The Swan at Lavenham Hotel & Spa

Special occation

We booked the hotel to celebrate our Ruby Wedding Anniversary. We had stayed previously and were not disappointed on our return. The whole ambience is one of friendliness with all the staff making you welcome and at ease. The food was excellent at all meals. Will certainly go back again at some time.

A good deal at The Swan in Lavenham

My wife & I were booked in on a Sunday & Monday using an offer in the Daily Telegraph. The deal covered bed, breakfast & evening meals, plus afternoon tea and tickets to the Gainsborough Museum. The staff could not have been more helpful and the hotel has a lovely ambience. We found the location delightful and Lavenham to be especially pretty. The afternoon tea was excellent, with a good choice of either sweet or savoury. We were somewhat full afterwards and decided it would be better to defer our evening meal from 7:30 to 8:00. Whatever you do in Lavenham you must try dinner in the Swan; the food was excellent, beautifully presented and delicious. My wife is vegetarian and had no problems obtaining meat free meals, which she pronounced as excellent. The Swan can expect us to return in the not too distant future.

Disappointing stay

We arrived to be given a small four poster room and a porter who couldn't carry two bags as he'd hurt his shoulder. After visiting reception twice, as the phone in the room wasn't working, and explaining we had paid extra for a Gainsborough room we were assured that was what we had been given but after some discussion were moved to a larger room which was better but with no tea and coffee facilities as described on the website. We had booked dinner at 8pm each night in the bar, as we have a dog, but the hotel had our booking as 8.30pm in the restaurant. Afternoon tea was also included in our package which we booked with reception for 3pm on Sunday. When we arrived they had no record of it but did manage to rustle up a very mediocre tea which was certainly not good value had we been paying for it. Overall a disappointing stay. I feel the hotel relies on its reputation and looks rather tired. It is certainly overpriced and we shall not be returning. The Spa however is delightful.