This hotel is amazing - the rooms are lovely, the food is gorgeous and the staff very helpful.

We stayed at The Brudenell on a "luxury package" break the first weekend of October (We stayed Sunday night, as the luxury package isn't available on a Saturday) at a cost of £250. This included a sea view superior double room, wine, chocs and fruit in our room, a cream tea on arrival, 3 course dinner, welcome cocktail and breakfast.

We don't drive so we arrived at the hotel by taxi from Saxmundham (which is the nearest rail station) and although we arrived too early to check in (check in is from 2pm) we were able to drop off our bags etc and we were told that our room would be ready by 1pm.

Our room was on the third floor and was beatifully decorated with a large window that overlooked the beach. The room was very large and had a big bed, sofa, coffee table, flatscreen TV, desk etc.

The bathroom was very nice with both a shower cubicle and free-standing bath and had a nautical theme to give it a real "by the seaside" feel. If I was being very picky I'd say that the bahroom could have been designed a little better as the shower cubicle was quite small despite the bathroom being quite big. The water pressure also wasn't brilliant (a power shower would have been better) but it wasn't terrible either to be fair.

The toiletries provided were of a very high quality (as you'd expect from a boutique hotel) and the white towels were very soft and fluffy.

Lots of books (proper books, not brochures!) about the local area and its history were provided in a basket on the coffee table and I thought that was a really nice touch.

The TV had Sky1, Sky news and Sky Sports 1,2 and 3 in addition to the five main terrestrial channels.

The bed was very comfortable, and the linen felt expensive. A mesh blind was provided as well as heavy curtains so that you could still enjoy the sea view and have some privacy at the same time!

The view from the room was amazing and we enjoyed watching the sun come up over the sea upon waking.

It was very warm (unseasonably so for October) during our stay and a fan was placed in our room before arrival. The large windows also opened which was good. There is no air conditioning, with central heating for colder stays.

Our cream tea on the afternoon of our arrival was much bigger than we expected - two rounds of sandwiches (cut into fingers - cute!), two scones with jam and clotted cream, two huge pieces of cake and a pot of tea! We were glad that we'd opted to not have lunch as there was no way we'd have fitted everything in (we didn't have room for the cake as it was!)

Dinner in the restaurant was very nice (although service a little slow). The menu is quite varied and changes on a regular basis to include "in season" foods. I had corn fed chicken as my main whilst and my husband went for the steak.

Breakfast options included continental (which I went with) and a full Suffolk cooked breakfast (that my husband went with). Both were very nice.

There is no mobile phone signal in the hotel (or in most of Aldeburgh actually!) but there is a pay phone off the hotel lobby, as well as a direct dial telephone in each room (charged at 70p per minute for UK landlines).

The communal areas of the hotel - the restaurant / bar and lounge bar are really nice and there is an outside area for alfresco dining.

Gift vouchers are avaiable for the hotel (we used some to pay for our stay).

We had a fantastic stay and loved the hotel so we can't wait to visit again. If you're looking for a relaxing luxury break we would really recommend it :-)

**Please note that my review above has also been posted on Trip Advisor with pictures**