tea time at the Balmoral

Take a look at the verse beneath the clock face on the tin of tea cookies:

Three o' three,

Time for tea

Rocco Forte The Balmoral was built in 1902, right by the train station in Edinburgh. The train company intended to create a railway hotel right by the station for its passengers and put the project out for bid. The winning bidder was none other than the father of Sir Rocco Forte, and when the hotel was later put up for sale, Sir Rocco was the winning bidder.

The hotel's clock tower has always been set three minutes late, originally by order of the train company, to help ensure that passengers never miss their train. The one exception is on New Years Eve when the clock is "on time" so that the Edinburgh can celebrate the new year at the stroke of midnight.

Late by design, 3:03 p.m. is really tea time at The Balmoral, one of three Virtuoso hotels in Edinburgh, Scotland.

copyright  (c)  2015 by David Ourisman LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.