Historic building with lots of character. Some say haunted. Large high ceiling rooms. Bar. Food for parties etc average. Lovely grounds for walks or just being out in the fresh air. Popular wedding venue. Found service good. Staff courteous.
Purple Snowdrop279 days ago
The hotel is a beautiful listed building. I needed a room without stairs and was given a lovely quiet room in the stable block. My room has been seviced regularly as I'm staying for 8 nights, the staff are all very helpful and friendly. The stable block is also close to the car park.
Jacob Sanders310 days ago
Lovely old building which we booked due its close location to the Long Road festival we were attending.
Check in was okay, we booked two rooms and my key card wouldn't work, after a few attempts to get in by the hotel manager, I was given a different room.
Hotel rooms themselves are very much in need of some TLC. Ripped carpets, water stains on the walls, old fashioned decor and dusty windows. Beds were comfy and shower wad pretty good.
Upon checkout the manager was unable to find my booking and had asked if I had paid, I had done so a day before our stay and proved this by showing him the statement on my online banking.
He asked for my card details again and asked me how much I had paid, which was £265 in total for 2 rooms. He seemed to be under the impression that I had only paid for one room despite me being able to show him the booking confirmation.
There was a silent 5 minutes whilst the manager clicked around on his screen before he handed my card back and told me everything was okay. Very strange.
As I left the hotel, ny friend heard two more guests complaining that they had been given a key to room 14 the previous day and when they opened the door, someone was already in the room - that's because it was my room!
The stay served its purpose but customer service could do with improving, no apologies made for the issue with getting into my room or suggesting that I hadn't paid and the manager and receptionist seemed to spend the majority of their time being confused about things.
I would suggest communicating via email if you have any specific requests to ensure that you have a paper trail of any conversations and discussions etc.
To the manager - check behind the sofa in room 11 please. Two large round glass discs that look like the tops of tables have been left and could potentially injure a future guest of child.
Daniel310 days ago
This hotel has amazing grounds and the outside of the hotel itself is great. But unfortunately, that is where it ends.
My room was spacious, but it had old decor, broken items throughout, cracked tiles in the bathroom, cracked bathtub which you have to stand in. Some windows were gloss painted shut. Stains on walls, I could go on.
The service wasn't great at all, and I can't recommend this hotel to anyone.
If you find a cheap room and need it for work etc, then it'll do. As a romantic or enjoyable stay, then look elsewhere.
Can't mention the food as we went out for food.
This hotel would definitely benefit from a lot of investment and getting the right people to run it.
Charlotte340 days ago
Went to my friends wedding in August 2022. Well there's not really a lot of nice things I can say other than I'm glad my friends got married, which was absolutely amazing to see. Other than that the service was absolutely diabolical and the hotel staff didn't know their heads to their backsides (putting it politely). There wasn't much food on offer for vegetarians or vegans which you would think in this day and age there would be but wasn't. Anything we asked for we were met with attitude from staff. They'd forgotten serevel times to bring things to the bridal suite in which was requested from bridal team.I seriously wouldn't stay here again even if you paid me a million pounds! When I stayed a good few years ago it was absolutely amazing, hence why I recommend it to my friends and I went to a wedding there last year and the service was absolutely amazing. Rooms were faulty and very run down and tired looking, cobwebs were everywhere and in one room the window was broken and wouldn't shut or open properly. For the price you pay to stay here you'd probably get better service from the premier inn next door. Food was burnt and not edible. I seriously think they need to close for a while and not accept bookings and spend money re vamping the place as the history of the building does not reflect the standard inside.
LoneWolf340 days ago
I surprised my wife for her birthday by booking us into a 1920s murder mystery in this beautiful Victorian Gothic hotel. The overall experience was worth doing but the hotel 's amenities... weren't great.
Like the previous reviewer, we also had issues with power in our room (Room 5). Fortunately no flashing bulbs, but no power at all. Even the lights in our end of the corridor were out and it's really odd that the staff supposedly hadn't noticed this until now. They eventually gave us an extra lamp, but there was no opportunity to move rooms nor was any other kind of compensation offered.
Besides the lighting situation, the room looked tired and in need of some work doing: flaking skirting boards, broken curtain holders and tile cracks were all included - the latter were in the bathroom, with a big one in the bath area, which will become a BIG problem in the future if it's not fixed soon. But also, the carpet hadn't been hoovered as we found loose screws on the floor. I also noticed dead spiders in the downstairs Gents, so it seems the hotel takes shortcuts with their cleaning schedule.
The bar was alright, and the bar staff were quick and attentive. Great choice of wines and spirits, but not much of a beer selection (mass-produced lagers and bottles of Doom Bar basically). The evening meal was also good overall, especially the cheesecake. The service was lacking though - all drinks orders involved us having to get up and visit the bar, which is difficult during a murder mystery, so I missed some bits. There was only one small jug of water brought to the table for all 10 of us and it was never refilled. The bread that came with the soup was stale. The main course took a while to come out, and it had blatantly been kept on the gantry for ages as the vegetables looked scorched. The dessert then took over half an hour to come out, and by the time they were serving coffee the murder mystery was already over.
Breakfast-wise, service was almost non-existent. The full English was pretty average but at least it was hot, and they brought out extra eggs. There were no glasses or mugs anywhere and every single table was dirty. In the end I had to clear some plates away just to sit down and eat. Cutlery was just piled up on a tray by the TV, and there were no napkins. No one served coffee either, and when we went to get some ourselves the coffee was cheap instant coffee and really watered down.
But the icing on the cake (which in a way was kind of funny), was making coffee in the room. As the kettle boiled, the steam set off the fire alarm! What's stranger is the first time round that didn't happen!
So yeah, nice building from the outside, but the inside really needs work. Plus it sounds like the staff on the whole really don't care, and this has been apparent for quite a while.
Ron Charlton1 year ago
Stayed here whilst away with work, all I can say is NO, Rooms are of a good size and have great potential, however major investment would need to be done to get it to a reasonable standard, carpets worn, windows rotten, bathtub chipped and rusting, the bedding did actually look OK, towels clean, but thats it.
Staff were attentive, reasonable service, dinner was nice albeit I did have one issue but that was resolved, food tasted nice. Breakfast let itself down, looked nice but a lot of it was lukewarm, think timing is important.
We have had this removed from our works list for places to stay, and I wouldn't come back, unless major investment is done
Daniel Jell1 year ago
Was a bit worried after booking here seeing a few of the reviews. Stayed in room 27 which was a suite. Clean and had no lighting issues although some of the bulbs were changed to led and were noticeable but made no difference to our stay. The building itself was really something both inside and out. The grounds were lovely and had good weather so walked about. Room was massive and clean. You can see that it's an old building and bits need work but I'll let the photos do the talking. Unfortunately didn't see any ghosts lol. Breakfast was also fine although a bit lukewarm but we did get to it 30 mins before ending. Staff were also fine and no issues. Maybe it's because we stayed in a suite we had no issues like others did or they've fixed some of the lighting or power issues? Either way I was happy with the stay 🙂
I needed a room without stairs and was given a lovely quiet room in the stable block. My room has been seviced regularly as I'm staying for 8 nights, the staff are all very helpful and friendly.
The stable block is also close to the car park.
Check in was okay, we booked two rooms and my key card wouldn't work, after a few attempts to get in by the hotel manager, I was given a different room.
Hotel rooms themselves are very much in need of some TLC. Ripped carpets, water stains on the walls, old fashioned decor and dusty windows. Beds were comfy and shower wad pretty good.
Upon checkout the manager was unable to find my booking and had asked if I had paid, I had done so a day before our stay and proved this by showing him the statement on my online banking.
He asked for my card details again and asked me how much I had paid, which was £265 in total for 2 rooms. He seemed to be under the impression that I had only paid for one room despite me being able to show him the booking confirmation.
There was a silent 5 minutes whilst the manager clicked around on his screen before he handed my card back and told me everything was okay. Very strange.
As I left the hotel, ny friend heard two more guests complaining that they had been given a key to room 14 the previous day and when they opened the door, someone was already in the room - that's because it was my room!
The stay served its purpose but customer service could do with improving, no apologies made for the issue with getting into my room or suggesting that I hadn't paid and the manager and receptionist seemed to spend the majority of their time being confused about things.
I would suggest communicating via email if you have any specific requests to ensure that you have a paper trail of any conversations and discussions etc.
To the manager - check behind the sofa in room 11 please. Two large round glass discs that look like the tops of tables have been left and could potentially injure a future guest of child.
My room was spacious, but it had old decor, broken items throughout, cracked tiles in the bathroom, cracked bathtub which you have to stand in. Some windows were gloss painted shut. Stains on walls, I could go on.
The service wasn't great at all, and I can't recommend this hotel to anyone.
If you find a cheap room and need it for work etc, then it'll do. As a romantic or enjoyable stay, then look elsewhere.
Can't mention the food as we went out for food.
This hotel would definitely benefit from a lot of investment and getting the right people to run it.
Like the previous reviewer, we also had issues with power in our room (Room 5). Fortunately no flashing bulbs, but no power at all. Even the lights in our end of the corridor were out and it's really odd that the staff supposedly hadn't noticed this until now. They eventually gave us an extra lamp, but there was no opportunity to move rooms nor was any other kind of compensation offered.
Besides the lighting situation, the room looked tired and in need of some work doing: flaking skirting boards, broken curtain holders and tile cracks were all included - the latter were in the bathroom, with a big one in the bath area, which will become a BIG problem in the future if it's not fixed soon. But also, the carpet hadn't been hoovered as we found loose screws on the floor. I also noticed dead spiders in the downstairs Gents, so it seems the hotel takes shortcuts with their cleaning schedule.
The bar was alright, and the bar staff were quick and attentive. Great choice of wines and spirits, but not much of a beer selection (mass-produced lagers and bottles of Doom Bar basically). The evening meal was also good overall, especially the cheesecake. The service was lacking though - all drinks orders involved us having to get up and visit the bar, which is difficult during a murder mystery, so I missed some bits. There was only one small jug of water brought to the table for all 10 of us and it was never refilled. The bread that came with the soup was stale. The main course took a while to come out, and it had blatantly been kept on the gantry for ages as the vegetables looked scorched. The dessert then took over half an hour to come out, and by the time they were serving coffee the murder mystery was already over.
Breakfast-wise, service was almost non-existent. The full English was pretty average but at least it was hot, and they brought out extra eggs. There were no glasses or mugs anywhere and every single table was dirty. In the end I had to clear some plates away just to sit down and eat. Cutlery was just piled up on a tray by the TV, and there were no napkins. No one served coffee either, and when we went to get some ourselves the coffee was cheap instant coffee and really watered down.
But the icing on the cake (which in a way was kind of funny), was making coffee in the room. As the kettle boiled, the steam set off the fire alarm! What's stranger is the first time round that didn't happen!
So yeah, nice building from the outside, but the inside really needs work. Plus it sounds like the staff on the whole really don't care, and this has been apparent for quite a while.
Staff were attentive, reasonable service, dinner was nice albeit I did have one issue but that was resolved, food tasted nice.
Breakfast let itself down, looked nice but a lot of it was lukewarm, think timing is important.
We have had this removed from our works list for places to stay, and I wouldn't come back, unless major investment is done
The grounds were lovely and had good weather so walked about. Room was massive and clean. You can see that it's an old building and bits need work but I'll let the photos do the talking. Unfortunately didn't see any ghosts lol. Breakfast was also fine although a bit lukewarm but we did get to it 30 mins before ending. Staff were also fine and no issues. Maybe it's because we stayed in a suite we had no issues like others did or they've fixed some of the lighting or power issues? Either way I was happy with the stay 🙂