Balmer Lawn Hotel

Romantic Birthday Break

The location of the hotel within the New Forest is its selling point, with easy access to both Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst. Our room was excellent with views over the cricket pitch to the front of the hotel. A couple of minor issues were raised with the staff after we got to the room but these were rectified immediately by the most helpful and friendly Reception Staff. Namely there were no dressing gowns in the room for use in the Spa and they had run out of slippers again for use in that facility. An issue that didn't get rectified however was the Room Safe which was reported as defective, but didn't get sorted during our stay.
The quality of the food at the evening meal was excellent, both the steak and mussels were exceptional.
Prior to check out I got a print out of the additional charges and when checked I identified an extra 50 had been added in error due to the wrong "customer code?" being used. Again this was removed after seeing my booking email by the very helpful Reception Staff. Overall an excellent stay and highly recommended. Really friendly and helpful staff who were a credit to the Hotel.

Excellent gourmet dining but ...

My sister and brother-in-law and my wife and I arrived early to have coffee before a walk in the New Forest, then back for lunch and spa treatments in the afternoon. The hotel is in a lovely area, and there are plenty of walks on good surfaces through the forest.
After coffee, we asked if it would be possible to check in slightly early, as we had treatments booked and it would be a much better experience if we could get settled before our start time (having been told that we needed to be in a holding lobby 15 minutes before our treatment times). We were delighted when we were told it should be possible as the previous guests had already checked out, and reception would check with housekeeping. We were told by reception they would send me a text.
We asked again at reception a couple of times, and the rather officious lady on reception told us the check in time was 3.00 pm (and basically, but not rudely, told us to go away).
Strangely enough, all the rooms became available at 3 pm so we then had to queue to check in, so had a rush to get into the rooms before treatments, and did not have time to change into the luxurious dressing gowns. The massages were good, somewhat spoiled by having treatments in bedrooms which were far from quiet, but the quality and friendliness of service was very good.
The rooms were absolutely splendid. We paid quite a lot to get balcony rooms, and it was unfortunate that the view was obscured by the awning above the outside seating area, but the rooms were really lovely.
Dinner in the evening was excellent. The food was top class, and the service from all the waiting staff we encountered was superb - friendly, knowledgeable and efficient. We had a thoroughly good evening, and all enjoyed the comfort of our rooms.
The breakfast experience was not great. This hotel is dog and children friendly, and, of course, the hotel cannot control these factors, but the noise from one dog that spent the whole meal yapping made us all want to finish and get out. We had come for a relaxing time after our father died, and wanted to be in a calm environment but this was anything but, compounded by one small child in wellies stamping up and down the restaurant, but it was the dog that really got us irritated.
Our final piece of the jigsaw was checking out. When it came to settling the bill, I checked with the same officious lady that the room deal contribution towards the meal had been deducted and she assured me it had, although this was not itemized. There was (again) a queue to check out, so I paid the bill, but on reflection it did not seem right. I queued again to query the sum as I did not think the room contribution had been properly treated, and the lady referred me to her manager, who spent some minutes in the back office before coming to see me. He started showing me receipts, but I was not querying what we had spent, only the deduction. He acknowledged there had been an error and refunded the sum on my card.
If you want luxury, this is nearly there, and I strongly recommend the dining experience.
It was an expensive one night stay, and I have come to expect good service when paying a lot, but the whole check in and check out process, together with the noise from dogs, has made this an experience I would not want to repeat.

Great Hotel , Great Location !!

We had a wonderful 3 night midweek stay at the Balmer Lawn Hotel and would thoroughly recommend it for your stay in the New Forest ..