I have just returned from a stay at the Best Western Ufford Park Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort, having attended a wedding here on Saturday. The hotel itself is located just outside the town of Woodbridge in Suffolk. We travelled here from North Wales and it took us a total of 5 and a half hours to get here due to the traffic. Therefore after a long drive we just wanted to relax and chill out on arrival where we were meeting our friends.

Our first impressions of the hotel were good. The hotel looks very large, but in fact has only 86 bedrooms, which isnt that many for such a large hotel I thought. The reception is clearly signposted outside and there is a large car park which can accomodate up to 200 cars and in addition there is also space for coaches or minibuses. The reception was large and spacious and there are numerous leaflets for local attractions should you be wanting to explore the local area. Check in was fast and easy and we were directed to our room. The only gripe I have with reception was that one of the girls was talking on the phone to another member of staff about a couple who had complained about a room. She was being very unprofessional and was being very disrespectful about this couple which isnt a nice thing to be listening to whilst checking in.

Our room was a family room which was large and spacious and had a double bed and a single bed. The room was located at the front of the hotel and had large velux windows in the sloping roof which opened widely. This was great as the room was so hot with no air conditioning, so it helped in the evening in trying to cool the room down. The downside of these windows is that when it has rained heavily, water has obviously seemed through as there are large patches of damp on the surrounding walls which isnt the most attractive thing to have featuring in your room. As I mentioned previously, there is no air conditioning. There was a ceiling fan and also a conventional rotating fan stored in the wardrobe. Whilst these did help cool you down, I think air conditioning would have been much better. Our room had a large wardrobe, trouser press, ironing board and iron, tea and coffee making facilities, a large dressing area and a television. The bathroom was ok, not very modern and looked quite dated, but had everything you would need. From a health and safety perspective though, they have attached some large bottles of shower gel and shampoo to the wall, which is located above the hand rail to help you get in and out of the bath, and as a result these drip down onto the handrail causing it to be very slippy. Therefore, anyone having to rely on this handrail to help them get out of the bath could find it both difficult and dangerous. As they are attached to the wall, it is impossible for you to relocate them. There were only two medium sized towels in the bathroom also as opposed to a selection of bath towels and hand towels that you get in most other hotels, however we were provided with more on request. Our room was located on the second floor, which is the same floor as the main function room for weddings and parties and as a results this area of the hotel can get quite noisy late into the night. With having to have the windows open also to cool the room, we could hear everyone coming and going throughout the night along with the shouting and boistrusness of party guests outside.

The resturant was nice, you can have a choice of an a'la carte menu or the bar menu. We chose to eat from the bar menu and ordered a club sandwich each and two sides orders of fries. This came to a total of £26 including two drinks, however had the menu been a bit more clearer then it would have cost a bit less than this. The menu doesnt tell you that the club sandwich already comes served with fries it just says sandwich, so we ordered the two side orders of fries which we ended up just giving to other members of our party. The food was very nice and enjoyable despite the confusion. It did take 20 minutes to actually order, but once we had ordered the food then came relatively quickly. The staff in the bar area seemed quite miserable and rude and we found this to be quite consitent with the majority of staff throughout the hotel.

The breakfast buffet selection was fine, the sausages which are locally produced were delicious. The tables were very scratched however and not the nicest in appearance. Both tables we had on each morning of our stay were also propped up with a wad of serviettes underneath the table legs to stop them from wobbling. There is a choice of a hot buffet as well as a small selection of pastries, cereals, fruit and a variety of juice. Tea and coffee is also provided for you upon request.

The wedding meal was absolutely delicious and the roast chicken dinner was probably one of the nicest meals I have had. Again though, the staff seemed really unhappy to be working and there were no smiles or politeness whilst serving.

On the Saturday morning of our stay, we decided to make use of the leisure facilities. There is a spa on site which was quite busy with hen parties on the Saturday, and there is a price list available on the leisure reception. The pool, hot tub and gym facilites are free to use for guests, all other facilities are charged for and require booking in advance. We used the pool and the hot tub. You have to sign in at reception and you can also collect towels from here. What the lady at reception doesnt tell you though is that you require £1 for the lockers so I ended up just having to leave my clothing on one of the benches as I hadnt taken any money with me. Luckily I also had no valuables on me, otherwise I would have had to have ventured back to the room again. The pool was very quiet and there is a lifeguard present. The water temperature felt cool at first but became very comfortable after a few minutes. It isnt very deep either making it good for non-confident swimmers. I myself am 5'3 and could comfortably walk from one end of the pool to the other.

The grounds the hotel is based in are lovely and it is situated amongst a large golf course. We didnt make use of this, but several other members of our party did and they said it was fantastic.

Overall, the hotel was ok, it cost us a total of £173 for 2 nights including breakfast, but in my opinion this is overpriced. The hotel staff are miserable and unwelcoming throughout the hotel, which doesnt help to make it a great experience. I personally wouldn't stay here again out of choice, unless it was for the convenience of attending a wedding here again.