Heythrop Park Hotel

My boyfriend and I booked this hotel for my birthday and it was lovely! We're both in our young 20s and the bedroom in the Falcon Wing was fine for us. The hotel was really empty and we had the swimming pool and main house rooms to ourself, so it felt like we were actually living in this grand house! The dinner was ok, nothing special and more expensive than the room but breakfast was suberb. We spent Sunday walking around the grounds and I felt like I was in a scene of Pride and Prejudice! All in all, it was a great romantic break away from London and we're planning a trip back over Easter.

VERY disappointing. If you want to spend a lot of money on a nice hotel room in lovely grounds then book this hotel (main house rooms only) but do not expect to receive first class service or decent food. It was a disaster from the moment we arrived, no cot in our room, key cards not activated, first drinks order in the bar (which was empty) was wrong, how hard is two cups of tea? We were even told at reception to 'come back later' to find out if we could get some warm milk for the morning for our baby...but most of all, a disasterous restaurant. 4 out of 8-10 main dishes weren't available despite it being only 8.30pm, we had to change our order 3 or 4 times, some starters were not available and those we had were tasteless and frozen! Our main course (Seabass) was bland and the Supreme of Chicken was raw in the middle. The hotel did give us our meal and drinks complimentary but only after waiting 15 minutes for a manager to come and see us, we ended up ordering sandwiches. A hotel of this class should not be operating this way. The waitress admitted she wouldn't eat the food and when asked why they didn't have these dishes we were simply told 'because we don't'! There are many more hotels in this area to choose from, don't book this one!

Well this hotel has certainly moved forward since I was last there 2 years ago. The service was attentive and very friendly without the starchiness of some top hotels. Whilst I booked too late to get one of the deluxe rooms in the main house ( although I peeped into one whilst the maid was cleaning and boy! was it deluxe !) but the modern room I had in one of the new wings was great value. Very recently redecorated in tastefull blues and creams, it was clean, comfortable, and had nice views over the grounds. The golf course although only 9 holes was good but I'm told they are extending to 18, then I'll definitely be a regular.

We visited the Heythrop Park this weekend. The main building has clearly been refurbished and looked great. You could pretend you were staying in a National Trust property for the weekend. We were given a suite in the Falcon wing. Although not luxurious, it was certanly fine. A bath with shower but no curtain? The huge bed was one of the comfiest I've slept in. Our evening meal was fine - everything was available - I had venison which was great. Our rate was £67 per person which included dinner and breakfast. We're looking forward to returning in the Spring to play golf and croquet. What more can you ask for?

Paying only £70.00 I really did not expect a main house bedroom but was pleasantly suprised with what I did get. My room was very comfortable and very clean - I discussed the comments I had read on this site with the reception manager - incidentally a very welcoming and attractive lady - and she advised me that a new housekeeper had been recruited who had moved the standards forward tenfold! The food was superb and the facilities were fantastic - incidentally they appear to be taking the feed back on board as they are starting to refurbish some of the main areas. I was fortunate enough to have been included in the launch party they threw for hotel residents of their new hair and beauty salon - all in all a great site which caters for low and big budget travellers - all i say is remember you get what you pay for!

I have yet to be so disappointed about a hotel. The website prepared me for a country manor house set in extensive grounds - what I got was an University campus. While the grounds were impressive, the original house has been overshadowed by grotesque 1960/70's extension upon grotesque 1960/70's extension. The original house is only about 20% of the current building and is hidden from view. If you are willing to pay the prices for rooms in the main house you will at least get the kind of rooms you imagined from a Country Hotel, albeit that some are a bit shabby and some rooms are in the basement. If, like most people, however, you get to stay in the Falcon Wing, prepare for Travelodge style rooms (but smaller and twice the price), no bath, undersize beds, no spare linen, one thin pillow each and public spaces littered with 1970's office furniture and cleaners' trolleys. To top it all, the main room light and the bathroom light are on the same double rocker, risking lighting the entire room and waking your companion if you get up in the night. The only good thing about the room was the shower - but in our room the extractor fan didn't work, so the whole room got damp when we used it. The main building, where the 'facilities' are located, is reasonably pleasant, although the reception is shabby and the whole place looks like it needs a deep clean. Service was non-existent. We asked for tea on the terrace - we got four cups, each with boiling water and a teabag in, served on a school dinners tray with milk in a steel 'canteen' style jug that poured more over the table than in the cup. There were no biscuits either. For a hotel that charges 'class' rates, that was unforgivable. The staff were largely uninterested in providing a quality service, and the bar was woefully understaffed. The only up-side was the food, which was consistently good. Breakfast in particular was good, but don't expect anyone to rush over you to get you coffee and toast - the only rush was to get your plate off you when you had finished. Were they running short of crockery? I am told that the leisure facilities were good, and these are free to guests. They are however 200 yards away from the main house and some distance from the Falcon Wing, so expect a walk. We attended the hotel for an 'event'. It was a great event, but no real thanks to the hotel - the carpets in the hallways smelt of dog and the staff started clearing up the chairs several hours before the event ended. Several people got up to go dancing and returned to find their jacket laid out on the tablecloth and their chair stacked up in the corner! The top tip to potential guests is either visit it before you book, or don't book - there are lots of nice hotels in the Cotswolds that will pamper you and exceed your expectations. This is not one of them.

We booked a double room for £70 on-line and were pretty happy with it. It's true, that if you are staying in the Falcon wing you are not staying in the main hall, which is a gorgeous Georgian looking building, but for £70 what do you expect!? The thing about this place is that for a budget price you still get some prestige from the long drive in which cuts through some stunning countryside. You also get some prestige as you mount the grandiose steps into the Georgian building to pick up your key. True, the magic does fade when you get to the Falcon wing as it does resemble 1970s University digs, but the room itself was clean and modern with good facilities. To be honest, we were just looking for a place to sleep as we were off to a party that night, so for us it was great. The next day breakfast was - thankfully - in the semi Georgian bit and it was excellent. A gorgeous room, with a full and varied buffet breakfast, which was very tasty. After that we wondered the grounds which were absolutely breathtaking. We also played a bit of croquet, and strangely we were the only ones there! So really, you could have paid about £20 for the breakfast, which means you only paid £50 for the 70s accommodation which included stunning countryside. Are you realy going to complain?

We arrived at Heythorp Park on 27th August 2004, dreading the worst as we had read the reviews. We arrived with soap, toilet rolls, dettox for cleaning and our own towels. We needed none of them. The rooms we had in the Falcon wing were clean and comfortable. We agree there were no drawers to put your clothes in, but forewarned is forarmed! The grounds were gorgeous, the leisure club was excellent, the children had a great time roaming the grounds despite the weather. We did not have chance to eat at the hotel other than breakfast as we found ourselves rather busy. Over all, a very relaxing stay. We even managed to watch the closing of the Olympic Games on Sky in our room. Recommend this place for a long weekend.

We've just come back from a stay here. Prior to going I read the reviews on this site and thought "Oh well, we'll give the place the benefit of the doubt" I wish we'd cancelled!!! Main problems:- 1) Tried to book in at the scheduled time to be told they'd been busy and we should come back later ( is a 15.30 check in acceptable??) - no apology, no "please take a seat in the bar", etc. 2) Room/wing was like a uni hall of residence - no bath, broken lights, broken hairdryer - twin beds shoved together rather than a double 3) The Golf is charged at a riduculous £15 for 9 holes when the hotels website clearly shows it as not marked at an extra cost. Not bad course but little more than long mowed bit's of grass with a flag at the end 4) Booked in to the restaurant to be told that at least a third of the main courses were unavailable. There was a conference dinner going on in the next room which meant throughout our meal we had to put up with a combination of restaurant muzak. conference dinner muzak, and kitchen noise. Main courses arrived cold - when sent back the same meals were just reheated and returned. Potato was uncooked. Desserts arrived - Brake brothers finest! Creme Brulee was barely edible and so called "home baked cookies" that came with it were fresh out of a foxes biscuit packet. 5) No offer of a paper but were awoken early the next morning due to conference delegates in rooms surrounding us! This is nothing more than a glorified conference venue! Only positive point was a very helpful (and obviously embarrassed restaurant manager. Very disappointing - obviously only interested in their conference business with no courtesy for weekend guests.

Do not be fooled by special offers at this hotel (available on Expedia etc). The rooms in the wings are very poor. Small, cramped, extremely noisy (you can hear people in the next room talking & snoring!) with doors slamming at all hours. If someone in a neighbouring room has a shower you will be kept awake, even the flushing of a toilet can be heard clearly. If you are on the ground floor you will hear the people above moving around and walking up and down the corridoors. Most doors in the wing have been repaired to allow cardkey access but look like a very poor DIY effort. The kettle in my room was last checked for electrical safety in 1997. The shower had mould in the cubicle. Breakfast in bed failed to show up - they had forgotten to order it. Reception did not answer the phones (claimed they had a problem), therefore you have to walk to reception each time to talk to them. No SKY tv in the wing rooms. Could not order any morning newspaper (claimed to have a problem getting a newspaper! How crazy is that!). I received an early morning call - but I did not order one. The feel of the wing is like a boarding school - if they had wardens it would be more realistic! The hotel used to be the training centre for Natwest and it still has a institutional feel. Room rate should be £25 and even then I think that a nice cosy B&B would be better. Make sure you complain if the service is not upto scratch, but ensure that you speak to someone English (ie the Hotel Manager) as they seem to employ alot of overseas workers who have a limited grasp of the English language and cannot help you if you have a specific problem. The website for the hotel is 10/10 but in reality I would give this hotel a 2/10. The owner of this hotel lives abroad - I can see why. If anyone wants photos of the hotel detailing some of the problems listed above - leave an email address and will send to you. I am a corporate travel manager and would refuse to let any of our 5000 employees stay here. Major improvement needed.