Alex Barrett

Review of Ardencote manor hotel country ...

Disappointed to say the least!

Disappointed to say the least!

After waiting to stay here for the best part of two months, having bought the retreat for my girlfriend as a valentines gift, we were very excited that our turn had arrived and that we would finally be able to relax and enjoy the benefits of the very well known Ardencote Manor Hotel.

Arrival.
We arrived for our Secret Sunday Escape at circa 1:30pm Sunday afternoon, eager to tuck into the 3 course lunch we had booked in for at 2:00pm.

Dining.
When we were promptly seated at 2:00pm I was very happy and my girlfriend appeared to be so too, we were handed menus which, down to the date meant we were dining with a lot of families as it was Mother s Day, my only hold up with this is that it meant that we were choosing from a set menu which in my past experiences has meant that food is pre cooked as apposed to being cooked to order, somewhat of a production line if you must. The soup came out and credit where it s due, was ok, a little un seasoned if anything. Then the Pork loin main meal came out and as my fears were confirmed, the pork was dry and the rest was luke warm, like it had been sat under a heat lamp with about 20 others. My fears were further confirmed when the lady sat on the table next to me in fact asked for her meal to be removed from their table as it was also cold and un appetising. The desert was good. Throughout our dining experience I pondered what the conservatory eating hall reminded me of, then it struck me, an old people s home! with it being very warm and quite drab this is what came into to my head.

Room.
After lunch we went to our room at 4:00pm, in line with the Check In process, once we got into our room the last thing I thought of was 4 star accommodation, perhaps back in the 90 s or early 00 s but certainly not by 2019 s standards, noticed that the DOUBLE bed is in fact two single beds pushed together and then my attention was drawn to the fact that the room was very warm, we didn t want to hang about so we went to the spa.

Spa/Leisure Club.
The pool was ok, small if anything. The Jaccuzi had a Chlorine high PH balance which caused the eyes to sting after one cycle of the jets being turned on and it also caused excessive surface bubbles much like that of a bubble bath. After spending the best part of 3 and a half hours there we then retired to our room.

Room 2.0.
After returning to the room I thought that it would certainly have cooled off since we left the best part of 3 and a half hours ago but to my dissatisfaction, this was not the case. The room temperature was now at 25.8 Degrees Celsius (very uncomfortable) which made the pair of us feel very lethargic, I couldn t believe that after setting the air conditioning to 15 Degrees Celsius that there was still more than a difference of 10 degrees being registered! The lowest the room got to through the night was 25.2 Degrees Celsius. After being awake for so long I eventually nodded off just because I was now exhausted from fighting with the heat for so long. Sadly my girlfriend still couldn t get off to sleep so decided to go down to reception to see what could be done. My girlfriend was kindly shown another room in the same block that was available if we wanted to move that was self regulating at 21 Degrees Celsius but she declined as it was circa 1:30am in the morning and I had finally nodded off. My girlfriend returned to our room and just battled with it until she too finally nodded off at about 3/4am.

Breakfast.
Breakfast was very good, I have zero complaints here. The self service style buffet is very effective.

Room 3.0.
Upon returning to our room to pack after our breakfast I became increasingly annoyed to now see that the room was at 24.7 Degrees Celsius! In the daytime or room was cooler than at night time?!?!

Check Out.
The two young girls at reception were very polite but sadly all they could say for our troubles is that the heat issue will be looked in to.

Disappointed and underwhelmed.