A steal at Yorkshire's only 5* golf resort! (De Vere Oulton Hall Hotel (Leeds))

Member Name: low_rider

Product:	De Vere Oulton Hall Hotel (Leeds)
Date:	19/04/09 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely hotel, excellent facilities, we had a wonderful time

Disadvantages: The room was not 5* standard; barely 4*.

As the future Mrs. F hit the dreaded 21 this month (already she believes her youth is half past her), I thought that we should do something special. Then travelzoo popped its weekly top 20 travel deals email into my inbox, and on the list was a special offer giving two people the chance to spend a night in a double room at Oulton Hall in Leeds, complete with a three course meal, a bottle of wine in the room and a spa treatment, all for £79 per person. Considering that we have paid £115 for a night in a shabby 3 star hotel before, this rate seemed excellent, and so after a bit of research, we decided to go for it.

The hotel:

Oulton Hall is a converted mansion dating from the 18th century near Rothwell, in Leeds. It spent a short period of time as a mental health institution but is now a 5* luxury hotel; indeed, it claims that it is the only 5* golf resort in Yorkshire. Recent refurbishments have equipped it with not only an 18 hole golf course, but also a new top of the range spa, gym, pool, sauna etc.

On Arrival:

On check-in (from 3pm onwards) the hotel staff were very friendly. Unfortunately there had been a bit of confusion about the spa treatments included in our package; I had rang to arrange a time but had got through to an answering machine, which promised me that someone would ring me back if I left a message. I did leave one, including my contact number, asking them to ring me so we could arrange a time. They never did ring back. When we checked in at 4pm, the concierge assumed that we had just been to our treatment, as it had apparently been booked for 3pm. However, we were assured that it could be rearranged, and that either we could see the spa staff ourselves, or they could ring us in the room. We opted to see them, and refusing any help with our bags, set off.

The hotel itself is very impressive to look at; a beautiful imposing building. The lobby is clean, and to get to the bedrooms you head through into a large reception hall, complete with chairs, sofas, and a beautiful piano, as well as a lovely staircase. Paintings hang from the wall, and antique furniture abounds - it does look excellent. Finding our rooms proved to be a bit of a maze; the wings of the hotel are very long and the intersections all look the same. Eventually we found it (really we should have opted to have our luggage taken to the room, and then we would have had a guide!), and let ourselves in.

The Room:

The room, to be honest, was a little disappointing, considering that this was a 5* hotel. It was a standard double, and although very generous in size, the decor wasn't all that much to look at. The carpet was a rather grim greyish zig-zag pattern that somewhat put me in mind of a travelodge, and the bathroom was on the small side and looked like it hadn't been done in a while - yellowish tiles etc. Shower gels, soaps, shampoo and moisturisers were included, but a lot of what you would expect to be provided as part of the room in such a hotel - a bottle of water, writing pads etc - weren't, although we did find our bottle of wine waiting for us. The furniture was mostly pine, and looked well made, if not the most attractive, and a tea service was provided. The tv had a Playstation remote attached as apparently Playstation games are available; however, they are pay-per-play games so we decided not to opt for it! A nice touch was the inclusion of an ironing board, iron and trouser press (they get a lot of businessmen staying) as well as a golf putter and an electronic putting platform - one of those target things which shoots the ball back out if you putt it. Neither I nor the future Mrs. F are golfers so we didn't really take advantage of that or the golf course, so I won't comment on the standards of golf.

The Food:

We were booked for dinner at 8 o'Clock in the Grill restaurant. The dress code is smart - no jeans or trainers, preferably a proper collared shirt - but jacket and tie are not required. We were very impressed. We were allocated the £30 a head set three course menu. The restaurant was romantically lit, with pleasant music playing in the background (mostly a mixture of jazz and easy listening), and the waiters were friendly and attentive, and they had an excellent somelier. The level of service was exceptionally high (perhaps in part due to the fact that the restaurant was less than half full), and the food was superb. I won't go into details of what we had, but the beef I had for my mains was perfectly cooked and extremely tender, and the future Mrs. F's fish fillet tasted extremely fresh. When I mentioned this to the waiter he told me that Oulton Hall tries to use as much local produce as possible and as fresh as possible, and I have no reason to doubt this. Along with an excellent cheeky Auzzie red (slightly expensive at £30 for the bottle; but if you want high service then it has to be paid for somewhere), we had a wonderful evening.

We slept well, although I did find the bed a little uncomfortable, mainly because I don't like feather pillows. The room was a little hot because although there is an air conditioning unit, it was a little noisy in the night so I turned it off. However, no major complaints. Breakfast was served in the grill restaurant again and was a fairly standard buffet - cooked food (all hot and fresh; I saw waiters regularly replacing and replenishing) as well as a cold range of cereals, breads, pastries, fruit etc. All good.

The Spa:

We had rebooked our spa treatments for the morning but had used the pool the night before. The pool isn't particularly long, nor particularly deep, and I imagine that at peak times it could get a bit crowded. The sauna was lovely, however, as was the steam room, and the gym (although I didn't use it) looked very well stocked and high tech. If I wasn't suffering from some kind of groin strain (no sordid comments, I pulled it at my own gym a few days before), I would have loved to have taken advantage.

As for the spa treatment: it was great. Our package allowed us each to choose either a manicure, pedicure, back massage or facial. Being comfortable with my masculinity, I decided to have my first ever facial. I was taken into a small but pleasant treatment room. The therapist left whilst I took off my top (I wasn't that fussed, but I imagine that if you are a bit nervous then you would appreciate this), and then tucked me in with a blanket and got to work. She was friendly and chatted to me a bit, and explained about the various potions she was using. It was incredibly relaxing, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I did find it a bit unusual the way that when she was massaging my neck her boobs kept pressing into the top of my head. I wasn't sure if it was part of the treatment and decided not to say anything, but it seems to have been an optional extra - Mrs. F to be also had the facial but didn't receive similar treatment! After the therapist finished, she gave me a booklet detailing the products she'd used as well as her recommendations on what I should get (however, there was no pressure to buy anything), and then led me into the "relaxation room" - a room full of beds - where I could rest to recover from the excesses of the morning.

The Departure:

After that, we checked out. This was delayed a little by an inexplicable £6 charge on the bill, until we worked out that it was a service charge in the restaurant which should have been deleted as I left the money on the table. An honest mistake, so no problems.

The Conclusions:

All in all, we had a great mini break and Mrs. F to be thoroughly enjoyed her birthday treat. The hotel is a really beautiful place, and the spa is fantastic. The only minor complaint is the standard of the room - for the price we paid it was certainly acceptable; however, if I had paid the full rate I would not have been happy to have been provided with that from a 5* hotel, simply because it was not of a particularly high standard - it felt a bit tired, in need of a do-over, and the amenities within the room weren't the best. Having said that, I would certainly recommend Oulton Hall based on my experiences (which should by no means be taken to be complete, as there was plenty of the hotel I never sampled), particularly if you are a golfer as the course is meant to be excellent, as I found the staff friendly and professional, and the facilities superb. If you can find it on a similar deal, then I would say absolutely go for it, and the only thing that kept this from getting a five star rating here was the fact that the room was barely 4* standard, but that was the most basic double they do, so the better rooms could well be nicer.

Summary: A wonderful mini-break, even if the room wasn't quite as great as it should have been