Having just read one of the previous January reviews I think that, maybe, the particular member of staff mentioned was not spoken to. We did have a lovely time making cocktails, but some of the sarcastic comments and comments like ‘I’ll pour this for you as I want to go and get ready for another booking coming in’ just made us feel like we were a hassle. Frustrating as we’d paid extra and didn’t think we should have to be made to feel like we weren’t really wanted. It was also annoying that we’d picked what we wanted to make from the list on the website to be told none of these were available and the website is out of date. We ended up picking from a considerably smaller list than advertised when we booked.

The drinks themselves were nice and (aside from the paying extra to make them, which I wouldn’t bother with in future) the price was reasonable for a cocktail.

Would we visit again? I’m not sure… Maybe?

We booked very last minute when we suddenly had a child free weekend. The hotel is really lovely, wonderfully decorated and gives a cosy homely feel. On the website there are clear directions on how to find the hotel car park and we easily found a parking space. We were early so couldn’t get into our room but we were given our parking pass once we’d paid, and went off into the town for the afternoon. When we came back our room was ready. We were in the main building which is a bit of a maze when finding your room, but it’s just a wonderful quirk of the old building. We had a standard room and it had an amazing dark wood four poster bed, and the bathroom was immaculate. The whole hotel is immaculate, and well looked after. The staff were friendly and welcoming, we had pizza there in the evening which were really good, and the cocktails were perfect. We will definitely be back soon, and going to have an afternoon tea as well next time, they looked amazing.

A few things that could have been improved but wouldn’t stop us rushing back.

In the restaurant it was hard to get the waiting staff’s attention. We asked for salt and pepper, the salt was empty but we had to wait a while to ask someone to change it, also it took a long time to get the bill and ended up going to the bar to ask for it.

It was very very hot in our room, but the radiator didn’t seem to be able to cope when we turned it right down. A couple of times in the middle of the night we were woken to the radiator literally roaring at us, so we had to turn it back up and kick the covers off.

The full English at breakfast was great, but the pictures on the website and booking.com gave a higher expectation on the continental options available. It shows cereals, yoghurt and toppings inc dates, seeds, banana etc. None of this was available, it was only small pastries and toast, then the cooked breakfast. I was happy with what we had, but maybe change the pictures so as not to disappoint if what we had is the norm.

As I said these aren’t complaints, just suggestions and we will definitely be back soon.

We have visited the Falstaff a few times and each time we are always happy with the service and the staff are great,we ask for the same room and we always get it so thank you for making our little trips away special.