Within easy reach

Arriving by car: Exit the M23 at Junction 9 and follow signs for Gatwick Airport. At the first roundabout go straight on. At next roundabout take the last exit towards A23. At next roundabout turn right, signposted Redhill A23. At the large interchange with a Shell Garage in the centre, follow signs for Redhill A23. The Gatwick Cambridge hotel is on the left after a few hundred yards.

Arriving by coach from the airport: If you are taking the hotel’s own mini-coach from the airport, make your way to the Ground Floor Courtesy Coach area under the car park (warning – it can be a bit chilly down there at times for those just back from hot holidays, so take a jumper just in case). The mini-coach costs £4 per person each way.

At the Courtesy Coach area phone 01293 783 990, tell the hotel staff your name, at which terminal you are waiting, and how many are in your party. It’s stand number 12 at the South Terminal pick-up area, marked ‘Hotel and Guest House Transfer Service’ and in the North Terminal the sign says ‘Hotel and Guest House Shuttle Buses’.

Both pick-up points are in the middle lane and are clearly signposted within the airport.

“We recommend making the call to the hotel when you’ve reached the pick-up point,” Kemal told us. “Some guests have phoned us while waiting for their luggage in the baggage hall, and then taken much longer than they planned to find it on the carousel."

When we tried it from the pick-up point, having been warned, the service was efficient and the person on the other end of the line was politeness itself. The minibus took 12 minutes to arrive at the pick-up point and just over 10 minutes to reach the hotel.

So we were there pretty quickly, however it can be longer if traffic isn’t so good (and it can vary round there as you can imagine). By the way, the minibus also carries the name of the Acorn Lodge, the sister hotel to the Cambridge, both being owned by the same owners.

Taxis are easily available at both Gatwick terminals and if you’re driving yourself, the Cambridge is found on the A23 between Gatwick airport and Redhill, just off Junction 9a on the M23. The two nearest train stations are Salfords (1.4 miles from the hotel) and Horley (1.8 miles away).

The mini-bus operates 24hr service, so no worries if you’re booked into the 6.30 red-eye. It’s just a matter of booking one with the receptionist.