I booked this hotel just a few hours before we arrived, needing somewhere to stay at short notice.
They were advertising a £160 dinner, bed and breakfast deal online and I telephoned and asked for this. I was advised that there were two functions taking place that night but told that we could be put in a room well away from the noise. I was also told that, as it was short notice on a busy Saturday, there were no tables available in the restaurant until 9pm.
I was happy with this and made the booking with a 9pm dinner reservation. The hotel is stunning inside and, when we arrived, there was a harpist playing in the lobby and lots of guests in dinner jackets and evening dresses - we felt rather underdressed in our casual daywear!
We were shown to our room which was lovely and had all the facilities one would expect plus fresh milk in the fridge - no uht milk here! There was no noise from downstairs.
The bed was huge and supremely comfortable. There were fresh cookies and plenty of tea and coffee available in the room.
The bathroom was clean and well laid out although the floor did get a bit wet when I had a shower.
I would have given this hotel four stars had it not been for a slightly disappointing experience in the restaurant.
Having booked our table for 9pm we arrived at the restaurant to be told that our table was just being relaid and we were invited to sit in the bar. There was no room in the bar and so we waited by the stairs. After 15 minutes we enquired about our table to be told that they were running a bit late and to 'take a seat in the bar and the girls will sort you out a drink'. By this time there was room in the bar and, from what had been said, we assumed someone would come to take a drinks order - but no-one did. So, after 10 minutes, we went up to the bar and ordered and paid for drinks. 5 minutes later we were shown to our seats in the restaurant.
We could see that they were running late as they kept people waiting in the bar for quite a while before seating them. It wasn't so much that we had been kept waiting that irritated - it was more that when we were told the table was being relaid we assumed this to be the truth and that it would only take a few minutes. It would have been better to have been told that the wait would be half an hour or so and offered a drink. To say they were relaying the table was misleading at best.
Once at our table our order was taken and we asked for the wine list. We were also offered water for the table which we accepted. Unfortunately the water was forgotten and the wine order wasn't taken until the starter arrived some 20 minutes after ordering. It was red wine and would have been better opened at the time of ordering the starter - the starter took quite a while to arrive and the wine would have been able to breathe during this time - or we could have started drinking it seeing as we didn't have any water to drink!
There was another long wait between the starter and main course but this wasn't a problem - we weren't in a hurry. However, from having a 9pm table booked we were still finishing our main course just before 11pm.
The staff were clearly in a hurry as the dessert menus were given to us as the main course plates were taken away. This felt rushed and I suppose it was as, officially, dinner ends at 10pm and it was now gone 11. We felt so rushed that we weren't comfortable having a dessert so we declined.
The waitress told us that they had served over 100 people that night as opposed to their usual 60ish. I understand that it was busy but they must have known how many people they had booked in and it would have been better to be truthful about how long the wait would be and, perhaps, offer a complimentary drink during the wait.
I have to say that the food was delicious. The dinner allowance was £50 and our bill for two of us, for two courses with wine, was £110. You could eat within the £50 allowance but your choices would be quite limited.
Breakfast was plentiful and delicious with continental as well as English offerings.
I would definitely stay here again and think the hotel offers good value for money but, next time, I will try to book earlier with an earlier dinner time.
I hope, next time to be able to give a 5 star rating.