Wotton House Country Estate Hotel

“Beautiful grounds but a few issues”

Lovely grounds and helpful staff, but difficult during a heatwave My husband and I stayed at Wotton House for a couple of nights during the recent heatwave. The hotel itself is beautiful, with lovely grounds that were a pleasure to stroll around, and we really enjoyed sitting on the terrace with d… Mais

Lovely grounds and helpful staff, but difficult during a heatwave My husband and I stayed at Wotton House for a couple of nights during the recent heatwave. The hotel itself is beautiful, with lovely grounds that were a pleasure to stroll around, and we really enjoyed sitting on the terrace with drinks in the evening. The staff were friendly, helpful and did their best to make our stay enjoyable. Breakfast was also very good, with a nice selection. Unfortunately, our stay was affected by the extreme weather. As Wotton House is a period property, there is no air conditioning, and our first room was unbearably hot, making it very difficult to sleep. After the first night, we spoke to reception and they kindly moved us to another room, which was noticeably better, so we appreciated how quickly they responded. The other downside was the fire alarm, which went off twice during our stay. One evening it appeared to have been caused by another guest, but the second time it seemed to be a fault with the system, as it had also sounded several times during the day. Overall, we can see why people enjoy staying here. The setting is beautiful, the staff are excellent, and there are plenty of positives. However, we wouldn’t return during the summer if another heatwave was forecast, as the lack of air conditioning made the stay quite uncomfortable. We think it would be a lovely place to visit in cooler weather.

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“Stunning wedding venue, basic and disappointing hotel and spa”

Let’s start this off with the fact that the venue itself is a stunning choice for a wedding, with the building and gardens both providing those picture perfect moments and memories to last a lifetime for the happy couple. The food was delicious, at breakfast and during the wedding, it was cooked w… Mais

Let’s start this off with the fact that the venue itself is a stunning choice for a wedding, with the building and gardens both providing those picture perfect moments and memories to last a lifetime for the happy couple. The food was delicious, at breakfast and during the wedding, it was cooked well and full of flavour. You can tell the quality of the food in the taste and the way it was cooked, we were very happy with that! Staff were friendly and wanted to help where they could, although a couple of the bar staff were quite slow at serving, even when not many people were in the bar area! The grounds and gardens are well kept and have plenty of picturesque areas for amazing photos! We had lovely walks through the gardens and vegetable patch and enjoyed seeing the chickens! Unfortunately the rooms were very disappointing. And trust me, I’m not one that stays in lavish 5* hotels and I’m more than happy to stay in ‘cheap and cheerful’ basic rooms with a single bed if needed! But, the room was small and the bed was just about a double, certainly not bigger! The temperature of the room was unbearable, so much so that neither of us slept more than 5 hours due to the heat. We had a ‘Dyson’ fan in our room but it merely pushed warm air around and did absolutely nothing! Nothing like a Dyson fan I’ve used previously. The furniture was tired and it had marks on the wall from what looks like scrapes from bags or similar. The picture frames in the room were dusty and could have been done with a going over with some sheen and a cloth! The spa area was ok, but based on the impressive main staircase, nice bar and restaurant area and a fantastic wedding hall, it lacked that ‘wow’ factor. The grates on the side of the pool were broken, enough that the single lane rope hook kept falling off and floated away in the water. The sauna is old and tired and the steam room had cracks and marks on the walls. Paying £200/night was, in my opinion, an overcharge based on the fact the hotel room and spa facilities fell so short of expectations and nothing like what you find at other hotels in that price bracket. I’ve certainly had bigger rooms, nicer beds and climate control in a premier inn for £50! I certainly see the attraction of staying on site after a wedding but if I was to return as a guest for another wedding in the future, I’d be more inclined to book a separate hotel for the night, which pains me say as we enjoyed the grounds and the food! The fire alarm went off at 3am (not the fault of the hotel) but there wasn’t really much emphasis on an explanation on check out. When asked if we had enjoyed the stay, and also on overhearing 10+ couples checking out saying similar, we spoke about the temperature being so hot, the spa and the fire alarm but nothing was commented other than saying it was a false alarm. Very disappointing. I always start my review with a 3 and add/takeaway as necessary. It really was disappointing about the room and spa but I feel the grounds, food and overall wedding venue did enough to maintain a fair 3.

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“Some good, some not so good.”

Parts of this hotel are great and other bits need some work. The setting is lovely and the public areas by and large are very pleasant. Oddly though someone has decided that the main restaurant terrace will benefit from the construction of a cheap Swiss chalet style hot dog hut. It ruins the aesthe… Mais

Parts of this hotel are great and other bits need some work. The setting is lovely and the public areas by and large are very pleasant. Oddly though someone has decided that the main restaurant terrace will benefit from the construction of a cheap Swiss chalet style hot dog hut. It ruins the aesthetic and whoever thought that was a good idea should be moved on. Our room was pleasant although some peeling paint and damp patches. The windows are single glazed, probably due to listed building status, so you hear every crunch of gravel and noise outside. At just after midnight the staff empty all the days bottles into a recycling bin that is intelligently placed in a courtyard surrounded by bedrooms so that wakes up all the guests who might have dozed off. Dinner was excellent, breakfast mediocre. Staff very pleasant although they need more than one person on reception when it gets busy. Swimming pool and jacuzzi ok but pool small and not very long. Some lovely walks into the Surrey hills from the hotel.

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