Orestone Manor

Excellent food in this quirky hotel

We had a very underwhelming welcome which was a bit disconcerting. Our room was very musty as though it hadn t been aired for a while and the bathroom although clean never smelt fresh. The decor was quite good but there were stains on the carpet by the dressing table. The bed was made up so the duvet cover only came up to your waist when you were in it!
The food at breakfast and dinner throughout our stay was exceptional and the waiting staff were very friendly and helpful.
The atmosphere in the lounge areas lacked warmth and there is a strange collection of ornaments and furniture, because of this we did not feel we wanted to spend anytime in the hotel other than to eat and subsequently planned our days so we were out until dinner. We hope in time that more attention will be given to the grounds as they could be beautiful but are very lacking in charm and plants at the moment.

Excellent restaurant, shame about the rooms

This hotel could be excellent but it is severely let down by the tatty rooms which badly need updating, especially the bathrooms. We really did not expect to have to stand in the bath to have a shower with a curtain! However, the staff are friendly and helpful and the restaurant is excellent with different choices each night. The breakfast was OK - the hot food was not particularly exciting. The hotel badly needs investment and modernising and the 'shabby chic' needs to be thrown out.

So Much Potential

We stayed at Orestone Manor as a birthday surprise for my partner. After reading TripAdvisor reviews and the description on their website I had high expectations, but I was left disappointed.

We stayed in the garden room, first impressions were good. Lovely four poster bed, but some aspects of the room (in particular the bathroom) look a bit tired and could do with updating. The hot tub was fantastic, but there are time restrictions on its use (which I hadn t seen mentioned anywhere before our arrival).

Included in our package was a bottle of champagne in our room. I was disappointed to find out that it was Lidl s own brand. It took away the feeling of luxury, knowing that it was from a supermarket which is famous for being inexpensive.

We also had a three course set menu in the restaurant. This was lovely and very well presented, but I felt that it wasn t of the same standard as the sample menu on their website which sounded delicious, although I realise that this could be down to personal taste. We were booked in for 7.30 and finished eating at around 9pm. We were the only people in the restaurant and felt a little rushed when the music was switched off while we were eating. I jokingly said that I thought they were trying to get rid of us........... We went back to our room to relax. When we got into bed we found that the quilt was too small for the bed. We also found that the advertised sky TV package in the room did not work. The booklet in the room gives a number for reception which is manned for 24hrs. We rang hoping to get a new duvet, but couldn t get an answer so we decided to walk around to reception instead, it was now about 9.20pm. The doors to the hotel and restaurant were all locked and everything was in darkness so we went back to our room and slept in the middle of our super king bed so that we both remained under the duvet. We did complain to reception about this when we checked out the next morning. The staff were extremely polite and apologetic and they took the bottle of wine that we had ordered with dinner off our bill to make up for it, which I wasn t expecting and was a nice touch. The breakfast included in the price we paid was lovely.

This place has all the right ingredients to be a fantastic hotel, if only they pay attention to the small details as these are the things that can make or break a visit.