 |
Hotel Green Bough (Chester)
by Chantilly
If you are looking for a perfect weekend "get away from it all" experience this is the place to go. In the recent past I have stayed in 4* Hotels and the Green Bough is, without a doubt, the best. Nothing is too much trouble, you only have to ask and it is done.
The greeting at Reception, whether by the owners or ... staff, is warm and friendly. You are shown to your room and invited to partake of tea or perhaps some other refreshment and maybe watch a DVD. I was meeting my friends for dinner and as I had time to spare beforehand I was able to relax with refreshments and a DVD.
My room consisted of a sitting room in which there was a settee and TV. In the bedroom itself there was four-poster bed (the most comfortable one I have slept in!) with a welcoming Teddy on it, a spacious wardrobe (containing two bathrobes), full-length mirror, dressing table (with a hairdryer in one of the drawers), flat screen TV with radio and DVD player. Tea and coffee were on the dressing table.
The bathroom was a good size with plenty of hot water and the soap, hand-wash, bath, shower and shampoo are by Elemis. Wonderful and a nice quality touch to the stay. Everything was clean and shining.
The dinner was excellent with the staff being attentive in the right way. We were able to enjoy our meal and have conversations between ourselves. The choices on the menu were mouth-watering and the selection of wines and spirits extensive.
As for breakfast, it was the best English one I have ever had in a Hotel and I made this comment to the Janice. I was pleased to learn that the Green Bough has been given an award for their breakfast - and very well deserved.
I left for home towards lunchtime and I felt that I had been away for a lovely, leisurely weekend instead of just one night. I would highly recommend this for a weekend away or an even a longer holiday. There is so much to visit and see with the historic City of Chester only a 10 minute walk away. What could be better after a day's sightseeing than returning to the Greenbough for an evening of relaxation, wonderful food and excellent service.
Read the complete review |
 |
The Old Vicarage (Ambleside)
by hilly123
When staying in ambleside I usually go for a week and get a cottage however only going for one night and we wanted something a bit better than a usual guesthouse so looking on the website I chose this one. They only had a superior room available which was £110 for two people B&B but the facilities and details on the website looked ... promising so I booked it.
Location
Just off vicarage road, close to the church. Some great walks straight from the doorstep so no need to use your car once there. The local fish & chip shop is the closest shop which is approx 25 metres from door and then after that there are a steady stream of restaurants, bars, shops all one after the other. The location is perfect.
Property
The guest house itself stands on a fantastic site. There are little path ways running of from the main drive way with secluded seating areas for people to enjoy the piece and quiet. Birdtables and other wildlife encouraging items are dotted around which can make a cup of tea and a piece of cake very enjoyable.
Inside I thought it looked a bit like a residential home. It was chintzy and a bit run down and a weird smell which I still cannot identify. Residents were welcome in the lounge and I suppose it was fairly comfortable but I would not want to spend a great amount of time in there.
The house itself has lots of little corridors running of it, with owls everywhere....not sure why!! There were dvd's, videos and games dotted around as well which is a good idea if the weather is bad or even if you have children staying with you to help occupy them.
Free car parking so no problem parking here as lots of places.
Facilities
A small swimming pool of approx 12 metres is in a basement with a sauna and Jacuzzi, great after a hard days walking and very relaxing. These close at 7pm but are open throughout the day and is in a very clean environment.
A conservatory with underfloor heating with lovely views of the fells so if a bit chilly outside a comfortable place to sit.
Rooms
As I say I stayed in a double superior. This was a good size with a wide screen tv with dvd and video, a king size bed and a lovely window overlooking ambleside. The bathroom had a Jacuzzi bath and a decent shower which felt great after a hard slog on the fells. Bath robes and slippers were also in the room along with tea coffee making facilities. The robes, towels etc did look and feel as though they had seen better days and to be honest I was a bit disappointed by the lack of luxury in the room as for £110/night which is not an insignificant amount I had expected better. There was hand soap in the bathroom, but no little bottles of anything, no cotton wool or any of the nice touches that I think should have been there. The bed was awful. It was hard and uncomfortable, and the choice of pillows was either 1cm thick or 10cm thick, nothing in between. I had a dreadful night sleep and this was directly attributable to the bed.
Breakfast
This was good, cereal, juice, tea/coffee, cooked breakfast. It wasn't the best I've ever had but certainly not the worst. It came promptly was well cooked, and hot when it arrived and was tasty as well. Nice little touches such as home made preserves and home baked bread may have been nice though as I have had these in other guest houses and you can certainly tell the difference.
Service
It was ok, not fantastic. When I checked out I told them about the bed, I was polite and just said that they may one to take a look at it. The guy I spoke to basically said there was nothing wrong with it and showed no interest whatsoever that one of his guests had not enjoyed their stay. I had also ordered a refreshments and had to remind them as they forgot to bring it, not a hugely negative thing but in a hospitality role not that positive either.
Overall an ok stay but too expensive for what it was and wouldn't go back. There is too much competition to be having this much of an average stay for this kind of price in Ambleside.
Read the complete review |
 |
Express by Holiday Inn Hotel (Birmingham)
by ridgeway27
I stayed here last year when I went out for a friend's birthday, but when it came to leaving at the end of the night - I saw that my car was covered with snow and in the short journey to dropping a friend home I witnessed an accident and nearly got involved with another... As a result - it was decided (for me....!) that I shouldn't risk ... driving back so late at night, and instead stay over. After making quite a few calls to a few hotels at 3am - luckily this one had availability, and I managed to find it without too many more car related issues (a point to mention is that it is very close to the M6 motorway...)
Check in was ok enough - because I had telephoned, they had held my place on the booking system, and it was the case that I needed to give them my credit card (in case of additional expenditure/as a guarantee) and paid for the room in cash... It cost £55 if I remember correctly, which wasnt so bad considering it was a late booking but they obviously knew I wasnt going to be there too long either...
The lobby was open and well-lit -just a mention about the car park - I'm glad it was big enough because there was so much snow and I was slip-sliding everywhere (especially as I was dressed for a night out with heels and a dress... and not in reasonable snow-type shoes/clothes!)... It was quiet, but I guess at 4am or thereabouts that was to be expected. I was given my key card and off I went to my room.
The room was open enough, spacious and I loved the bathroom - well, I know it sounds crazy, but the loo could have a separate door, so if there were two people staying then you could use the loo, and the shower/sink area is still open and usable... but, you could also just close the door on the entire bathroom and hav it all to yourself - it;s difficult to explain but is a good feature for more than one person in the room, or so I felt!
the decor was nice enough - the room was actually a little dark/not well lit - but having staying in more Holiday Inn's since, I think this is just how they choose to have their rooms.....
I went to sleep, and the bed was comfortable enough and requested a wake-up call in the morning which I got, so tht was great.
One thing that Holiday Inn do offer premium card holder guests is the ability to have a late check out (up until 6pm when I stayed) - I dont know if this depends on what their bookings for the following day look like or they offer it regardless, but this meant that I could sleep properly and shower up (they have 'Dove' shower gel readily available in the shower area and 'Dove' handwash at the sink) and have other bits that you can buy like toothbrush/toothpaste..... I had a friend turn up with toiletries in the morning so I didn't need to worry about this, or find out the prices - so unsure if they are reasonable or not (sorry!)
I also ate lunch, and watched the football..... they have a lounge area with a TV and set the channel to the one we requested, and the menu seemed to be reminiscent of a bar/pub. We ordered our food, which was nice enough I suppose - it was, as I say, like pub food.... prices were around £7 each for the food, and then drinks were on top (I can;t recall the price of the drinks - probably because my friend went back and paid for those separately and I didn't think to ask at the time) - but the staff were pretty relaxed about us sticking around to watch the rest of the match, and just lounge around!
The hotel was pretty quiet though - apart from a couple I didn't see anyone else while we were sat there for almost two hours - so for a quiet break (bearing in mind snowy conditions outside) it was not bad!
All in all, they accommodated me at a ridiculous time in the morning, and the room had the amenities I required considering the stay wasn't planned. Food was available, as was entertainment, and the staff were friendly and accommodating enough. The fact that I had the room for longer than standard guests helped an awful lot given the time I had arrived (I hate checking out later than they allow) but the low lighting was a little bit annoying in the daytime... I prefer having a brighter area - but that is a personal preference, and I was able to go into the bathroom which was very well lit.
Read the complete review |
