Ockenden Manor Hotel Reviews

Great location in the countryside but close to Gatwick airport

Nice restaurant, good ambience, great food and service

Great tasting menu... Really creative plates.. Extensive wine list... Really attentive staff and a cosy dining room. Beautiful meal

Really relaxing weekend, amazing food and lovely old property with nice grounds, definitely recommend

I like it here and have visited on numerous occasions, it's close to London and has a great spa and restaraunt . But on our last visit the service In the dining room was really slow. Firstly our table was taken by someone else, which seemed to take the restaraunt manager ages to sort out. When we were finally seated over an hour later, in a half empty dining room, the service staff must of forgotten we were there. We had to ask for the complimentary bread and appertisers. When our meals finally came we were not hungry! Becasue it took so long to be served. Shame really.

Just came back from a weekend spa getaway. One of the most relaxing weekend I've had in ages and most needed from everything that's going on. The staff were very kind and professional. Location is ideal for Londoners who want to get away to the countryside as it's not too far. Have to say they're handling the pandemic very well with safe and necessary procedures. The food was also very delicious!

Appalling customer service. Arrived for a prebooked birthday afternoon tea to find our booking had not been made. Initially told there were no tables for us and that afternoon tea had finished. I had to kick up a fuss to make sure we got our booking honoured. We were told the manager was 'too busy' to talk to us. Told they may be able to cobble something together for us. We were offered a glass of fizz as compensation but since we were all driving, and did not want extra soft drinks with our tea, we requested a discount which was absolutely refused. Food lovely but due to the rudeness of the staff, would never set foot here again.

Superb, airy, clean, well kept and architecturally distinctive spa facilities. Decent, though a little less impressive hotel lounge /afternoon tea experience

Very much enjoyed our visit here. Warm welcome. Beautiful ancient manor house overlooking the downs. Delicious food and interesting local wines and of course their amazing spa. Gardens well looked after - but could perhaps do with some creative touches and more interesting planting - the setting deserves this. Hope to come again.

Had a massage which was amazing, then on to Sunday lunch at the restaurant which again wax amazing. I'll be back!

Lovely place, but maintenence isn't kept on top of. Reported dangerous sharp tile on step in jacuzzi but still like it 2 weeks later

Great , relaxed and charming atmosphere..fantastic menu and a very talented chef.

Nice location and a relaxing day spa. Not massive but it has all you need for a day break.

I have just had the most indulgent massage given as a birthday present from my daughter. Though eye-wateringly expensive it was the best I have ever had. The surroundings and the spa itself are beautiful. My appointment was with Emma and she was delightful and knew how to get the most persistent knots out! I am hugely relaxed and smell divine. If you can afford it you must go! You will not be disappointed

Most excellent restaurant, always a delight to dine here. Great service and delicious menu.

Stayed and also visited for lunch on a separate occasion and had a spa day.
Amazing hotel. Can't fault it.

Very nice period hotel, staff were lovely, food was pricey but very nice. The room was superb, a bed so big and soft I could not hear the wife snoring across it. The only down was the tv had no signal for most of the stay, but probably due to atmospherics as we had heavy rain, high winds and thunder most of the visit.

Quite nice. No Yorkshire's with traditional sunday roast though!

Had a nice overnight stay here with my husband which was bought for us as a gift. The best aspects were the outdoor pools, possibility to order drinks (including alcoholic) to your lounger in the pool area and the large hotel room which was in the spa building. Dinner was good but not excellent, breakfast was okay, service was quite mixed; in the spa it was good, in the restaurant it was okay and in the rest of the hotel it was slightly frosty.
Overall I would say it's quite overpriced for the lack of luxury, we have been to much nicer and more luxurious hotels and spas for a similar price.

Very friendly and helpful. Absolutely beautiful set rooms and in general the hotel for the period and time it was made. Cosy warm and comfortable. 5 out of 5!

Would have been 5 star but hotel let us down. Dirty pillow cases dirty pillows no protectors and a few other small complaints. For the money it cost you want it right. The spa was great and very relaxing.

The food here is simply amazing. My in-laws were staying there as they were visiting the area and treated us to dinner two nights running. Expensive, but worth EVERY PENNY!

Hosted a wine tasting in one of their function rooms. Wonderful setting with a relaxing and elegant vibe. The staff are very diligent and ensure you have everything you require. We will be returning.

Extremely rude reception and spa staff that are not welcoming at all. Spa / pool area is in poor condition, all pool beds are worn out and have obviously not been replaced in a very long time and jacuzzi has tiles falling off it (literally). Apart from the breakfast, the restaurant food is nothing great. The hotel itself is severely run down, rooms are not in great shape and its obvious the mattress hasn't been replaced for an extremely long time. For the price there are much better spa hotels out there, definitely did not live up to expectations.

Had a great stay. Great food, lovely spa and friendly staff.

Amazing stay. Beautiful room in the spa. Excellent food, attentive but unintrusive service. Fantastic breakfast, with lovely pastries and the best bacon I have ever tasted.

Unfortunately what could be a lovely hotel in a beautiful village but what you get is an overpriced run down building with poor service and (mostly) indifferent staff who really didn't seem to care. The food was very expensive and not More

Truly the most disappointing breakfast I have ever had the misfortune to be presented with.

Have been going here every year for last few years. I love the setting of this place. There is an indoor pool that leads outdoors. There s plenty of places inside and out to lounge around. Have used the outside jacuzzi. The changing rooms have everything you need. There are separate areas of changing do you do get a little privacy. Massages have generally been good. Make sure you have lunch at the hotel - the food is very good.

Staff were friendly, the spa was clean and the room was ok.
One huge disappointment is that they served Foie Gras as a starter in the main sussex menu. I notice they don t advertise that on their sample menu on their website.
I am absolutely horrified they support this animal torture!! Shame on you Ockenden Manor. I will NOT be returning ever again!

Great spa day had there by myself and five friends, lovely staff and great service.

We had a great time staying at the spa hotel. Our room was lovely and the food at the restaurant was excellent. The spa is the real highlight though, beautifully designed with amazing facilities.

Very pleasant, out of the way location. Rooms were tidy, well presented and not tardy whilst still feeling homely and classic. The service was of a good standard with the food being extremely tasty.

A neat gourmet restaurant with the quaint charm of beautiful England ... mastered cuisine to discover through the tasting menu .I have tested Vegetarian ... quite surprising. Too bad for the final note: a beautiful chocolate dessert that the smell of the plate badly washed sorry ... the dog wet !? Good end of service error ?? May be. But a team of servers that has properly and professionally responded.

The younger staff in the hotel didn t really know what they were doing but the rest of the staff was welcoming and helpful. The food was ok but the website and prices make you expect a lot more. The spa was really disappointing, the pool is great but a 30 mins massage last 20 minutes and the front desk were all on the phone. So much potential for this place to deliver a service that fits the pricing but unfortunately it doesn t.

Good service,
Lunch enjoyable, pleasant dining room

Ockenden Manor Spa and restaurant very attentive, lovely massage - relaxing, tasty food Kay Kendrick all shapes, sizes, non judgemental .All good doctors would recommend..Met no carry sorts.Thumbs Up

Real English style, all you need to know
And happy/friendly staff.

Lovely hotel and spa. Sadly for us,there was a power cut at the spa preventing full use of the facilities. Dinner was exceptional, breakfast was less so. Rock hard butter,hard poached eggs,toast that arrived 10 mins after breakfast did then more arrived that we didn't request well after breakfast was eaten,plus it was burnt. Lovely continental breakfast. Very pretty crockery.

We went back to the opening lunch for a belated celebration. Menu was restricted which is true for many restaurants opening up again. There were a large proportion of high risk people in their 70s & 80s so understandably Ockenden were very careful of their hygene which had downsides for the rest of us.

Only the main modern restaurant was open and people not allowed into the smaller character rooms, I heard guests dissapointed by this. We were not allowed to handle the extensive full wine menu, instead we were asked to use our mobile phones for which scrolling through a 50 page list is a pain. I would have preferred an option of using the paper wine menu but for reasons above I understand Ockenden might consider this too risky. I suggested they published the daily menu online so we could choose wines from home.

Personally I found the refusal of male staff to recognise the existence of females disturbing, even after two previous written complaints. For mixed couples this might not be much of an issue because waiters would concentrate on the male guest, who presumably could protect himself. For female only such as ourselves I find it more secure to bring a passport and monitored personal alarm with me when visiting Ockenden.

Overnight stay to celebrate a wedding anniversary and had a lovely time. The food was excellent as was the service - all the waiters were friendly but left us to eat in peace, courses were not rushed - definitely would eat there again. Restaurant experience really made our stay!
Room was lovely and bed and bedding very good quality.
Front of house needed more polish as I felt a little like we were guests who had arrived too early and weren't expected - staff friendly but the welcome was a little disappointing and the service of afternoon tea was not so good - waiter didn't smile and his English was not as good as maybe it should be.
Overall, the manor house itself is beautiful and we had a very nice night away together and would definitely come back.

A most wonderful Hotel with lots of charm, picturess grounds and great facilities, worth a visit.

Beautiful place, great spa, restaurant and attentive staff!

I read the positive reviews so I was super surprised by how bad our stay was here. The rooms were freezing cold, the heating wasn't working, the food wasn't good, but worst of all their pre-authorisation payment system has messed up so the hotel has charged me twice and I won't get my money back for a month. They've been super unhelpful since. Honestly, the whole pre-authorisation thing and the way they've handled it seems like a shady racket, hanging on to my money as long as they can to top up their bank balance...Go somewhere else or stay home and save your money - just don't stay here.

The restaurant food was a little disappointing. The treacle tart was like no other I had tasted in so much as it was mainly a sweet sponge in pastry. Not enough treacle! The fish pie for lunch was tasty but very disappointing. Very little fish. Sorry. Although dining room was light and nicely decorated, the drawing room was sad and desperately in need of redecoration. Bit disappointing.

Fantastic food from a first class chef. Can see why this place is so popular for dining. Rooms are great and the spa is clean and very relaxing.

Food was doused in truffle oil seemed to be drizzled over most of the. Appauling

Amazing short break. Fantastic taster menu. Great spa treatments. Lovely location. Helpful staff who posted my swimming trunks back without charge. The rooms in the manor are very quaint very clean and comfortable but with modern luxurious bathroom. A very good nights sleep. Thoroughly recommend.

Had afternoon tea here brought as a gift but was disappointed with the quality of the food service was ok but a little slow staff were friendly, portions were to large sandwiches and cakes were dry, would definitely not go again or recommend

Superb food and champagne. Started with the salmon the had the hand crafted cod fish cake followed by treacle tart. Which was to die for!

Went to the spa after which was spotlessly clean and fresh. Robes were a little too small for me but I am 6ft 2 58 inch chest. Full body massage was relaxing to the point I fell asleep and started snoring!

Theres loads of fresh lemon or lime water throughout steam room was perfect. All in all a wonderful stay. Will be going for longer next time though have to save up!

Delicious lunch. All food was good, but the Hake in batter was notable. Great service.

overnight hotel and spa package was superb, great hotel, superb food in the hotel restaurant and the spa facilities are perfectly purpose built in amazing surroundings.

Gorgeous olde woldy venue as lovely country house. Went for a half spa day and wasnt disappointed. Large indoor pool connecting to slightly smaller outside pool. Jacuzzi and hot tub. Good facilities for shower etc. Massage was fantastic. Cant praise massauge enough. Food delicious. Fantastic experience. Would book again in a heartbeat.

A comfortable stay,. But felt strange.

Let me just say the food was very good. And the service friendly. But dinner lasted over 2 hours, long gaps between courses. It felt like "Every Man for Himself" style service. Guest that came in after me got served before me.

The room was clean and tidy. Felt a little dated. The bed was comfortable though I'm not a fan of feather pillows.

My room only had a shower and no Bath but the shower was good.

Stunning hotel, excellent spa, restaurant food fabulous for dinner with excellent service.

Breakfast was such a disappointment. Although they could produce a perfect cup of tea for dinner, the breakfast tea was luke warm and dismal. Having endured the miserable English Breakfast tea without comment the first morning, I went out of my way to specify the use of boiling hot water and two tea bags the second day. The result was still terribly aneamic. I over heard three other tables complaining about the tea so it is not just me. The hotel morning kitchen staff seem to have no idea that different teas require different temperature water and that to serve English Breakfast tea using China tea water temperature gives a substandard result. The hotel management was totally indifferent to my complaint and explained that all their tea was made using water at 80 degrees and which in their opinion was the correct temperate for all tea. Seems that lots of people complaining was irrelevant. For every person that complains there are several more who suffer without comment.

The cooked full English Breakfast was also dismal. Was of the quality and temperature of a 3 star buffet although there were two well produced freshly cooked pieces fried bread. The bacon was hard, cool and dry. The black pudding was cold and solid and the texture of leather, the sausage luke warm, the half tomato cool and half raw. The scrambled eggs were tolerably hot but appear to have been made with commercial scrambled egg rather than egg directly from the shell. We are used to much much better than this from a hotel of this standing.

The only reason I have resorted to making these notes online was the indifferent response when the matter was drawn to their attention.

We had afternoon tea at Ockenden Manor today and although we really enjoyed the food that was presented and found the service very good in the beautiful panelled room that we were seated in, the temperature in the room itself was uncomfortably cold on a chilly November day. The service from the lady at the front desk was also far from warm; in fact rather cursory when compared with an afternoon tea that we had thoroughly enjoyed at another similar Sussex venue some days before. These touches (a comfortable and welcoming environment), in my view, matter just as much as the food you are given and we therefore felt somewhat put off returning or recommending.

Very pleasant lunch in light, airy and well spaced dining room with lovely view across Sussex to the south downs. Good value menu and nice staff.

Loved everything about the hotel, spa & restaurant. Highly recommend.

The hotel has a cosy, ambient feel about it. The room (Charlotte - one of the Cuckfield suites) was light with big south-facing windows and nicely decorated. The bar and lounge/reading room had big, open fires and would have been lovely to relax in had there not been Covid restrictions in place.

The purpose-built spa is huge relative to the size of the hotel and the facilities all excellent. We particularly liked that it has an outdoor heated pool & jacuzzi. We did the isopod flotation which was a novel experience and one we both thoroughly enjoyed. The muscle melt massage does exactly what it says on the tin - very relaxing.

Breakfast is delicious and the portions generous. Dinner was outstanding: we had 3 courses from the Sussex menu: pigeon starter, roast beef / cod for mains, apple fritter / cheese to finish. We also enjoyed generous-sized negronis and a bottle of red wine to accompany our food.

Really good staff and afternoon tea. Decor needs updating.

Great spa, great restaurant and spa hotel. Only issue was with miscommunication re breakfast opening time and expected earlier breakfast time to allow early start to the day/treatments etc

Great place to switch off and treat your nearest and dearest.

Relaxing atmosphere and excellent food. I would definitely recommend dining here.

Clean and well equipped rooms, good service with a well stocked bar!

Great day, my first spa experience, it won't be my last!