Champneys Forest Mere Reviews

Lovely staff and superb facilities and therapies. The 9am - 6pm never feels long enough. We will be back again soon.

Amazing as always. Love it here. Just wish I could go more regularly and for more nights. Maybe next time!!

Absolutely fantastic. The place has been completely refurbished and added to since we last visited and the food and service was as good as ever

Spa was incredible. Food was tasty but the service was appalling..

Premium rate phone number, and no one answers...just get canned messaging...REALLY? At your prices surely you can afford to irritate customers by keeping them on hold at your expense?

Stunning location, plenty of little nooks & crannies to just sit quietly & chill in peace. We went for the package that included dinner & the food is amazing. The pedicure was lovely, all the staff we came across were friendly & helpful. We enjoyed it so much we ve booked again for January. Can t recommend it highly enough.

Addicted to this place expensive but gteat to be pampered

I've been here twice, once for the day, and last week for their dinner, bed, breakfast & lunch spa package. Both times I've really enjoyed the spa area and food.
The only thing that let's the room down are the walls are paper thin in the block we were in so you could hear the TV's and guests voices through the wall at night. Lucky no one is up late so we still slept well

Fantastic resort slightly let down by changing room space...

Beautiful location, very friendly staff and great service. Perfect place for a healthy retreat

Very nice setting. I was slightly disappointed with the level of service overall and quality of the food was not what I was expecting

lovely relaxing two days. gorgeous woodland venue, delish, healthy food. Treatments good, nice and clean. felt like a health fan, loved it

Really lovely place but a few improvements would make it perfect. For an all inclusive spa I feel there should have been tea and coffee facilities freely available throughout the stay, the afternoon coffee shop was very over priced. From 2-4pm the venue is very very busy, lots of overlap of stays means it is less relaxing. Our room however was lovely and had a beautiful seating area, and the lounge areas in the house were lovely too, very peaceful. Classes were good, we enjoyed the morning and afternoon walks. More relaxing evening activities would be good, maybe a film room? We did enjoy the talk. Towels in the spa were very small, and no towels were provided at the outdoor pool. Overall we had a very lovely stay, but it did feel very busy at times.

There were lots of little things that could have made the whole experience a lot better / smoother. The restaurant staff were very slow and you had to ask them several times for the same thing, the class timetables on the fitness reception desk were not up to date and one of the demos got cancelled when we got there, but there was no explanation why. My massage was overpriced and a bit weak to be honest. I called the fitness desk from my room on three different occasions to try to book classes but nobody picked up. The decor in parts of the resort was quite dated and needed a bit of a revamp. The food was pretty good though and I enjoyed several of the classes. I just think that the amount of money you are spending to be there for a couple of days, there is definitely some room for improvement.

Beautiful Spa helpful and friendly staff. Great facilities will certainly be returning soon. Only negative is the catering seem to be disorganized.

Good spa and treatments but not enough attention to detail, especially in restaurant

A perfect location to relax, lovely attentive staff and exceptional food.

Have loved it in the past, but last couple of Spa breaks I have seen a decline in the standard of food, and a treatment can be hit or miss. My friend had her therapist texting through her treatment. Won't revisit for a while...feel at the moment it is not worth the money.

Really lovely place and fantastic range of treatments and activities to do. The rooms were ok but could be in a little better condition and could have been a bit nicer as just very standard hotel like.

I spent 2 days and 1 night here with 2 friends. It was one of the best spas i have stayed in. Fabulous facilities and lovely staff made a brilliant stay. We will be back very soon.

I'm bemused by the negative reviews about Champneys Forest Mere. I've been a frequent visitor to the other Champneys resorts but for various reasons hadn't been to Forest Mere for a dozen years, and then only briefly.

This time, I had high expectations and Forest Mere exceeded them. I agree that the outdoor pool is dated - but the indoor pool is much larger, lovely, and has all the comforts such as mixed sauna near the main pool, single-sex sauna (with a nice little plunge pool) in the women's area, lots of fluffy towels and so on. It certainly didn't smell of chlorine while I was there.

My room was a 'standard' one and was fine for me. I travel a lot and felt that this was a good room, comfortable, and was kept perfectly clean (even though I was going for regular country walks and found it difficult not to get the carpets a bit muddy).

You're very much encouraged to book your treatments in advance of your stay, and they will try their very best to accommodate special requirements such as allergies. If you wait until the last minute to tell them, then I think that's unreasonable. As it happens, I was too busy to book ahead but did my bookings on arrival. The spa desk cheerfully sorted out a complex series of treatments for me, and equally cheerfully looked after some changes of mind during the week.

The service was uniformly charming, and there is an excellent selection of exercise and fitness activities available. I've got a variety of injuries and niggles, but all the instructors were great and offered me alternatives to work around the problems.

It's in a great setting, too, with shorter or longer country walks available from the door.

I think this is the best Champneys resort and a lovely experience. Highly recommended.

It is becoming increasingly expensive. So many add ons. Check in was lengthy process. Nevertheless enjoyable as always. They simply must sort out the locker situation. Lockers broken and security method useless.

Great spa for relaxing, booked through secret escapes online good deal, food was great

Had an amazing day. Stunning setting. Great treatment. Rowing boats where great fun. Lots of fitness classes to go to. The heated water beds where amazing. So clean. Food was glorious. The only fault In the day was people where "reserving" beds at the water beds, pods, deck beds, sofa style beds using their robes and shoes that was a shame as many time we went to use the heated water beds people's stuff where their in the end had to move it. Shame there was no staff there to step in.

Relaxing stay that combined fitness with relaxation. I took 4 fitness classes and then alternated between the outdoor hot tub and steam rooms. The breakfast buffet and lunch buffet were really good, we opted to go off-site for dinner. I would definitely come back here.

Awful place, heating didn't work and making a noise the whole night, they moved us to a room which had mould on the curtains!!!

We went for a day spa on a Tuesday and while it was quite busy but there was still plenty of space in the pool, jacuzzi and steam room, sauna etc and they were all fantastic.
Lunch was largely tasty but it was let down by a few elements (very bland watery seafood and severely undercooked rice noodles!) although the mini breakfast plus coffee and smoothies on arrival was a great surprise.
The treatments were amazing, the best facial and massage I've had, and overall it was a very relaxing and enjoyable day. My husband and I would both definitely return!

fantastic facilities, great food, good choice of treatments and experienced staff

Amazing spa facilities - my sisters and i treat ourselves once a year to a spa day and this is by far the best so far, definitely worth a visit, although lunch wasn't as inspiring as the rest of the spa.

Relaxing spa with good food in a magnificent setting.

Some positives, but some disappointments too.
Firstly, massively over subscribed. Packed too full of guests. Long queues to check in and out. Had to park in a car park far away then lug my suitcase to reception without any assistance.
Great range of facilities in the spa, but couldn't use the majority of them as they were full.
Staff were all lovely. Standard room good and spacious, but bathroom very shabby and in need of refurb. Starter for dinner really good, main course was awful.
Very sweet therapist, but sadly disappointing pedicure.
Would have been a really lovely experience if we weren't crammed in and rushed.

Went here with my best friend for a girls day. We had the all day spa with breakfast, lunch and class/facilities access also a treatment included. It was a great day, beautiful setting, lovely food and very enjoyable. Only thing really was the massage I had booked started late and then ended when it was meant to so it was basically 15/20 mins by the time I had derobed etc, I wasn't very impressed by that plus we had to queue to check out for quite a long time when we wanted to leave as 1 person was doing the check out process.

Glorious experience, whole break was very relaxing. Staff were a veritable delight, could not be more helpful. Highly recommended.

The spa is lovely the treatments are always fabulous but the admin side of things could do with some work

2 day spa break left me with mixed feelings. The building and location are very good. The rooms are excellent and the pools, hot tubs and facilities are top notch. However, it is very much a place run for middle aged ladies, there is no alcohol available other than wine, so if you have allergies or are not into the vine then you're out of luck. The food is average and whilst may be described as health food I as a 40 year old man child regularly produce better. The staff are very friendly but could be a bit more attentive. For example I ordered the boiled eggs and soldiers from their breakfast menu and 15 minutes later after my partner has finished her dish I was brought 2 hard boiled eggs in a bowl. No soldiers, no sides just eggs in a bowl. Puzzling. I did enjoy myself though and it has a good moderate price point.

Awful. Spa is overcrowded with about 10:1 ratio of people to beds. No bar on site that sells anything other than wine or smoothies. Overpriced and everything is an extra. Don't bother, instead spend the same amount on a proper country manor hotel.

Disappointing. Having never visited a Champneys before I was taken in by the hype and believed I would have a luxurious few days of pampering and relaxation. Admittedly they had to follow the covid restrictions and did well considering, but there was no great luxury and most things were closed. The price was still extortionate though. I wouldn't return and your money could be better spent elsewhere.

DIRTY AND DATED. THE OUTDOOR POOL IS LIKE A 1970 LIDO. INSECTS FLIES AND MURKY. THE SEATS IN THE ROOMS FABRIC IS WORN OUT. TREATMENTS VERY AVERAGE. THE MAIN POOL REASONABLE BUT A BIT TOO COLD AND SMELLS OF CHLORINE. FOOD WAS ACCEPTABLE. NEEDS A MASSIVE OVERHAUL AND UPDATING. WOULD NOT RETURN THOUGH

I recently had a two night break, my second visit. You offer a variety of classes, great spa facilities and the lake and woods are beautiful. Lovely choice of menu's. A special thank you to Sandra and Megan, who were very helpful in your shop. Myself and my friend Sarah will definitely be returning.

NOT LUXURY OR EVEN NICE IN ANY WAY!
Awful experience! We wanted a luxury night away, chilling out with room service. It was anything but luxury. We felt extremely tired and exhausted after our return instead of refreshed. Beds were twins not couple even though we booked a superior room. Mattresses were so uncomfortably we could barely sleep. The bathroom was horrible, worse than a cheap travel lodge. Lino flooring with stains, rust everyone, flimsy taps, hard to control temperature (who the f would still install a hot&cold tap in a luxury hotel instead of a mixer tap! Wherever I see this, it angers me. Am I supposed to either burn my hands and face or wash them ice cold????), shower curtain . The bathroom door got stuck so we had to call security to get in to use the toilet.

The meal.... the starter and main were ok, not what I would expect from a nice health spa but the desert was awful. We had a chocolate mousse that tasted just like spooning sugar and an apple desert that was just a pretty sour apple wrapped in very bad pastry. I could have cooked&baked 100x better than this! They wouldn t let us order room service for breakfast even though at booking we made clear we wouldn t want to sit in a restaurant even with Covid restrictions in place. So that was bad. What was worse is, my partner was told to be seated in the restaurant to order, which he didn t want to do so been offered a place a little less busy away to wait but he was ignored and took 45min to get breakfast which really was not very nice either. They didnt even have coffee options apart from black coffee. So on the way out we thought we d buy one from their Cafe. It was expensive and again awful! For someone who loved coffee I would expect a coffee like this from a vending machine not a cafe! Another waste of money!

It would have been a much nicer weekend if we had stayed at home , ran our bath tub and ordered a ton of nice deliveroo food instead of making the journey for a luxury experience that turned out to not be luxury in any way and left us tired and exhausted.
The best bit about our stay was that they managed to find an HDMI cable for us so we could at least watch Netflix as their smart TV was not smart as they wouldn t connect it to the internet and there weren t many TV channels either.
They didn t bother replying to my tweet complaints so here s an official google one! Don t waste your time or money! Plenty of hotels and spas around that will give you the experience you are looking for !

Great day at the Spa. Excellent customer service, facilities, food and setting. Just could do with more space in the ladies changing rooms.

Beautiful surroundings and treatments fabulous. Facilities were also wonderful. Down points were gluten free alternatives for bread were horrible, which I felt was unnecessary these days. And lastly the thalassotherapy was reduced on the day we had ours, but because we had booked it the evening before as recommended by therapist we were charged full price, but if we had booked it before arrival we would also have had reduced rate.
No budging on this fact on checking out, the rules was rules.

Great location, facilities, looked tired so not 5 star, service standard not amazing, food good

Just returned from our second visit, there is no doubt that the scenic view here is amazing, if you are looking for peace and quiet then the grounds here will satisfy your every need. Cant honestly fault the food, due to covid the facility offers a table service for guests in the main restaurant, for those on the spa break, for day guests there is a day room where food is served. Lunch and evening meals were of a very high quality, servers Maddy and David were attentive, professional and helpful. Guests and visitors are asked to wear a face mask when walking around the building, fair to say that good measures are in place to make guests feel safe. We booked ourselves treatments, which we both enjoyed, however book these in advance, sadly the therapist staffing levels have been drastically cut and the team are continuously busy.
As this was a special visit celebrating a friends birthday, we upgraded to a superior room, I would honestly say it wasn't worth the extra money we paid, we were on the lower floor and had a patio door that opened into a court yard area, we were advised the room would be bigger but it honestly felt no different to the standard size. I felt really gutted for my friend as she was really excited and on arrival I made her wear a birthday sash, she has had a tough year and I really wanted her to feel a million dollars. Sadly the receptionist didn't even wish her a happy birthday or acknowledged it, which I thought was very disappointing. (Good job the rest of the restaurant team made a fuss of her, wishing her a happy birthday)
Breakfast was okay, choice of cereal, breads or fruit with juices, tea or coffee, for an extra supplement, you can get a hot cooked breakfast. We got sat in the corner behind a post one morning, got served our drinks and the serving team forgot to come and take our breakfast order , waited a considerable amount of time before seeking attention and server apologised and said he had forgot us. Looked like a new team of staff were on duty.
On checking out, you need to vacate the room by 11am, bit disappointed to feel rushed and we got a knock on the door at 10am asking if we were vacating. Some small moans here, which is why we only scored 4 stars.

Beautiful location. Helpful staff especially waitress called Nora who was so helpful and thoughful.

Just couldn't fault it....food,rooms, the actual pool and saunas etc...everything perfect. Majority of staff were brilliant as well.

Great package with breakfast and lunch. Lovely swim facilities

Was ok but wife was cold the whole time and they do not sell beer/lager!!!! None... ZERO... HOW CAN YOU NOT SELL ANY TYPE OF BEER??? Had to drink wine all night.

Room was nice though and staff were pleasant

Great location. Poor housekeeping. Good food. Good treatments. Shoddy building upkeep. Rust, damp and generally needs more attention to building upkeep...decor bland and a bit too neutral

The spa facilities are excellent, but unfortunately the service here is terrible. Too many staff, disorganised and with a surly manner. You expect to come on a spa weekend to feel relaxed, but long wait times at lunch and dinner achieve the opposite. You are told to book in the time of your breakfast, at dinner and then book your lunch time whilst you have breakfast- however choices are limited. When we came to book our lunch there was only one time slot left, so ultimately giving us no choice. All that could be avoided if you could book everything upon arrival at check in. Here arrives another saga- at check in the girl was untrained and didn t give us wristbands for the spa lockers meaning we have to come back for them. We finally got them and returned to the spa- we then find the wrist bands hadn t been activated and were not working with the lockers so we had to go all the way back to reception. Unfortunately all this too-ing and fro-ing made for the complete opposite of what we were after- total relaxation. Here every time you want to order a coffee the staff wander off bemused - nothing is done with a smile or dedicated service - the whole job feels a bit too much for the staff to cope with.

Just back from 2 nights stay at forestmere. ..have been numerous times before but definitely a deterioration in restaurant at breakfast and lunch... had to wait for bread to be replenished on both days people queuing to toast bread ...they even brought out a loaf straight from oven that was frozen in middle...had to be taken back to kitchen... the hot plates at lunch were empty n you had to ask waiters for more food to be Cooked , staff seemed very stressed so kitchen was probably in turmoil .. lounge area was very messy n dirty monday night... dirty plates and cups everywhere. .. my husband and I both had issues concerning the massages but they have agreed to give us one free of charge if we go again in October. . Think they need to look at staffing issues as they don't seem to have adequate staff cover to cope with the amount of guests... on this occasion I was very disappointed. .

Loved it! Gorgeous swimming pool, lovely spa, abundant delicious food, lots of activities. Looking forward to another visit.

I decided to treat myself to a 3 day spa break and booked the 50% off package, in the full knowledge that things would be different to my last visits due to social distancing rules.
However, the management really haven't got it right. They seem to have brought back far too few staff to cope with the guest numbers. Cleanliness is unquestionable but when you are waiting over an hour for food at meal times with staff running round like headless chickens, stressed and tired, it doesn't make for a relaxing time!
I can't criticise the staff themselves whatsoever, but they are working from 0630 in the morning until 2300 for consecutive days (one restaurant staff member told me she hadn't had a day off for over a week!), in a clear violation of working hours regulations and myself and most of the other guests feel almost embarrassed to ask them for service since it's not their fault they are in this situation.
I've also noticed on this visit that the hotel itself is starting to look rather shabby: carpets frayed, walls scuffed, outside paths crumbling. I would have thought that lockdown would be the perfect time to tidy things up a bit many!
Sadly, as i have been coming to Champneys for many years and looked at it as a luxurious treat, I'm left on this visit feeling that the hotel is anything but luxurious. I have felt uncomfortable, neglected and if I had paid 'full price' for this experience I'd be leaving feeling conned too, even at half price I feel that way.
As a final thought, I've written this entire review whilst waiting for someone to take my breakfast order, after arriving at 0730 to try to beat the rush I've been sat here for 20 mins with not even a cup of coffee!

Excellent service and staff . lovely surrounding poorly maintained room .

Amazing place to get away, new spa with outdoor hot tub, staff very helpful and caring. The first aiders were very hands on and friendly. Definitely recommend and booked to go back for a midweek stay, can't wait.

Surroundings are beautiful, gorgeous house with loads of facilities

Beautiful, magnificent place. So tranquil, ideal place to rest, relax and unwind. Staff are very friendly and go above and beyond to ensure your needs are met.

Rather disappointing visit for a supposed exclusive resort.

After a days spa found every one very nice very relaxing yes they Do have work going on but didn't affect our day the pool was lovely and warm clean towels and gowns lunch was good plenty to choose from very nice

We've been to all of them in the past 3 years, this year we went to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, they asked us if we were visiting for any reason in particular and we mentioned our wedding anniversary, they showed great excitement about so me and my husband thought they might surprise us with something special maybe a free treatment or a drink, but very disappointed nothing!! Also the food nothing amazing for me the best regarding food was Springs and Tring!

Appalling reservation system. I emailed and got no reply, emailed again, still nothing. After seven days I called and had to wait 20 mins to get through to an actual person and was being charged for the luxury of holding. Stressed before I have even started. The irony of all this is I was there to write an health article about them.

Champneys was a nice retreat after our wedding for a few days. It was bliss but wasnt perfect. The spa was great, fresh and clean. The build and bedroom were immaculate. And the back massage was brilliant thank you too my massues. The let downs were the waiting staff, they didn't seem bothered or welcoming accept one or two individuals. The front of house staff seemed rushed and under pressure but still the ones that checked us in and out were great and friendly, despite their long queues. The food was OK, bland but I guess that's healthy for you. The room was great accept the bed. It was rock hard and the pillows were so thin I had to use other items to pad it out.
Over all a nice break, but for that money the little details should of been seen too.

Beautiful place to go and recharge your batteries. Lovely surroundings and great staff. We go there often

You can feel yourself start to relax as you drive up the windy driveway to the hotel. Facilities are fabulous, food is amazing and you will leave feeling relaxed and refreshed

It was a very disappointing day spa. The hotel staff and customers are adhering to covid restrictions, however there too many customers allowed in the spa considering the restrictions. We could not find somewhere to relax as all seats were taken, occupied by people or reserved with robes.
To make matters worse, the main sauna was out of order and the steam room in the ladies changing room was also not working. The jacuzzi inside was working on and off , but the water was too cold so it wasn't enjoyable at all.
When we did eventually found somewhere to relax, none of the rooms were warm enough.
When checking, we realised that they are going to charge us for charity donation and also gratuities. You cannot opt out either.
This will be our first and last visit. There are much better spa hotels in the area, especially for the money you pay.

Lovely location. Lots of nice treatments as well as great variety of classes. I love the pool area and, although I didn't use it, it looks like a well equipped gym. You can make your stay there just what you want whether you focus on relaxation and having lots of treatment or lounging in the pool/spa or you'd rather focus on fitness/weightloss and spend the time on exercise. I usually manage a mixture of both.
The food is lovely but my only criticism is that I find the service in the restaurant somewhat lacking, hence only 4 stars.

Absolutely stunning location. Easy to get lost in a tranquil haze. A perfect place to completely unwind. Room was comfy with all amenities. Staff: helpful and friendly. Food: delicious. Spa facilities: fabulous.

Great location and some great classes. Pool is lovely and warm. Food and facilities are all good. Only fault would be that main phone takes ages to answer and then you get transfered to the gym phone which goes unanswered so its hard to book classes. System needs automation......

Beautiful tranquil setting. There are lots of activities for different levels of fitness. Food is very good, even better than on our previous visits. There are cycles that you can use at no charge, and plenty of ways to relax: pool (indoor & outdoor in summer), sauna, steam room, and various Jacuzzi/whirlpool options as well as various places to relax and rest.

It's a spacious hotel. Food is great and all activities are of high standard. Great staff members and place is a relaxing