Framed World War Two medals among the best items left in Travelodge hotels in Milton Keynes

The Travelodge Milton Keynes lost and found office boasts: plans for a new home bakery business, framed World War Two medals, a set of Louis Vuitton suitcases and a four foot chocolate cake.

A cuckoo clock, a wedding proposal poem, a sack of gold coins, instruction manuals on how to fly a plane and a pull down zoom background were among some of the other treasures left behind at the three hotels. The company's three Milton Keynes hotels are situated at Milton Keynes Central, Shenley Church End and The Hub on Midsummer Boulevard.

Items of note discovered across the other 560 UK-based hotels under the Travelodge banner reveals more hidden gems such as: an R2-D2 robot, a money tree filled with £50 notes, valued at £10,000, a 6 foot cuddly polar bear and a 60-year-old marriage certificate.

This year as Travelodge kept some of its UK hotels open throughout both lockdowns to support key workers, local authorities and businesses that could travel to work, the Travelodge hotel teams which are located close to hospitals reported finding a range of interesting items left behind by customers in the medical profession. This has included a stethoscope being left behind by a doctor at High Wycombe Travelodge, a lab coat at Manchester Upper Brook Street and a scrub set to be forgotten at London Central Kings Cross Travelodge.

The hotel team at Chelmsford Travelodge were able to reunite a nurse with a precious diary documenting her experiences working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even in a year full of lockdown restrictions and months of stay at home orders weddings continue to dominate the lost and found inventory. One wedding gift left behind by a bride's mother included a money tree with £10,000's worth of £50 notes on its branches. It is their family tradition for family members to attach £50 notes as a gift onto a miniature tree which is then presented to the bride and groom at their wedding ceremony.

A bridesmaid at Burford Cotswolds Travelodge forgot to take a three foot Italian diffuser bottle to the wedding reception venue which had been especially imported over from Florence, Italy for its bespoke fragrance of lemon, orange flowers, rose, jasmine and wood. Luckily the hotel manager arranged for the diffuser to be safely transported to the venue ahead of the bride arriving.

A groom staying at Edinburgh Central Travelodge had to send a courier to pick up his wife’s surprise wedding present that he had forgot to pack – a 6ft tall cuddly polar bear. Whilst the hotel manager from Gatwick Airport Central Travelodge had to literally jump queues, to reunite newlyweds with their first class tickets to the Maldives.

An elderly couple staying at Cardiff Atlantic Wharf Travelodge who were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary forgot their framed marriage certificate, luckily they returned back to the hotel after their tour of Wales to collect it.

A housekeeping team member at Leamington Spa Travelodge got quite the surprise when they found six life-size nutcracker soldiers standing to attention when she entered a room to clean it. An events coordinator who had been staying in the room had forgotten to take the soldiers for a Christmas themed wedding she was organising.

Forgetful business travellers have also left behind an array of expensive and interesting items. This includes keys to a brand new Bentley car being left behind at Chester Central Bridge Street Travelodge.

A stockbroker staying at London Central Bank Travelodge forgot a file which contained £500,000 share certificates whilst a construction boss was devastated when he left behind his lucky personalised Hilti drill at Solihull Travelodge. A CEO staying at Aberdeen Travelodge missed his flight home as he had to return back to the hotel to pick up his lucky penny that he has been carrying around for 40 years.