The Wood Norton

such a shame

We have stayed at the Wood Norton several times before over the years. On some occasions it has been excellent, on others (and this was one of them) not good. The staff are charming and very apologetic when things go wrong, but it doesn't alter the fact that the stay is spoilt. Our evening meal was considerably more expensive that when we last visited (in November), the menu choice was limited, we were kept waiting an hour and a half for our main course and when it arrived the food was
not good. The Caesar salad was slimey and so full of anchovies that the fishy taste was overwhelming and my pork was so dried out it was like eating [] Such a shame.

Disappointing

We booked 2 Luxury Executive rooms. Our friends' room was of this type but ours was under the eaves, dark, we had to have the lights on whenever we were in the room, and there was a profuse leak each time a bath was run.

Wonderful hotel but poor management

The hotel itself is beautiful and we stayed in one of the main suites in the manor which was large albeit very dark as it was on the side of the hotel and looking onto a load of building rubbish and cleaning utensils were dumped there, which was not great to look at, although we did have a nice view looking left towards the side front. It was surrounded by trees so fairly quiet except for constant hum from generator which we thought might be situated underneath us. Bathroom quite cold and radiator not always on to dry towels and with mosaic floor very cold and again poor lighting no toilet brush to clean the toilet even in the main wc`s. Plenty of coffee & tea in room but we didn't want to sit there during the day due to lighting and being cold spent most of time sitting around bar which is out of keeping with rest of d cor and uninviting. Had log fires which were unlit so didn't help. The weather outside was sunny and warm for end of March this year but needed some heating in evenings so a fire would have been good. Reception area was like a little box stuck in the porch. There did not appear to be any sort of management of staff particularly in the restaurant. My husband booked an expensive bottle of Prosecco to be waiting in the room on our arrival to celebrate our wedding anniversary which didn't materialise so we asked for a refund on the bill, this was not done and we had to mention it 3 times until it was settled on booking out but we got the feeling they didn't believe we hadn't had it. The first night we waited over an hour for starters and eventually served with the main course and had to wait again for starters. Next evening we didn't take a chance and ordered mains only and waited l.50 hours and staff kept apologising and told us they had trouble with the ovens keep going out. I had chicken wrapped in bacon and the bacon was uncooked so was worried the chicken wasn't cooked and sent it back and assured it was, couldn't see if it was properly cooked through as it looked and felt like it needed longer so only ate small amount. Next night same thing happened again and there were only 10 people eating and when we mentioned it to reception next day about the ovens she said nothing wrong with the ovens it was because most people elected to only order mains and meant they could not stagger the cooking! Out of the three nights we spent there only one night the restaurant was fairly busy. The staff were all inexperienced and young although they were very apologetic and offered us a free drink or dessert to make up for the delays, they didn't really know what to do and no knowledge of wines. The lighting again is very poor, although the menu was fairly good and the fish and chips excellent it really needs a shake up with management. How they cope with weddings I hate to imagine. Its a shame as it is a wonderful building and very pleasant well kept gardens and terrace would be lovely in summer. There are plenty of National Trust places to visit and we went to Croome house and RAF tea rooms which was interesting and not too far to drive to. Shame about the service as it rather spoilt the occasion and after a long drive to get there we were disappointed. Would emphasise the staff were very cheerful but the lack of overall management is the main fault with this hotel otherwise it could be a wonderful place.