The setting is the hotel's main strength, views of the sea, apple orchards, gardens and the hotel itself. The lawns are manicured by a team of little robot mowers and we were blessed with perfect views over the channel. I'll start with the good, this hotel has nicely appointed rooms, a lovely spa and pool complex with sauna etc. The restaurant food is good and the buffet breakfast had a lot of options with good quality pastry and home grown honey. Check in was great, the staff member was helpful and when I asked for a room change as the room only had a bath and I prefer a shower he did his best to accommodate this by moving us the following night. The only issue was he didn't run through some of the hotel's many hard and fast rules of which some were mentioned on the very lenghty booking email but with all the holiday planning, I had forgotten some of the protocols. This led to our first telling off, after going for a swim we went to the sauna only to be asked to leave as we didn't have a booking. There was no one else in there at the time and we asked if we could book one of our 1 hour per day slots but we had to go to the front desk in the hotel to do so rather than the actual spa desk which meant walking across the courtyard. I understand why you have timings and rules but the way staff members managed honest mistakes was typically rude, and needless. We then got told off the next day for arriving at breakfast at 9.50 when it closed at 10am. Again, we weren't given the timings but it appears they only serve breakfast 8-10 which feels a little short when you are paying for a relaxing experience and it's just a buffet. Again I don't mind obeying by the rules but the staff member was just angry at us rather than politely informing you how to avoid. She did this several times during our stay to the point where you just didn't feel welcome. By in large all the desk staff were great and helpful but it was hit and miss with restaurant staff with at least half the the staff we dealt with being grumpy, unhelpful and rude. The restaurant offers a very limited lunch and dinner menu which is very expensive with some options like the vegetarian dinner menu being comically poor value for money. The gazpacho soups were a hilight along with the cheese board which were excellent but again very expensive. If it weren't for the view I wouldn't have chosen to eat there and if I'd gone there for a special event if have left dissapointed. The other main issue is that the hotel doesn't have ac in the rooms and when we visited in a heatwave this was a bit of an issue. They provide a fan but it does little to help and we struggled to sleep as the room we had in what looks like a coach house conversion is in the sun most of the day and has no shade so the heat was difficult. For a hotel of this price, being able to sleep comfortably is a minimum expectation so I can only imagine they weren't able to install them due to the history of the building. Ultimately
