The hotel is ok but it is does not live up to it's promises of a nice country style house hotel. What it is, is a very busy hotel used by cruise ship guests who leave their car there and stay the night before their cruise. For this, I'm sure it's fine but if, like us, you were hoping for a nice relaxing spot for the weekend then you'll be disappointed. As fo...
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The hotel is ok but it is does not live up to it's promises of a nice country style house hotel. What it is, is a very busy hotel used by cruise ship guests who leave their car there and stay the night before their cruise. For this, I'm sure it's fine but if, like us, you were hoping for a nice relaxing spot for the weekend then you'll be disappointed. As for the 12 acres of beutiful grounds, I don't know where they are but you are essentially in the middle of the university/science park campus.
The communal areas are nicely decorated and pleasant and the bar looks very nice but there is more of a feel of a canteen to it than a nice relaxing country manor bar unfortunately. There is not much on the bar menu, it all comes very quickly and there is heavy stream of people passing through, eating quickly and then leaving for more to come. It's not a particularly nice place to sit all evening and relax but there isn't really anywhere else to go. The hotel pool and spa are not in the hotel building at all but right up past the carpark in what is seemly like a small leisure club in the science park which wasn't very appealing. The staff in general are fine but not particularly friendly or welcoming.
Our room was supposedly an executive room but we found it fairly small and grubby - the carpets have lots of stains on, the bathroom was very clinical with a tiny low bath etc. The beds were awful and uncomfortable and the pillows lumpy. There is no fridge in the rooms, nor do they give you any bottled water and they don't clean during your stay at all - which in all my years of staying in hotels is a new one! Especially at £220 per night. There was also a strong odor in our room of frying/cooking - chips at night and then of breakfast in the morning - we were on the third floor so it wasn't as we were next to the kitchen but we think it was coming through the vents into the bathroom and it was very strong and unpleasant.
All in all, rather like a very expensive Travelodge - as I said, fine I'm sure for a nights sleep before your holiday but not a nice stay for a trip in itself and certainly felt extremely expensive for what it is.
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