Balmer Lawn

Lovely hotel, grounds, garden and wonderful new spa. The staff were polite and tentative, and the food was also 10/10. A lovely dog-friendly, clean hotel. The only letdown was that we were on the 3rd floor with no air conditioning in the room on a very hot weekend. The hotel did supply a very large fan in the room; however, I think an upgrade to get air conditioning units installed or small units in the room would really help. I would definitely come back for another visit. I loved the grounds, and it was so nice to spring out of bed and walk the dog in the grounds. I highly recommend the Hotel.

The property doesn't look super attractive from the outside, and there were works happening at the time which meant that not everything was working as usual (ie showers not working in the pool area, spa treatments happening in bedrooms, etc) The staff were uniformly lovely, especially the red haired receptionist (sorry, I have forgotten your name!) who was super friendly, approachable and helpful. The breakfast was average or actually a bit sub par (fruit salad was wilted and bland, poor selection for the continental breakfast, scrambled eggs were soggy and bland), and the food from the restaurant, while delicious, came in really small portions.

We enjoyed the dinner. The selection of starters and vegetable sides was a bonus. Excellent oat latte! Breakfast was as expected: all the "full English" ingredients, fruits, and pastries on the top. We ordered Afternoon tea, and the kid's version was lovely. The gluten-free version still needs some attention. Cream tea with scones was a highlight. The swimming pool and sauna were outstanding as I could pop into the sauna while watching the kids through the window. There was a lovely hot temperature in the swimming pool area.

The first night in the Standard room was very uncomfortable due to the heat inside the room. There was no heating on and windows were open and it was 16C outside but so hot inside! Could not figure out why. Had to sleep on top of the duvet. We were moved the next day after complaining about the heat, and the staff were most apologetic and upgraded us to a Premium King for the next night overlooking the fields, which was lovely. We had dinner the first night which was first class. Comparative to the best restaurants I have been to in London, but with a reasonable amount of food!

Friendly staff, great covered terrace and very good food in the restaurant for dinner.