEEKS!
-  

•
•
• IRELAND   
• PRICES      
• SALE!          
-  

•
• LONDON    
• PRICES      
-
-
• ENGLAND  
• PRICES      
 • SALE!           
••
• WALES     
• PRICES     
  • SALE!           
select
Booking Your Trip to
BRITAIN/IRELAND
select

-
•
select
SCANDINAVIA:
select
• DENMARK 
ct
• NORWAY .
ct
• SWEDEN   
ct
• PRICES     
select
Booking Your Trip
to SCANDINAVIA
select
•
select
NEW ZEALAND:
sa
• NORTH ISLAND
• SOUTH ISLAND.
• PRICES               
select
Booking Your Trip
to NEW ZEALAND
a
———
a
Got Yours Yet?
ORDER A FREE 2008
'VACATIONS'
CATALOG!
select

select
——
select
DEALS AND
SPECIAL OFFERS
select
——
select
GET A FREE
TRIP PROPOSAL!
select
——
select
SUBSCRIBE TO:
'HomEzine'
our
FREE
TRAVEL
NEWSLETTER
sent by e-mail! Each issue includes
the latest Deals, News and Features!
select
———
a
GOT A
???QUESTION???
select
———
select
CURRENT WEB
FEATURES:
select
ADVENTURE
select
GOLF
select
LODGING
select
PEOPLE
select
———
select
CONTACT:
HOME AT FIRST
(800) 523-5842
info@homeatfirst.com
a
HOME AT FIRST

-
-
 
   

     
                                                                                                           photos © Home At First

-
VIEW FROM THE BUILDING LOCATION OF THE KATHRYN HOWARD APARTMENT OF THE EAST
DOCK OF ST. KATHARINE'S MARINA TOWARD LONDON'S TOWER 42 AND SWISS RE SKYSCRAPERS.
-

Stay at the Kathryn Howard Apartment for 3 nights or longer any time from January 10 to February 21, 2009 starting at US$87.00 per person/night (depending on number of persons occupancy. This value price makes visiting London  a very affordable Christmas gift for travel-lovers!

THE
         CITY APARTMENT is a two-bedroom, 1½-bathroom, two-story London maisonette apartment, a comfortable lodging for four to six persons. The apartment is on the fifth and sixth floors of a building bordering exclusive ST. KATHARINE'S MARINA by the Tower of London. The marina’s enclosed riverside location provides a quiet pedestrian refuge with a yachting atmosphere while allowing easy access to all of Central London.

KITCHEN AT KATHRYN HOWARD APARTMENT

HISTORY: During the Middle Ages, KING HENRY VIII and his six wives were royal patrons of the St. Katharine’s hospice that occupied the site of today's St. Katharine's Marina serving as both a hospital and a lodging for travelers and pilgrims. The king and his wives were often in residence at the neighboring TOWER OF LONDON, then a royal palace as well as a fortress. KATHRYN HOWARD was wife #5 (1540–42), who followed (after a 16-day hiatus) the annulment of king’s marriage to ANNE OF CLEVES. Kathryn was 19 years old, and Henry 49. Like her cousin, wife #2 ANNE BOLEYN, Kathryn became all too familiar with the Tower, being executed (for infidelity) and buried not far from Anne Boleyn (who was executed for infidelity six years earlier) after less than two years of wedlock. Seventeen months later, Kathryn was replaced by the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII, KATHERINE PARR, who outlived the king by 3½ years. Katherine Parr, like Henry's wife #3, JANE SEYMOUR, died of complications following childbirth after re-marrying, ironically to Jane's brother THOMAS SEYMOUR. Such were the complications of life and death at the Tudor court of Henry VIII, perhaps especially at the fortress/palace of the Tower of London.
-

THE APARTMENT: Entry to the apartment is on the upper floor, which has two double bedrooms (both with twin beds) and a full bathroom (with tub-shower). Downstairs is a powder room (toilet & sink), a comfortable living room (with double fold-out couch bed, and cable color TV), a well-equipped kitchen/dining area (microwave, coffee maker, and clothes washer-dryer). A hair dryer is provided, as is a table-top pay phone (accepts incoming calls; takes coins for outgoing calls).
          A furnished, covered balcony opens off the kitchen and overlooks a peaceful, tree-lined square, available for the private use of building residents. Although the apartment does not offer a view of the marina, the quiet and normally weather-protected balcony is a useful, tranquil, comfortable place above the square in its canopy of trees.
          The two-story apartment is spacious, well equipped, comfortable, and well-kept. Its optimal occupancy is four persons, but it can accept a family of five or six using the fold-out sofa bed in the living room.

COMFORTABLE LIVING ROOM
AT THE KATHRYN HOWARD
MAISONETTE APARTMENT

MORNING SUN BRIGHTENS THE TWIN
BEDROOMS OF THE KATHRYN HOWARD MAISONETTE APARTMENT.

          While the entrance and hallways of the apartment building are undecorated and lack a concierge or doorman, the complex is safe (with a coded entry system), well-managed, and clean. The building has stainless steel lifts (elevators) that are spotless and well-maintained.
         Guests are met upon arrival by the friendly apartment manager who lives elsewhere in the complex. He opens the apartment, explains its workings and is available throughout your stay to answer any questions you might have.

-
FLOOR PLAN OF HOME AT FIRST'S KATHRYN HOWARD MAISONETTE APARTMENT 

THE SETTING: ST. KATHARINE'S MARINA is located on the north bank of the RIVER THAMES about a five-minute walk from the famous TOWER OF LONDON and the TOWER BRIDGE. The apartment is a seven-to-ten-minute, traffic-free walk from the TOWER HILL UNDERGROUND STATION (subway trains) and TOWER GATEWAY (for the Dockland Light Railway), and a three-minute walk to a bus stop for London’s well known red double-decker buses.
         The Marina is a traffic-restricted pedestrian zone, which does not permit cars

TOWER BRIDGE FROM THE RIVER
ENTRANCE TO ST. KATHARINE'S MARINA
-