South Lodge

Hotel is in a nice location - with expansive grounds it has the potential of being a great destination hotel. The front desk service experience on check in was average and there was little / no help with luggage when we checked in. Rooms were big but the furniture was old and slightly mismatched. That said, room was well equipped - shower had good pressure and had all the usual amenities like iron etc. Other service staff were friendly and overall would consider this an “okay” stay - nothing out of the ordinary or wow for me.

We arrived on Fri 27th for one night to celebrate my husbands retirement along with three of his fellow Company Directors and their partners all staying the night a private dinning room was reserved … first impressions of the house were lovely reception staff were very nice tentative and professional sadly that’s where it possibly ended .. the room a suite at £615 per night was huge but sadly overlooking the car park it was a mismatched muddle of mixed curtains carpets seat upholstery and furniture in possibly the style of the 1930s resembling an auction house .. the bed was deliciously comfy and we loved the lamb do not disturb sign .. facilities were ok although we only found the hairdryer in the bottom of the wardrobe as we were packing up to leave we get the Green effect but would prefer little bottles of body wash shampoo etc not stone refillable bottles that we had to take into and balance on a tiny soap dish in the shower room .. after settling in we decided to sit outside and admire the fabulous view wine and a pot of tea were ordered wine came tea took 25 minutes I asked for a slice of the ‘cake of the day’ was told it was a piña colada cheesecake a desert not cake sorry no cake despite afternoon tea going on all around us … dinner private nice room was set up for about 10 people there were 8 of us booked we’d had to pre book our three course dinner which was a shame .. we had been outside having pre dinner drinks they kindly said they would bring them in for us all sadly whilst sitting the young man delivering said drinks accidentally tipped my whole “orange” Aperole Spritz down my especially purchased for the occasion cream outfit he was bless him mortified apologised I tried to be gracious put a brave face on it and headed to the ladies to try and sort it out it was an accident but I had to sit in a very damp outfit for the rest of the evening .. my grievance was no one came to speak to me or offered dry cleaning … dinner looked very nice bread was very tasty couldn’t find any asparagus in my starter but lots of peas !! lamb was delish but not very warm.. we slept well thanks to the room fan supplied … now breakfast time arrived .. the menu states your toast and pastries are on their way as you order well they did arrive but only after an hour and a half !! the whole breakfast scenario everything was cold yes we’re seated outside but it turned up cold porridge was watery the full cooked was missing three components.. smoothie and my eggs Benedict looked and tasted nice .. no consistency of service waiting staff were polite but forgetful slow and quite frankly getting fed up with the complaints from the majority of the tables long waits delivering large tea pots with one tiny teabag no cups and saucers toast delivered eventually after asking several times which turned up either not toasted at all and cold several attempts to have some butter and jams … the issues were endless resembling Faulty Towers which did lightened the mood somew

I booked a night away as a belated birthday present for my fiancé. We were so lucky with the weather. We arrived just before 12pm, parked up & went to Botanica first as I’d booked us in for lunch. We chose a table at the front of the balcony which unfortunately for us got very hot as the minimal cloud there parted while we were eating so we did kick ourselves for not sitting in the shade! We shared whitebait, chicken Caesar salad, olives & tomato focaccia which was all delicious. I had two Aperol Spritzes & my fiancé had a glass of rose sparkling wine. An excellent start to our stay! We went to the spa & got changed. My fiancé went into the steam rooms & I swam in the indoor pool. I noticed that there were sunbeds available by the outdoor pool/natural pond so we moved outside. We spent a lovely afternoon relaxing & reading. A couple of delicious Pimms were enjoyed too! We checked into our room at around 5pm. We were shown up to the “Earl of Athlone” - a stunning room with gorgeous views of the grounds & a free standing bath in the room. Lovely selection of snacks & fresh milk. I had a shower but couldn’t get any hot water to come out. My fiancé called down & a maintenance man came up very quickly but by the time he had the situation had resolved itself - I’d probably decided to have a shower when everyone else had! We ordered (via the iPad) a latte & a glass of sparking wine from room service - these came very quickly. The latte arrived with fresh shortbread & cookies. We went down to the bar for a pre-dinner drink. The service was very good & it was such a delight when we were asked to take our table for dinner at Camelia as I hadn’t “checked in” for our table anywhere. It’s the extra touches like that that really make the difference. Dinner was superb. I had the dressed crab, the lamb then the blood orange soufflé. My fiancé had the black pudding, the lamb then the rhubarb tart. We agreed it was one of the best meals we’d had in a very long time. Service was excellent without being over solicitous. We had a post dinner drink at the bar then went to bed. We both slept well & I made use of the bath in the morning. Breakfast at Camelia in the morning was again delicious. I had the Eggs Royale & my fiancé had the Eggs Benedict. The toast & pastries were delicious too. We had a very friendly check out & passed on our comments about all the delicious food we’d had. All staff we came into contact with were excellent. I asked my fiancé if we’d come back for our first year anniversary (we get married in two weeks) but he did say there was lots of other places to try. But I’d definitely like to think we’d return being only 45 minutes from home. The only slight negatives I could comment on was the shower head needs descaling as half the holes didn’t have any water coming out of them. Couldn’t find a setting on the iPad to “sleep” the screen at night so had to lay it face down. Overall well done South Lodge!