Our library in Melksham
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-04-23 10:11:36 - Graham Ellis
There's some 700 technical books in the Well House Consultants library in Melksham, and several hundred other books too on the shelves at Well House Manor, making for a comfortable and relaxing room where the geekier of our guests can read about MySQL, Lua, or Ruby, and the less geeky folks can read their way from "Lark Rise to Candleford" via "The Catherdal and The Bazaar", or browse through coffee tables books of trams or The Pythons.With the iPad, the Kindle and the Internet, there's less use made of the printed word these days - but that doesn't mean there's no use made of it at all. Many delegates on our courses like to have reference books to hand while they're here, especially if they're extending practical sessions into the evening. And many more will want to purchase books that they're happy with once they're back at their own place of work. But these books are more and more specialist, and it becomes harder to decide just which ones to order from the online bookstore. Well - on a Well House course, you can try before you buy!
Even if you're not on one of our courses, you're welcome to use our library if you're staying at Well House Manor. And if you live in Melksham (in which case, it would be silly to stay!) let me know if you would like to pop in to read about Linux, Samba, Qt or any one of the other subjects we have covered. I'm not going to guarantee that we'll always have the latest edition in this fast-moving technical world, but there's certainly a lot of useful data here and you can save yourself buying a book that - as it turn out - you don't find particularly in tune with you.
Ah - Public Internet corner! As well as the printed word, you can be online at Well House Manor. Our public-facing PC for guests also gets somewhat less use than it did in the past, as many delegates use their own laptops of netbooks, but it's there for your use - whether you're on a course or just staying as a guest. Our 50 Mbit connection is even better than many of our guests have at work, and browsing can be blisteringly fast. And all included in the price of your course or hotel room, of course.There are wired internet access points in the library, the lounge, the training rooms and all bedrooms, and we have a supply of network cables available too. We also have a range of power adaptors so that guests from outside the UK are able to plug in. And the wireless network covers the whole building; you'll be given the security code when you check in, then you'll be free to use the internet as much as you like.
All good internet cafés offer good coffee. And we're no exception. Our bean-to-cup machine will produce you black, white, cappuchino, and various teas too within a minute or two, and that's available to customers 24 hours a day. And while we're on the subject of fresh, guests can have really fresh orange juice with their breakfast, using the customer operated juicer. But that's a picture and a story for another day.