Start to drive down the long winding drive through some nice woodland, it all starts to go a bit wrong when we start noticing some very grim looking 1960's / 1970s university style concrete buildings, as we get closer to the house, these get worse until you see one building bolted onto the side of the country hall with obviously no planning laws at the time it was done...... The words that prince charles once used "monsterous carbuncle" came to mind....Its awful, get a really nice country hall and bolt onto it a concrete extension that would look at home in a run down area of East London where councils are actively pulling such things down....
Check into the hotel, after having to repeat myself about twice to the reception staff, neither of which would appear to have english as their mothertongue, get directed to the archer rooms....Think nothing off it at this stage but get sent on a 6 minute walk with no help with our luggage or anything through the hotel to our room, i start to notice the surroundings getting shabbier and shabbier, until they start reminding me of my grim university with shabby looking paintwork, doors all marked, generally tired decor, so in a few steps we've talked from the grandeur of a country hall to the grim reality of a creaking university... A complete lack of staff in the building as well to ask for directions, finally find the room.........which.......resembled to me a travellodge or a holiday inn express.......Now when we phoned we werent told that this was in this awful annex all this way from the main hotel, and to be frank if i want to stay in a travellodge style room, i would book into one, end of story......So i phone reception and first get one of our eastern european friends who basically can't understand a word of what I'm saying, and thus i ask to speak to someone that basically can understand me and preferably a manager.....I speak to the manager who starts to try and palm me off saying that is wha we'd booked but she suddnely went all quiet when i politely informed her we werent given a choice......Finally she starts to find us a room in the main part of the building in the main hotel, but alas she wants another £40 which we refuse to pay, finally she gave us a room in the main part of the hotel that didnt have a view but was of a better quality....however to be honest, as someone that spends a lot of time in hotels, I'd really query the value of this hotel in general, its devoid of the pampering that other hotels of this country hall style offer, generally devoid of staff and those that are there find it hard to understand what customers are saying, employing labour from eastern europe is one thing, getting staff that understand your customers needs is another..........
All in all, would rather stay at a pub down the road next time i'm there, its not even mutton dressed as lamb, completely overrrated, breakfast was nothing special either, no breakfast to the room, and generally a pile of grease....
This establishment has a lot to learn, its surroundings prohibit it from delivering a country house experience and will for me always continue to do so as long as the (nearly called it a campus here!) surroundings continue to resemble a dodgy 1960's/70's polytechnic university....none of this is on their site strangely enough...
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