Ettington Park

I attended the wedding of my nephew here which involved a two night stay. I was very impressed upon entering the beautiful grounds. After parking the car and taking in the splendour of the magnificent house I was further impressed upon our welcome. The staff were impeccable. Darren who booked us in was courteous and very informative. Our room was clean, tidy and comfortable. The dining facilities for evening meals and breakfast was excellent. Again the service here was excellent. The small bar coped magnificently for the actual wedding celebration and Micheala was a steadfast and driving force in ensuring that we were served promptly. I can honestly say that when I left it was not without a tinge of sadness. Yet even here Darren and Mike handled our departure efficiently and smoothly and with their trademark courtesy. Would I go back? Without a doubt. A wonderful place with wonderful people.

Ettington lives up to the hand picked brand of individuality and this hotel is steeped in a very interesting history and it was a lovely touch to be able to take home a detailed document outlining this aspect. Service was on the whole friendly and very attentive. The negatives are minor ones but worth considering if you are thinking of staying here. Similar to other reviewers we waited ages to check in, our room whilst big and comfy was in need of some small refurbishment - carpets very tired for example. It is, as I suppose we expected, rather expensive for food and drink here and if it was of a more "reasonable" price we'd have probably spent more time here rather than as we did, venturing out each day into Stratford. The only real "let down" as such was that after dinner service on the first night was spot on, it was sadly very, very, disappointing on the second night - our order was taken a good half hour after our table was booked and indeed we sat down to our first course a whole hour after the allotted time. I think that the staff had put their efforts that day down to a wedding showcase event and therefore standards slipped for the paying guest! We made use of the swimming pool but what an awkward trek it is to get to - up and down various staircases! There were a number of young children staying and nothing wrong with that - but the ambiance of Ettington in my opinion is more geared towards adults. It has a certain character and after dinner being a warm evening it was lovely to stroll around outside and as dusk fell saw a fox across the grounds and deer in the distance. It also has a little gang of very vocal green woodpeckers around in the daytime which was lovely to see. Luckily the positives far outweigh the negatives and hopefully for another special occasion we will return.

The hotel is very striking, set in beautiful grounds. It is meant to be haunted (which I didn't like the idea of) but the hotel wasn't creepy at all. Our room was large and with plenty of character. Had all the amenities you would expect. Everything was a touch on the tired side, so could use a refresh, e.g marks on the carpet, cracked tiles, broken ironing board. Breakfast was tasty but all rather chaotic (we didn't get our correct order of coffee and toast, and staff were slow to replenish buffet items). What we did have was tasty. Apart from a very grumpy bellboy, staff were charming and helpful, but it wasn't a slick operation. It took ages to check in, the barman couldn't find the right drinks and staff didn't know their way around the hotel. Minor points individually but definitely detracts from the luxury experience. Don't be put off staying here - it is good (probably deserving of a 3.5 rather than a 4), but it is not somewhere I would go for a super special occasion.

Stayed for one night, our room was lovely. No view out of the window but room was clean and had all we needed. The air-con was pretty rubbish and didn't really cool the room down despite having it on all night. The bed was too soft for me and mattress felt quite worn. The bathroom was huge and shower was functional but could be better! Check in was very easy and friendly and helpful staff showed us to our room and checked we had all we needed. Breakfast was lovely but service quite poor. We had to ask twice for our toast despite the order being taken when we were sat down. It eventually arrived after my husband had finished his scrambled eggs and salmon. My full English arrived with no bacon and no black pudding (there was no staff around to question it). The garden terrace was lovely and has beautiful grounds had the weather been better to explore!!

This hotel was excellent in every way.The staff was very friendly and helpful with any questions we might have.Seven nights and perfect days is what our stay at Ettington Park was. PS the breakfasts are out of ytis world