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Cranage Hall (Cheshire)
by dkm1981 We stayed at Cranage Hall as part of a Travelzoo deal last week and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Cranage Hall is part of the Principal Hayley chain and has lots of facilities that make it a great place to stay. It also has a heavy focus on offering conference facilities and a place for weddings. The hotel is in a converted ... mansion in Cranage, near Holmes Chapel in Cheshire. It is very easily accessible as it is just a few minutes drive from the M6 motorway. There is plenty of free parking on site so arriving by car is probably the best way. The hotel is a convenient place to stay if you are visiting Jodrell Bank (5 minutes drive away), Tatton Park (20 minutes drive away) and Chester Zoo (35 minutes drive away). The drive up to the hotel impresses upon you what a lovely building it is and I would imagine it makes for some lovely wedding day photographs. There is a new build extension to the right of the hotel which is where the accommodations are all located. This building is attached to the old building so that you can walk all the way through without going outside, but most of the main facilities are located in the old part. The staff are very friendly, especially the ones at the front desk. They are knowledgeable and are happy to help you with bookings and questions about both the hotel and the surrounding area. We found that all of the staff were excellent, including those in the restaurant and the leisure centre. The rooms are very nice. we stayed in a standard room that had a double bed. It was comfortable and had everything we needed during our stay. The bed was nice and comfortable. i have read other reviews that said the beds were too hard, but we didn't find this to be the case at all. The bathrooms are well maintained and clean and there are lots of little toiletry bottles in there in case you have forgotten anything. One of my bugbears about hotel rooms is when they don't have a plug socket by the bed, but I am pleased to report that this wasn't a problem here as there was a socket at either side of the bed! The restaurant offers a selection of meals including burgers and more traditional dishes and is very enjoyable. The prices aren't too bad either with starters and desserts costing around five pounds each and main courses between twelve and twenty pounds. There was a set menu in the restaurant when we arrived and the waitress told us it was because there was a big group of people in and they tend to use this instead, but we were offered the option of the normal menu when we asked. It would have been nice to have been offered the full menu without having to ask, since we weren't part of the big group. Breakfast was excellent and included a wide selection of the usual things you would expect to see - hot buffet, fresh fruit, pastries, juices and coffee. The hot stuff was hot and the cold stuff was cold. i'd have been happy to pay for the breakfast if it hadn't have been included. There is a full leisure club there which you can become a member of separately and full use of which is included in the price of your stay. We used the swimming pool, hot tub and sauna whilst we were there, all of which were well maintained and in good working order. The swimming pool isn't very big. You can do lengths comfortably, but if there is any more that five people in there, it becomes a bit claustrophobic. There is no life guard on duty. There are lots of little areas for sitting and enjoying a drink during your stay, with big open fires surrounded by comfy arm chairs. There is also a bar area. The drinks aren't cheap, but no more expensive than you would expect in a hotel. As i said, we got it as part of a deal which included dinner, bed and breakfast as well as a bottle of wine and tickets to Tatton Park for £99 for two of us for one night. We thought this was exceptional value for money and were very pleased with our stay. we actually upgraded our Tatton Park tickets to chester Zoo ones for £5 each. The extras alone are worth more than the price of the stay. If you can't get the Travelzoo deal, they have lots of deals available directly that can include dinner, bed and breakfast and / or tickets to a local attraction for about £20 more. still good value. Read the complete review |
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Browns (London)
by nilo0901 We went to Hix for my birthday this year as my wife knows me to be a fan of unfussy, British food served in good portion sizes. Hix is part of a chain of restaurants in London, the one that we visited was in Mayfair and part of Brown's hotel. Hix is a smart establishment full of timeless style that seems to be very evident in this ... part of London with the likes of the Wolsey close by. With this it adds a touch of modernity and the decadent with works of art by contemporary British artists such as Tracy Emin adorning walls and corners. This leads to the restaurant in places having a slightly schizophrenic feel but by and large the juxtapositions work (although the neon sign at the end of the dining room was somewhat off putting). Amidst the art works you will find beautiful wooden paneling and pillars, enormous concrete fireplaces, marble hints and stylish upholstered seating. The dress code is smart casual - they don't insist on wearing a jacket but most there did so anything too casual i would think would seem out of place here. It's a very quiet restaurant with no music and little in the way of noise from fellow diners. It attracts an older crowd and businessmen so I don't think the kind of place likely to cater for large noisy parties. Conversation volume was kept by and large to a hushed whisper. We went for a weeknight dinner and the restaurant was about half full. Our reservation was for 8.30 and that seemed a popular time to dine here as most other diners arrived at a similar time. Upon arrival, we were greeted by doormen in smart attire that opened the door for us. Once inside, our coats were taken and we were shown to our seat which was in a comfortable side booth with an informal semi circular seat. We were promptly offered an aperitif and shown the menu. For our aperitif we both had champagne cocktails and both were classic and traditional but excellent. The range was largely a classic but extensive mix of cocktails and ours were made perfectly using decent dry champagne and fresh and fragrant ingredients. The menu as stated before is classically British an specializes in serving 'proper food'. There is no tiny morsel in the middle of a large white plate with a trail of sauce here. More likely are game pies, slabs of quality meat and a personal favourite of mine... Good old fish and chips. I can never resist the latter and thought the opportunity for a good posh fish and chips too good to refuse, so we both went with it (although the suckling pigs feast at £65 was tempting! As was a 3 course set menu at £32). I was surprised given the surroundings, that when my food arrived, it actually resembled fish and chips! A large golden coated filet with a healthy portion of triple cooked (what does that actually mean?) chips and mushy peas. The fish was very fresh and the batter wonderfully crispy and light. The chips were equally crisp in all their triple cooked glory - large, crispy and fluffy inside... And piping hot! The peas were not too earthy and very fresh and light. It was a wonderful fish and chips and although expensive at £18.75 (gasp!), not horrendously overpriced given where we were. To accompany it, we chose a fine Marlborough white wine from their very extensive list (numerous pages and a little too much to take in). This was pricey at around £45 but delightful and served perfectly chilled in an ice bucket. Service was generally helpful, polite and friendly. We were constantly asked if we needed help with any decision making, particularly with wine where they were only too happy to recommend - and not just the most expensive bottle on the menu! They were courteous and attentive without being too overbearing. The restaurant was immaculately clean and tidy. My only slight grumble would be that the lavatory was quite a way away from the restaurant itself, in the adjoining hotel. No big gripe but would have been nice to not have to have traveled so far. Overall though, top class and highly recommended if you like your food proper. Read the complete review |
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Hilton Hotel Blackpool
by carlz2001uk Myself and my mum have a girly break every year around April / May time when we take the girls away. We always opt for somewhere where there is plenty to do for the children, and this year it was decided that we would take the trip to Blackpool. Knowing full well we could probably go and stay somewhere for £20 a night, we really weren't ... interested in cost per se, and instead wanted somewhere that could offer us a bit more of an upmarket stay and avoid as best as possible any hen and stag do's. I've nothing against hen / stag dos (I've got two myself this year), however I didn't want my girls to be around them, so when we searched for hotels on a search engine and filtered to most expensive first (against every instinct I had!), we settled upon the Hilton which sat in the top three of the most expensive hotels in Blackpool (alongside The Big Blue and The Imperial). Price To be perfectly honest price wasn't even that bad. For £300 we had a 3 night stay in the Easter holidays with 2 adults and 2 children. This didn't include breakfast but more on that later! Booking was easy and we secured the booking with the Hilton directly, and received immediate confirmation. Payment was taken at the time of booking. Arrival Arriving at the Hilton wasn't too bad, my mum is an extremely nervous driver and for some reason I allowed her to drive, so after an extremely slow drive from Halifax to Blackpool, we arrived and realised we didn't know where the hotel was! I suggested we have a drive on the front anyway to gather our bearings and refresh our memories as to where the various attractions / restaurants we wanted to visit were. Aware that the hotel was near the North pier, we spotted the hotel in no time and were happy with its location which is just ever so slightly away from everything without being isolated! I would say it's a fair description that the hotel is one of the last main hotels on the seafront. A tram stop is literally right outside the hotel so don't let the fact that the hotel is in a quiet location put you off. Alternatively, we walked on the seafront to the nearest pier (The North) and it took us a leisurely 5/ 10 minutes. There is ample parking for residents of the hotel which is at a cost of £5 per night, added to your bill. We arrived at the hotel a few hours before our 3pm check in time, however we were still able to advise the hotel we were there and sort out booking in. they advised us to come back in a few hours and simply collect the room key. Check in was easy and the reception staff were friendly. We had booked our stay as a room only basis and were offered breakfast at £14 for two adults with the children eating for free. We didn't want to commit to breakfast on each of the three mornings, but the receptionist advised us that we could head down to reception on a morning when we wanted to eat at the hotel and simply buy a voucher for that day. The room When we eventually headed back to the hotel and collected our room key we realised we had been given a room with a sea view and on the fifth floor should have quite a nice view. We were literally at the other end of the rather large hotel though and it was a bit of a walk once out of the lift. Upon entering our room we were happy but not bowled over with the room. The children were basically sleeping on two camping beds and the mattresses were exceptionally thin. Had they not been 5 and 7 and weigh next to nothing, I would have perhaps made a bit of a fuss, but realised that for them they should be fine. The bed that me and my mum would be sharing was absolutely ginormous and between the two camp beds and the biggest bed I've ever set eyes on, it meant that there was little room left for us to move around in. the bathroom was clean but small with a very thin bath! The flat screen TV with freeview was handy for us with the children, so they could watch a little tv after a full day out. I did see the option for movies and thought I would allow them to purchase a film one evening but when I saw the price of £8 per film I realised they were obviously having a laugh. The films were not even new releases! Tea and coffee facilities were replenished daily, as were the rather generous offerings of toiletries in the bathroom. I have to admit to stealing the majority of these, for my upcoming trip to Las Vegas! I figured the handy travel sized bottles would save me space in my suitcase! The travel toothbrush and toothpaste was also taken, handy for freshening up after the long flight! Daily we were also left a bottle of still and sparkling water (Strathmore if I remember rightly) by housekeeping which was complimentary. We had brought quite a collection of juices and drinks of our own to save us unnecessarily spending whilst away, and unfortunately there wasn't a fridge in the room which I was surprised about. I did ask for an ice bucket from the bar which was given to me without question. This allowed us to cool our drinks each day. The other facilities in the room were the usual hair dryer, trouser press etc. An alarm clock was available but this had so many buttons on that we didn't even bother with it. The view was absolutely beautiful and on all our evenings we were lucky to watch the sun set in a completely clear sky. The room was clean and was cleaned daily. We had an unfortunate incident whereby my daughter was very ill one morning and unfortunately the majority of this 'illness' went all over her bed. Housekeeping were called and they didn't seem bothered one bit, in fact they even apologised to us?! We half expected our room to be charged but they didn't even mention it. We were given fresh towels daily, although we didn't ever seem to have enough for all four of us to use a large bath sheet each and on each day one of us always ended up with a teeny tiny towel! Two dressing gowns were available which I always love. Gym and Swimming Pool When looking at activities to do in Blackpool, we looked at the Sandcastle which is the largest indoor swimming pool with slides etc in the UK and did look fab. It was however on the expensive side and we figured that to make it worthwhile we would need to spend nearly the whole day there, but we had far too much other stuff to do that this wasn't an option. Given that the children are so young and my youngest has only just started swimming lessons, we figured that we would instead use the pool inside the hotel which would be free to use. Upon arriving at the swimming pool (heated), we were quite surprised at how small both the changing rooms and pool were. The changing rooms were almost inexcusably small and was very difficult to use. With one bench and only one cubicle, getting changed to go into the pool wasn't too bad but getting changed out of our swimming costumes was ridiculous. The floor seemed to lack drainage so was absolutely sodden and made getting dry extremely difficult. Our family of four used up pretty much all of the space but when another two families came out it was impossible, added to this was the traffic of people who had to walk through the drying area to get in and out of the pool area, this was the worst thought out changing area I've ever been in! There are lockers in here too but remember to bring change (we left handbags in the room) as you will need it to be able to lock them. There isn't any space poolside to leave belongings (or even towels for that matter). The pool is equally teeny tiny and is okay for the children to splash around in, but would take you approximately 3 seconds to swim from one side to the other! Imagine telling people you'd done 100 lengths of the pool! They'd think you were super fit! There is also a small steam room and sauna, both of which I took advantage of. You can only fit a few people in each though. We didn't make use of the gym, however it is accessible 24 hours a day. Dining Lounge Bar: On our first night we were tired and hadn't had the opportunity to find anywhere that we wanted to eat, so we headed back to the hotel and made our way to the relaxed lounge bar. Nervously looking at the menu, I realised there was nothing remotely appropriate for the children, but we didn't want the formality of the main restaurant (where there seemed to be a selection of children's food). My mum swiftly took charge and collared a poor waiter asking him what was available. 'What would the children like Madam, I am sure the chef will be happy to prepare them something fresh'! Talk about service! Before I had even had chance to glare at the children to make them order something that didn't make me sound like a bad mother, they had blurted out chicken nuggets and chips! Groaning to myself, I politely asked him to add veggie sticks to each plate and off he toddled! When their food arrived, it looked like the chef had gone out and caught the chicken too, they were 100% freshly made and I could have quite happily tucked into them myself. I however had ordered a Thai Green Curry while my mum had opted for the Cumberland sausage and mash. Both were absolutely delicious although on the expensive side at around £15 a main, the portions were generous and the taste exceptional. Wine in the Lounge Bar is absolutely ridiculously priced with a small glass of wine costing around £5 and a large around £8. Bottles were not available to buy. Live entertainment seemed to be in the Lounge Bar nightly however we were back in the room with the children before this started. During the day (or on an evening if you wish), you can also grab a Costa coffee from this bar. Waiters are dotted all over the place so no need to go to the bar yourself. Promendae Restaurant: A more formal area of dining, this is where you will find breakfast served and it turns into a formal dining area on an evening serving either an A la Carte or buffet. We were fortunate enough to find a deal online which saved us half price against the buffet menu which should have been around £25 a head. This gave us a 3 course meal with soup, salad bar, delicious choices on the main meal section and extremely tempting deserts (so tempting I chose two deserts!). Breakfast is equally as tempting with so much choice that you won't know where to begin! One morning I ate muesili, followed by a grapefruit followed by a delicious cooked breakfast and then a blueberry muffin! I was still full at teatime! A selection of fresh juices and teas and coffee are served by waiters, all of whom we found to be exceptionally helpful. My youngest daughter asked for fresh orange juice on the first morning and when it came with bits in she turned her nose up. The waiter was not fazed in the slightest and offered to get her some smooth orange juice, and even came back with a straw too. Checkout This was easy and straight forward. Check out is at 12pm which gives you enough time that you are not rushing. Anything else? The Hilton at Blackpool has been awarded a Green Tourism (Silver) Award. The Business centre and 11 multipurpose meeting rooms are available with wireless internet access. Function space for 800 guests available. Final Thoughts While the rooms are not the most luxurious I have ever stayed in, our stay was for me made up of exceptional service in nice surroundings with fantastic food and friendly staff. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending this hotel and will happily return. Local Attractions Blackpool Tower, including the Tower Eye, 4D Cinema experience and Tower Dungeons Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Nickelodeon Land Blackpool Illuminations Madame Tussauds Waxwork Museum Blackpool Zoo Address North Promenade Sea Front, Blackpool FY1 2JQ, United Kingdom TEL: 01253 623 434 Read the complete review |
Hotel National |
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1 review Address: Wilmcote / Hotel National / Stratford-Upon-Avon CV37 9XJ / Warwickshire |
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2 reviews Address: Newbridge Street / Hotel National / Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8BS / Tel: 0871 527 8802 |
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Address: Woods Hill Limpley Stoke / Hotel National / Bath BA2 7FZ / Tel: 08457 76 76 76 |
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1 review Address: 29 Crescent Avenue / Hotel National / Whitby / North Yorkshire / Y021 3EW / England / Tel: +44(0) 1947 601569 |
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1 review Address: Baxtergate / Hotel National / Whitby / North Yorkshire / YO21 1BN / Tel: 08432 893 947 |
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1 review Address: 228 Willowbrae Road / Hotel National / Edinburgh / Scotland EH8 7NG / Tel: 0871 527 8370 |
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1 review Address: A449 Southbound / Hotel National / Shorthill Nurseries / Hartlebury / Kidderminster / Worcestershire / DY13 9SH / Tel: 0871 984 6079 |
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1 review Hotel National / A 2 or 3 room B&B in the carriage house of a stately home |
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1 review Address: Granary Wharf, 2 Wharf Approach Leeds, LS1 4BR / Hotel National / Tel: +44 (0)113 241 1000 / Stars: 4 |
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1 review Address: Summerhill Harvester & Innkeeper's Lodge Dudley Kingswinford / Hotel National / Swindon Road / Kingswinford / West Midlands DY6 9XA / Tel: 0845 11 26 069 |
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