Just For Adults! (Warner Holidays)

Member Name: KathrynPenguin

Product:	Warner Holidays
Date:	13/07/01 (3045 review reads)
Rating:

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With our first wedding anniversary fast approaching hubby decided that we should have a romantic break to celebrate. After looking around on the Internet, I suggested to him that he try and book for Warner's historic hotel, Holme Lacy House, near Hereford.

~~~ Just For Adults ~~~
Warner's have been around for a long time and until recent years were just another holiday company like Butlins & Pontins. Then they decided to go Adult Only and the result is all your holiday camp favorites but with no kids running around noisily. Heaven for us, last year we had a break in Bath where a pleasant evening meal was totally ruined by six uncontrolled children running up and down screaming and shouting, didn't bother their parents who were in a function room! Today Warner's have a number of classic resorts, character hotels and historic hotels where adults can enjoy a pleasant child-free break. Whichever resort you choose you can expect the same high standards of facilities and entertainment.

~~~ Booking ~~~
Before booking a Warner holiday, you should take time to visit their website www.warnerholidays.co.uk. Here you will find many price reductions listed and also if you quote the web booking reference you get a discount, but there is no online booking. To book we phoned the customer care centre and booked over the phone. As it was a romantic break we opted for a feature room called a "Royale Suite" which came complete with a four poster bed and Jacuzzi, at least that’s what Dave was told when he booked.

~~~ Arrival ~~~
We arrived at Holme Lacy in the middle of a rainstorm, it was really coming down. I was pleased to see that although you are not allowed to park right in front of the hotel you are allowed to leave the car there whilst you unload and check in. There were smartly dressed porters on hand to help with your luggage and show you to your room, we grabbed one straight away. When we checke
d in Dave asked for a "Warner's account card", basically a cardboard card with your signature and room number on which allows you to charge all your hotel expenses to your room. The porter then showed us to the restaurant where we were given details of our table allocation. Then we were delivered to our suite.

~~~ The Suite ~~~
Our suite was beautiful, the King Charles 1st suite (he slept at the house in 1645). A king sized four poster bed, which was so high I had to climb into it. I found plenty of wardrobe space and drawer space as well as a nice dressing table. The bathroom was huge, but there was no Jacuzzi! Dave asked at reception and whoever he spoke to when he booked was obviously clueless as this particular hotel doesn't have any Jacuzzis, a shame but I had a great time anyway.

~~~ Company ~~~
When you go to Warner's be prepared for an older age group. We were aware that this would be the case but we wanted a romantic break, not a wild time with people we met so it suited us just fine. I have to say though I have never seen so many electric wheelchairs in one place. I'll tell you though, the gray rinse brigade put us to shame as we dragged ourselves off to bed, exhausted at 10pm every night whilst they danced the night away. It was certainly perfect for our break, as my father had died a few days ago I didn't really want to be chatting to a lot of strangers and making friends.

~~~ Food ~~~
All Warner holidays are on a half board basis. The hotel had several restaurants and you were allocated a table in one on your arrival. Our table was a lovely table for two, on its own just in front of the fireplace. Other tables for two were actually a foot away from the next table, but everyone seemed to like chatting to their neighbors. Breakfast is a full English buffet, freshly cooked pancakes and waffles, cereal selection, fruit juice, and items like kippers from the kitchen –
certainly plenty to choose from. The evening meals are three courses and you can chose from the carvery, salad bar or have dishes delivered from the kitchen by your waitress. Again plenty of choice and plenty to fill you up. There was also an a la carte restaurant available at an extra charge. If you wanted a snack during the day, sandwiches and afternoon tea was available (at a charge) from the bar.

~~~ Facilities ~~~
The hotel had all the facilities you would expect from a first class hotel. There was an indoor swimming pool, whirlpool, sauna, steam room and solarium. Also there was a beauty salon, where for the bargain price of £58 I spent three hours being massaged, manicured, pedicured and generally pampered (Dave will be paying this off for years). There were also two bars, plenty of lounges and a hotel shop. There is even a large selection of board games if you just want to make your own entertainment.

~~~ Activities ~~~
This is where Warner's years of experience with the holiday camps come into play. During our weekend stay there was archery, bowls, croquet, tennis, fencing, fishing, aerobics, aqua aerobics, line dancing, fun casino, quizzes and load of other free activities. We didn't do a lot but we did play fun blackjack and roulette (fun because they give you the chips rather than you paying for them – they don't have a gaming license) and a number of quizzes. Would you believe it Dave and I, the youngest couple there won the 60's music quiz!

~~~ Entertainment ~~~
Entertainment is nightly at Warner's. Throughout the season you will find special theme weekends such as Jazz or big band if you are interested. Also they book a number of "Stars" to perform such as Kid Creole & The Coconuts and Jools Holland. Ours was not a special weekend so in the evening we found it started with ballroom dancing, followed by a caberet act. On our anniversary there was Bingo before the
caberet, Dave and I were very disappointed to find it was just one measly game though (move over granny, we love bingo).

~~~ Bad Points ~~~
I couldn't write this opinion without mentioning the bad points. Our weekend was a particularly hot one and the hotel had no air conditioning, which is understandable given that it’s a listed building. The dining room was unbearably hot though, and many people skipped dessert just to get out of there. Also it was just as hot in the "pavilion" where the entertainment was, although that is not part of the historic building but a recent addition, it still had no air conditioning. The other bad point was the service in the restaurant, not only was in unbelievably slow (it took me ½ hour to get a pot of tea one breakfast) the waitresses were all foreign. By this I mean that English was not their first language, in fact I don't think it was our waitresses second language as she hardly spoke a word, we had to point at what we wanted on the menu for her to copy down. We suffered with wrong orders, several times.

~~~ Value for Money ~~~
This weekend break actually cost us more than our recent week in Spain, but the Spain trip was a real cheapy. The cost for two people was a little over £400, but that was with a feature room, with a standard room it would have been around £320. Drinks were not cheaply prices with a pint of lager costing about £2.45 and a bottle of Moet & Chandon costing £33 (and we drank 3 bottles on our anniversary – OUCH). Overall though I do think it was good value for money, a similar hotel room elsewhere would have cost a lot more and the drinks are often more expensive than this in hotels too.

~~~ The Bottom Line ~~~
I loved my weekend away. It was just what I needed to help me celebrate at a difficult time. It was relaxing and peaceful without any children around. The activities, entertainment and food were all great. I'll be goin
g back to Warner's again, next time I'm going to try Cricket St Thomas, the house where they filmed "To The Manor Born".

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