Have eaten here on three occasions and now I'm not quite sure how to rate this establishment. Public rooms are very well put together, grand decor, pleasant ambience and softly lighting.

Occasion 1: Having been warned that there would be a conference party using the main dining room and that we would be dining in one of the smaller function rooms, we arrived with no preformed expectations.

Warmly greeted by reception, ushered through to lounge, greeted by Maitre d', seated and served drinks and canapes; perused menu and placed order. Conducted through to temporary dining room and enjoyed a beautifully presented meal. Coffee and liqueurs in the lounge. Excellent service and a wonderful evening. We had found somewhere to dine for special occasions - yippee!

Occasion 2 - my birthday: Warmly welcomed by reception and asked to go through to lounge. No one there to greet us, so seated ourselves. Drinks ordered and served and menus supplied. No canape served, although others had them. Taken through to dining room and meal served. No one poured wine and if I hadn't done it myself, it would still be in the bottle. Flowers ordered by my husband to be presented on arrival, hadn't been arranged. No staff in the dining room for most of the evening, as they were busy chatting in the kitchen - could see this when you went to use the ladies toilet. No manager in evidence at all that evening and it really showed in the service.

Following this experience I wrote to the General Manager and he not only offered his apologies, but also a meal at their expense, which we accepted.

Occasion 3: This visit was much more in keeping with our first. Once again, the Maitre d' was on duty and the standard of service was once again restored.

Overall, I have had no issues with the food quality - it's really very good indeed. However, it would seem that the standard of service is not so consistant. Given this, I do have some small reservations about a return visit, although currently the odds are 2 to 1 in favour of a good experience at the moment.

This could be a really excellent and special place to dine, but in my opinion, they are not currently maximising their potential.

I have stayed here on several occaisions over the past four years and, in each case, the staff were wonderful, the ambience was excellent and the setting beautiful. In every other occaision, the hotel has been relatively empty but on this stay, we were in a room with an interleading door to another room. The soundproofing between rooms was non existent. This is unacceptable for a hotel of this standard and really spoilt the whole stay.

My tip for this place is check if you are going to be given such a room and to avoid the place if you are.

Recently had dinner at the hotel with a small group of friends. The setting and overall ambience was really good and the meal itself was superb. The overall experience however was spoilt by a few points. First of all bar staff who could only manage rudimentary english, then a bar which had no bacardi and finally no yorkshire pudding with the roast beef.
Am I being picky?? Maybe, but at the high prices charged for everything I expect near perfection.

Stayed here whilst in area on business. Room in the new garden extension a little on the small side, but beatifully furnished and bathroom lovely. Dinner was a delightful experience from the pre-dinner drinks and canapes to the lovely staff. Menu was adapted to accomodate my vegeterian preferences with no sign of difficulty or resentment. Only two slight drawbacks - not many other guests staying, which was a little eerie and the room was too warm, even with the radiator turned off and window open. Did not have time to enjoy the spa facilties unfortunately, but would certainly like to return at a later date to participate and take advantage of other leisure facilities the area has to offer.