A good hotel for a family get together. Friendly staff, a happy atmosphere, a good swimming poll and very acceptable (but not cheap0 food

We stayed here on our wedding night as a "stop gap" before departing for our honeymoon the next day. I chose to book us in here as I have travelled past the hotel frequently since I was a young child and was intrigued to see what was behind the impressive façade.

I contacted the hotel directly a couple of weeks before Christmas to book the room after checking the prices on their website. Our booking was for one night during the week between Christmas and New Year and I was pleased to be offered a double room with breakfast for a total of £50. The staff member I spoke to when booking was polite and helpful, even when some confusion arose as I attempted to book the room in my soon to be married name but then had to give card details in my maiden name! I also asked if we would be OK to check in at around midnight and was assured that this would be no problem at all.

Unfortunately some unforeseen circumstances at the end of our wedding reception meant that we were unable to check in until 2am. Our best man called the hotel at around 11.45pm to let them know that this would be the case and again they had no problem with this. When we were eventually dropped off there in the early hours the gentleman working on reception did not bat an eyelid at the sight of a tearful looking bride, weary groom who looked distinctly past his best and two of our friends who were half dressed in suits and half dressed in jeans and trainers! Check-in took less than 2 minutes with just one piece of paper to be signed and a key card to be handed over. I asked whether our friends could come up to the room with us to help carry our luggage and this was also absolutely fine.

I took the stairs to our first floor room as I am claustrophobic and the lift at this hotel is tiny! Three average-size men and a couple of suitcases appeared to fill it totally and I didn't facy being in there too!

Upon entering the spotlessly clean room we were amazed. We quickly realised that we were in a room far more luxurious than we had paid for and sent the best man down to reception to make sure that there hadn't been a mistake made that would leave us faced with a huge bill in the morning. We were assured that we were actually enjoying a complimentary upgrade to an executive room as it was our wedding night.

The room had a large double bed with built in storage to both sides and spotlights above it. These lights were individually controlled (one for each side of the bed) and a further light switch mounted with them was an additional control for the main room lighting. A flat-screen television was housed in a cabinet at the end of the bed and below this in the same cabinet was a small fridge housing a complimentary bottle of beer, miniature bottle of Smirnoff, a bottle of fizzy water, a bottle of still water, a miniature can of tonic water and some milk, as well as a small assortment of crisps and chocolate bars.

A long desk (with a chair) had a large mirror above it, drawers for storage below and tea making facilities on a tray on top. These comprised two cups, several teabags, a generous amount of different types of coffee sachets and lots of packs of sugar. All these items were recognisable brand names and the tray and everything else were very clean (including inside the kettle.)

Under the window (which had blackout curtains) was a large two seater sofa, an additional comfortable chair, a small coffee table and a free-standing floor lamp. A generous double wardrobe held bathrobes, slippers and lots of coat hangers, as well as an ironing board, iron and unfolding suitcase stand. Even with all of this in the room, it still felt spacious with lots of space for us to move around.

The bathroom also did not disappoint. It was entirely fitted in white with a clean suite comprising a bath with mixer shower mounted above it, a toilet and a hand basin. The large mirror in there was well-lit and there was a nice selection of complimentary toiletries including bath/shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, cotton buds, a shower cap and a sewing kit. The shower maintained a constant temperature and a good water pressure. Towels were clean, large and in plentiful supply.

Once we had settled in I decided that I had to go down out one last cigarette before I could contemplate sleep. I was pleased to find a smoking area as close to the front door as it can legally be placed and with seating. When I came back in the gentleman on reception asked me if everything was OK and if I needed anything? I jokingly told him that "I could murder a tuna sandwich" and he told me that this would be no trouble and to find out what my husband wanted and call down so that he could arrange for it to be delivered to the room. I did so and in less than ten minutes two impressive plates of sandwiches arrived complete with full side salads and loads of crisps! I felt that at £7.50 each these were excellent value for money although myself and my husband were bemused at the five quarter triangles of sandwich we each had on our plates! Surely their wastage from doing this must be huge??

Before going to bed we realised that we had no idea what time breakfast was. A quick flick through the incredibly comprehensive information folder in the room told us this and everything else we could ever wish to know about The Bellhouse and the surrounding area!

Upon pulling back the bedspread to get into bed I was a little disappointed to find what looked like a very thin and useless duvet. However the info folder had said that it had some sort of special technology and sure enough it worked every bit as well as my 13 tog at home. We were comfortable and warm all night.

Breakfast the next morning was buffet-style and excellent. There was a full English, as well as cereal, a variety of pastries, a large fruit bar, yoghurt, toast and several different fruit juices to choose from. We were shown to a table with minimal fuss, the tea that I ordered arrived promptly whilst we were selecting our food and everything we ate was fresh, tasty and at the correct temperature. However I would not want to be the chef who balances all the beautifully poached eggs onto all the little triangles of fried bread!

After breakfast we returned to our room to pack where I realised that I was still covered in my wedding make-up and had no cotton wool to remove it with. A quick trip down to reception solved this where Yvonne dashed to the spa for me and reappeared in under two minutes with a large wodge for me to use!

This brings me to my only (very minor) complaint - your toiletries are lovely Bellhouse... but without squeezable bottles it is nigh on impossible to make use of them!

We checked out just before 11am, again with minimal fuss. There was a comfortable seating area in reception where we could wait for our taxi and plenty of space for our cases.

Our only other disappointment (apart from the lack of squidgy bottles!) was that our names were spelt incorrectly on the bill despite me having spelt it when making the booking. This should have been our first piece of paper addressed to "Mr & Mrs...." but sadly the hotel where we spent the rest of our honeymoon got that privilege instead!!

All-in-all I would highly recommend The Bellhouse. I just wish I could have stayed there long enough to experience the leisure facilities, bar and evening dining... all of which I would hope would have been just as good.

I would concur with JimD91's comments in every way,my wife and I attended the dinner on 20th December 2011 and stayed overnight at the hotel.From a wheelchair users perspective,the room was a little tight but more than adequate(room 120)and we had a very comfortable night.Breakfast was excellent with a full 'English'available along with a range of cereals,pastries,toast etc.
The dinner was excellent,with extremely good service.Access to the function room,for a wheelchair,was via a relatively complicated route,due to the unusual layout and size of the building,however the staff made this easy by escorting us in both directions,and operating the small lift in the function foyer.Our thanks to those who assisted us.
Overall a really good stay and this hotels best asset is its staff.

Have stayed a couple a times at this hotel for a big function/xmas party and its a good hotel with good facilities for any function. The function room is spacious and i seem to recall that there were other rooms available as well. The bar was reasonably well stocked with prices a little more expensive than usual either due to the xmas period or because of the location. The assistants brought in for the function performed very adequately. The hotel itself was enormous with its own spa/leisure centre and a decent bar area.
Rooms were of a satisfactory size with large screen TV but appeared a little bland in decor. Breakfast was a self serve buffet and there was a very good choice.
One positive is that there is ample free parking, a negative would be that it is a bit of a distance from the town. About £10 in the taxi to Beaconsfield.