Hotel berhampiran JD Sports, Bury St. Edmunds

This is a wonderfully friendly hotel. Both of my children ( 10 and 4) loved the extra touches of kids mocktails, child bathrobes, yotos to borrow and hotel wide scavenger hunts. As some have said service can be a bit relaxed or slow, and when kids are tired having been travelling in a car that can be frustrating. It’s why I didn’t send an overcooked fish back as I think the kitchen were overwhelmed and the kids couldn’t wait. But the fish was a fluke, as the rest of the food, and the cocktails we had were delicious. Breakfast is epic and all staff were amazing with my daughter’s food allergies. Staff were lovely in the spa, and the hotel had a lovely warm and welcoming feel. Decor is a little bit tired in places, but with kids it just made it less intimidating as we did worry so much about the odd felt tip mark. Also the grounds and overall appearance of the hotel is stunning. We’d love to come back to this or another one of the other hotels in the chain.

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.