Spent a night here a couple of weeks ago having stayed the night before at the Village in Bromborough. Thornton Hall is in the old historic village of Thornton Hough and as such, its a nice quiet location just off the Clatterbridge roundabout.

There is clearly a lot of pride and love that's gone into the place. The rooms are spotless and look quite modern (but still comfortable and homely). The gym is well equipped and there is a swimming pool there too which I didn't know about. The health check I had to take prior to being allowed to use the machines was a bit tedious and a waste of time, but at least it shows they give a damn about their guests.

Finally, the restaurant does great breakfasts. Would happily stay there again.

Joe

A large group of us took over the whole of the hotel for a long weekend in January. The hotel coped very well, unlike similar hotels we have experienced on this annual weekend away. Fod was good and we were particularly impressed with the effort made at breakfast. They provided fresh portage if requested and foods were topped up well. Pity the Danish pastries ran out on Sunday, but perhaps we should have been there earlier!
The is a lovely outdoor spa, although something else outside was cordoned off at the time we were there. Inside facilities around the pool were good too, although I found the pool a little cold. We had a room in the old hall which was very pleasant and had a rol top bath. Those of our friends we visited in the new wing had slightly larger rims, some with tvs in their bathrooms.
A very god disco was provided going on until 2am, which was a nice touch. Not sure whether it was beause we had the whole hotel, but better than everything stopping at 12:00 as we've had before. All tnings considered the quality of evening food for such a large group was also of a high standard. However, they probably cut their noses off to spite their faces. With such high drinks prices. Most people bought drinks to consume before dinner with friends in their rooms, or walked to the pub in the vilage. I wish hotels would realise that there is the potential for people consuming far more of their drinks if they don't feel they are being ripped off! Ultimately I'm sure they would make more money!
However, the staff were very friendly and helpful, as well as efficient. Often, unfortunately, a rare combination these days. Would happily return on our own or we may well return with the group in the not-too-distant future.

We visited this hotel as a family group of 16 to celebrate my parents 75th & 80th birthdays for the weekend of 13/1/2012. We were greeted at reception by 'did you realise the pool has restricted swim times for children?' We arrived 15 mins before the allocated time finished on the friday so no swim for my very disppoined kids then, saturday we were out during the day so again no swim which left just Sunday morning 10-12. Not a good start to the break. We were promptly told that the times had been specified on the booking confirmation which as the break had been booked by my parents, we had not seen. The times are very restrictive and not family friendly. Our room was nice, the bathroom looked as if it had been recently refurbed but the hallways were still being redecorated. Our meal was booked for 7pm. The childrens menu was very poor and expensive at £10 for chicken nuggets, soup and banana split. The drinks were extortionate! Service was very slow, in fact my eldest son gave up waiting for his pudding at 10.15pm and went to bed. At 10.45pm we finally received them, an hour and a half after they were ordered. I twice had chased them after all I was only waiting for a banana split (not complicated) and was told the delay was because they had a function on in another room, personally this is not our problem. Meanwhile another couple had walked out of the restaurant without food, fed up waiting too. The restaurant manager was rude and couldn't care less at my comments that the hotel should not advertise family rooms if they then take nearly 4 hours to feed them. I asked if our saturday evening meal would be better and was told they had another large function booked in, again making us feel as if we were an inconvenience. Thankfully my children behaved very well but by the time we hit 3 hours of sitting I felt perhaps if they had of started misbehaving at least they may have fed us quicker!!
We returned saturday late afternoon to the hotel after a day out. My husband asked if there was anyway my son could have just 15 mins in the pool with his older cousins later in the evening when the pool was empty but was told 'no'. The staff in the leisure club said if they did, they would lose their job. No common sense applied by the staff!
We sat down to eat at 6.30pm and the service was slightly quicker, although the restaurant manager still managed to make errors with orders. The food itself for adults was lovely although very fancy. My older son who has out grown the childrens menu however was very limited on choice as there is no 'simple' food. My neice chose mushrooms on toast as this seemed the most simple but even this was served with a lemon dressing (not stated on menu) which she didnt like.
As we retired for the evening we were chased down the corridor by the restaurant manager accusing us of not signing for our drinks!! We had signed for everything but was made to feel as if he thought we were leaving without paying.
Sunday we headed to the pool with my very excited sons. The experience made us feel very uncomfortable. Children are clearly not liked in the leisure pool/centre. The children were having fun, swimming around when my husband was pulled to one side and asked to make my 7 yr old swim 'in a straight line'!! There were only 2 other people in the pool and we were not interferring with their space at all. Eventually the member of staff on duty, put a rope in the pool to seperate us from everyone else. All she needed to do was put a 'toxic' sign up in the same area to sum up how she made us feel. In fact the whole time we were in there, she did not take her eyes off us. As soon as our 'session' was over we vacated the pool. In disbelief, I was then followed into the changing rooms by her, as if she thought I was going to loot the lockers.
The whole weekend was topped off by the hotel trying to charge us £34 each for my sons meals, when the booking confirmation clearly says 'a £34 meal allowance is allowed per guest'. This weekend away has been an annual event for my family for many years and we have never stayed at a hotel before where we have felt so uncomfortable. The staff didn't want to help or assist us in anyway. The hotel needs to decide whether they want to specialise in spa weekends and exclude families (which is the impression we got) or make the leisure facilities and restaurant more family friendly.

I booked a Spa package (Pure Bliss) and overnight stay including the Penthouse Suite (Room 11) for my wife and myself as a Christmas present for ourselves.

I'd done my research via TA and being locally based also had the opportunity to visit a number of similar Hotels / Spas in the area (some National Chains and others independently owned). The mix of old / character (hotel) and new (Spa) made me choose this venue above the others. We weren't disappointed.

The Spa was excellent with modern well equipped Gym, a large pool which even in the busiest times wasn't crowded and the usual steam room / sauna / jacuzzi facilities you would expect from a 4 star Hotel / Spa. The outdoor hot tubs were also very good (if you braved the sub zero temperatures in the short dash (10m) from the main building) We were lucky in that we had bright sunny days and cold but clear nights.

The Spa treatments were excellent and we returned to the hotel totally relaxed. (My only gripe was that there wasn't an internal walkway between the Spa and the Hotel - a minor point)

Dinner was included in our package and was good if a little pretentious. ( A little Nouveau Cuisine for my liking) but the food was good and the service excellent despite the fact that there was a large party that filled the main restaurant going on at the same time.

The room was clean and spacious. The double bath was great. I'd been given a tour of the hotel when I first visited and had chosen the Penthouse but all of the rooms I saw were of high quality ( I believe all the the rooms in the "Annexe" have recently been refurbished.) My Tip - if you are staying in the Annexe request a 1st Floor Garden View. This gives you the Sun (assuming that we get any!!) first thing in the morning.

The staff (and there appeared to be a lot of them) were friendly and attentive without being too intrusive.

Would we stay and use the facilities again - a resounding Yes!