This year Gemma and I worked alongside a whole host of social media savvy people to help promote this years Wireless Festival in Birmingham. The perfect festival for festi-virgins like ourselves, this 3 day weekend of music comes with the added luxury of overnight reprises to spare our tent repelling bodies from nights spent on the floor.   For those overnight reprises we needed a base within Birmingham city centre itself to recover from the over consumption of pints of cider and hours spent on our feet trying to wind our way through crowds of people to get the best possible view.   Armed with a suitcase full of festival ready clothes, tricks and treats to achieve long lasting festival makeup and a belly full of excitement for the weekend, we arrived in Birmingham.

Our first “home for the evening” was the Staying Cool suites at the Rotunda.

Situated just a stones throw from the infamous Birmingham Bull, The Rotunda is a cylindrical  Grade 2 listed building which was originally built in 1965 and stands at 81 metres tall within the heart of Birmingham.  With the majority of the 20 floors nowproviding luxury apartments, the 19th floor is home to Staying Cool which houses 14 serviced apartments, one of which we were lucky enough to nab for the evening.  Staying Cool are self serviced apartments which can provide the perfect base whether you’re in the city for business or pleasure no matter what duration.  It’s basically your home away from home.  Because of the small number of apartments on each floor you know you’re not going to be interrupted at 3am by people walking up and down a maze of corridors to find their room.

The apartment which we stayed in was one of Staying Cool’s “Mini” apartments which are small but perfectly formed none the less.  Boasting floor to ceiling windows, bespoke furniture and amazing views of the city, this apartment proved that good things do come in (not so) small packages.

After being greeted by extremely friendly reception staff we essentially dashed, “ooh” and “aah” at the amazing views from the floor to ceiling windows and then dashed straight back out again.  We felt we didn’t really get to make the most of the amenities our first day as we hot footed our way to Wireless, our suitcases abandoned in an apartment enough to make Carrie Bradshaw jealous and to give me interior design ideas.

The “mini” is an open plan studio apartment, filled with clean lines and clever divides to create the illusion of separate living spaces within one (see floor plan below)

The all white bedroom opens up into a living/dining area with accents of pink and orange modern furniture and artwork – we got the impeccably stylish Twiggy in our favour.  The living area features floor to ceiling windows which give breathtaking views overlooking the outside of the Bullring and of course, the infamous Bull.

The morning after the night before we well and truly made ourselves at home in the apartment as we enjoyed a continental style breakfast overlooking a bright and sunny Birmingham.  Armed with ready baked croissants and bread we made use of the kitchen amenities.  A variety of teas, hot chocolates and cereal were complimentary provided, olive oil and balsamic vinegar (ideal for carb dipping heaven) and an orange juice maker and a selection of oranges ready for squeezing to quench these festival hungover heads.

One of my biggest bug bears with accomodation is the female friendliness of a hotel room/apartment.  Small things like the positioning of plug sockets in relation to mirrors, the lighting and positioning of mirrors may seem like a small thing but to me they make all the difference:  I don’t want to be applying make up in a lightless room or having to straighten my hair whilst balancing a mirror on a pile of clothes.  I’m pleased to report that the female friendliness of Staying Cool was well up there with plug sockets located next to a full length mirror in the bedroom section and a further mirror in the living area benefiting from full light from the floor to ceiling windows.

After a hot shower and after packing our belongings we set out onto the streets of Birmingham onto our second location for the weekend in preparation for day two of Wireless Festival Birmingham.

*our accommodation at Staying Cool was provided but this review is as always, honest and unmerciful