Hotel berhampiran Elmswell Library, Bury St. Edmunds

We stayed here for two nights for my wife’s birthday. We have been here several times before but the last time many years ago. Room was lovely. A heritage room in the wool Hall end of the hotel. Lovely size. Fully equipped with tea and coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits. TV and desk. En-suite bathroom and shower and a built in wardrobe. Huge bed and a sofa and chair along with a coffee table. If you do stay here you are entitled to two hours a day free in the spa. If that’s your thing. We sat in the airman’s bar at lunch time on the first day. We hadn’t eaten so we had sandwiches as a light lunch. My wife had salmon with whipped cream cheese and I had a Ruben, both served with crisps and a side salad. All very nice. The barman Dave is a real find. Very good at his job and very knowledgeable. An excellent asset to the hotel. A real treat for us was honey roast chilli nuts on the bar. We ate far too many but they are very moreish. The only let down was the Gallery restaurant menu. Not a great selection of food. My wife didnt really fancy any of it and I wasn’t bowled over with enthusiasm so unfortunately we didn’t eat in there which was disappointing as we were looking forward to it. We had breakfast served in our room in the morning. There is an extra charge for this so be aware. Breakfast was wonderful. Fill in the menu at night, it’s picked up by the night shift and delivered at your chosen time. Food was really good. Full cooked English breakfast, cereals and juices. Tea and coffee, toast and preserves. All hot food was hot and all very fresh. Our stay was very relaxing and we really enjoyed the experience. The only down side was the restaurant menu. Sadly not our taste at all and we do eat out a lot so maybe a wider selection needed.

We went to the Ickworth hotel for a spa and treatment, we parked and went into the entrance and were met by a very nice young lady. Who checked us in for the spar. We were given gowns and slippers and told to go down the corridor and down the stairs to the basement area there was a lift if you needed it. We were not told wear to change, found some toilets and changed into the gowns. Walked to the end of the corridor to the treatment area. Waited for someone to come to attend to us, a very nice young lady came and asked us to fill in some forms which we did. We sat there for a short time, I said to my wife I would go and see if I could find a any other spa rooms no luck. I went back up stair to talk to the young lady, and asked are there any other rooms in the spa. The reply was no we only have an indoor swimming pool, I asked how to get to the pool, she said go out the front door across the car park to the building on the right she gave me a small piece paper with a code on it to enter through the external door. Once inside you could go into the pool area which was fine. The treatment of a massage we had was very good, after this we went back upstairs for the afternoon tea which was two scones and jam each and tea or coffee ,it was very nice. To sum up. To have to get changed in a toilet was not good, plus no wear to put your clothes not even a locker !! It would have been nice to be shown the area and the area to change in. My idea of a spa is not just a treatment room and a pool !!! so to pay £75 each for just a treatment and two scones/jam and tea and coffee is a bit high. I suppose we should have checked first, a spa to us is not what we had. The treatment was supposed to be for 25 minutes which fell short of that. I think this spa is more fore people who stay at the hotel, not those who are just there for a spa and afternoon tea. Their idea of a spa is not ours. What we had was great and would recommend it.

Booked one night to enable us to go on a 'stable tour' the next mornig - absolutely everything was first class... friendly and helpful staff, lovely room with all that you could possibly want in it and one of the best breakfast choices that we've seen in a long time. Will definitely use again...