'I stayed in Blackpool's first five-star luxury hotel - right next to the Pleasure Beach'

And if it was, you would perhaps expect it to be well away from the action - either up the coast in the quiet, residential area, or tucked away down the coast in more sedate Lytham St Anne’s.

However, the Boulevard Hotel - right there on the seafront , next to Blackpool’s rides-galore Pleasure Beach - gives the lie to the idea that this long-established resort cannot mix style, taste and discernment with proximity to the places of attraction.

If the Boulevard is good enough for Cate Blanchett, Simon Cowell, and a couple of prime ministers, then it’s good enough for those of us also seeking rest and relaxation in a fine setting.

Scenic, up-close views of the Blackpool shoreline - complete with waves washing up to the Promenade, and with often-spectacular sunsets on the western skyline - are an added attraction.

On the other side of the hotel, there’s the novel experience of looking out on the high-and-mighty, twist-and-turn structures of the famous Pleasure Beach rides, including the infamous ‘Big One’ rollercoaster.

It’s an unexpected, introductory experience to park your car virtually underneath the huge metal tube framework of the rides.

Then, in you go to the calm and serene surrounds of the welcoming hotel foyer. The decor incorporates arts-led links with the seafront vistas, and all the fun-of-the-fair scenes out back.

Hanging on the walls, you find the colourful, cartoon-like works of Tom Purvis, an established artist of the 1920s and 1930s.

They graphically depict visitors enjoying the attractions of the Pleasure Beach, illustrating them seeking exhilaration and excitement in time-honoured fashion.

You’ll recognise the style straight away: Purvis was the poster designer who created the distinctive Art Deco railway posters for LNER.

They had them on display at stations on the East Coast line, with particular emphasis on the coastal resorts of Yorkshire and beyond. When Blackpool came knocking, the template was there already.

Of the Boulevard’s 120 rooms, the first two floors are more for family use, with junior suites that have bunk beds, each with a television set. Quite a novelty for kids.

Cleverly, the top two floors are reserved for adults only, with a separate access key. The Noise Abatement Society would be very happy.

In any case, next door’s hotel, The Big Blue, is much more family orientated, and is also owned by Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

For dining, the Boulevard’s Beachside Restaurant serves excellent fare, and if you require meeting rooms, the hotel’s Shoreline Conference Centre can accommodate large or small numbers.

The use of space is impressive, and there’s no sound of the park or seafront traffic, pedestrians or trams. Talking, of which, the new, state-of-the-art trams are a great success.

The hallmark of Blackpool seems to be: ‘In with new, but not out with the old.’ Many of the historic trams have been retained for use at weekends, peak periods and special occasions.

But the new fleet of streamlined, German and Austrian-built trams provide comfort and easy-access along the resort’s entire Promenade, running 18 miles in all, right up to Fleetwood.

Hotel guests have adjacent VIP access to the Pleasure Beach, which has been going since 1896, with ownership remaining in the Thompson family.

Today, Amanda Thompson is in the ‘command module’, and is responsible for introducing space-age rides such as Launch Pad, and a few weeks ago, Aviktas.

It’s the tallest and fastest gyro swing in the UK, swinging up 138ft, at speeds of up to 60 mph. It cost nearly £9 million, and is the latest example of pushing the barriers onwards and upwards.

It’s a clear example of mixing and matching heritage with cutting edge novelty, something reflected in the Boulevard Hotel mixing modern facilities with those Art Deco poster decorations from the 1920s.

On the ride front, the wooden-framed Big Dipper still offers thrills to the visitor, even though the initial construction happened way back in 1923.

The same is true for ‘The Grand National’, a tried-and-tested, 1930s-era roller-coaster winner, where visitors race each other on two separate but parallel tracks. The thrill of the race, and the dipper combined.

As if that’s not enough, you can pay to go on a pre-arranged, special, harnessed walk up the first hill of the Big Dipper.

That’s 420 steps, leaving you 237 ft above sea level. Superb views, but not for the feint hearted!

Brave hearts lead the way, and those Big Dipper enthusiasts come from throughout the world, just for the saucer-eye experience.

Then there’s Hiram Maxim’s Flying Machine, dating black to the days when the Wright Brothers took off in South Carolina for the first time in the early 20th Century.

In Blackpool, a series of ‘flying boats’ took off, held up by giant cables on the merry-go-round in the sky. Today, the boats are now ‘rockets’, but the same principle applies.

Hardy annuals, like the Snow White ride and the Ghost Train are popular, as is the more recent addition of the Wallace and Gromit ride ‘Thrill-o-Matic’.

It was opened officially by creator Nick Park, from just up the road in Preston. It fitted in with the vision of Pleasure Beach founder William Bean.

Back in 1896, his aim was to establish a fun park that would "make adults feel like children again, and inspire gaiety of a primarily innocent character".

Many of you will remember the classic, traditional, monologue that goes: ‘There’s a famous seaside place called Blackpool, what’s noted for fresh air and fun; and Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom went there with young Albert, their son . . .’

It’s good to report that some things are enduring, but with a modern twist.

www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com and www.visitblackpool.com