Windsor, Sir Christopher Wren's House Hotel

The location of the Sir Christopher Wren's House Hotel in Windsor is excellent! It backs onto the River Thames, and it is next to Eton Bridge - 5 minutes walk from Eton College. It is only a couple of minutes walk from Windsor Castle and the centre of Windsor, so it is very convenient. The views from the hotel restaurant and terrace over the river are beautiful.

The hotel was formerly the home of Sir Christopher Wren, so it is an old historical building. The reception area is fairly small and quite dark. At check-in we found it to be a bit slow, and the staff on reception were foreign and spoke poor English. The next morning however, the staff had changed, and the lady working there was foreign, but she was lovely and spoke good English. She was also efficient, helpful and very friendly.

The hotel is a series of buildings linked together. To get to our room we had to go through a maze of narrow corridors and up and down several flights of stairs. This could be a problem for the less mobile. There are no lifts in the building. Some of the communal corridor areas looked a little bit shabby.

We were very impressed with our room. We stayed in room 11. It was very large and spacious and had 2 big windows, air-conditioning, a double bed and a single bed (we found the beds really comfortable) and nice fresh decoration. There was a hairdryer and tea and coffee making facilities in the room. The television had a choice of satellite channels.

The bathroom was also impressive, and it was very large with a bath and over-bath shower. Lots of nice white fluffy towels and fluffy bathrobes, as well as Molton Brown toiletries. We did have a problem with the shower head though; after using it, it leaked and dripped.

The hotel restaurant (Stroks) looked very nice. It was pricey, but the food sounded good, and there are wonderful views from the restaurant and its terrace. We have a small child, so we decided this restaurant would not be suitable for him, and we ate out at one of the many restaurants in Windsor town centre.

We did have breakfast at the hotel. This cost an extra £11.50 for the continental buffet. It was more than that for a full English. The buffet was a bit disappointing, and there was a limited choice for the price. Some of the staff at breakfast were lovely and very polite, but a few were surly. When I tried to serve myself from the buffet table, 2 waitresses were replenishing and checking the wine stocks in a fridge under the buffet table. They saw me standing there for several minutes and did not move. I had to politely ask twice, and they stared at me and grudgingly moved.

The hotel has no parking available, and drop off outside it is difficult. They recommended parking at the nearby train station, but we found another car park further down from the station, near a little park, and we managed to park overnight here for just £1.50. It is about 5 minutes walk, but it seemed very safe and it was reasonably priced.

Windsor itself is a beautiful town, and the castle is very impressive. We had seen on the website that the Changing of the Guard takes place on odd numbered days in August, and we got to the castle to watch this at 10:45. Lots of other people were also there, but after waiting about 15 minutes with nothing happening, a policeman told us there was an error on the website, and the guard change was happening on even numbered days in August. This was a bit disappointing for us, as we were only there for 1 day.

We did the open top bus tour. It is a hop on hop off bus, and it leaves just outside the castle. This was very interesting and informative, and it took us through Windsor, Eton and the college buildings and Datchet. It costs £7.50 per adult, and they do not accept credit cards. It is much better to get a seat on top as you can see so much more.

All in all, we really enjoyed our overnight stay in Windsor. Our hotel booking was last minute through a website, and we got the room for considerably less than the advertised rate. So for us it was great value for money. We would go back and stay there again. We loved the room, and the location was superb.

This hotel has a perfect location in the center of Windsor with riverside views. On entering the hotel we were very impressed with its 'colonial' feel, however found the reception staff to be a very slow and with no common sense. e.g. we were in a group booking, and they spent ages telling us that a colleague was not on the list and had no room allocated. When we eventually asked to look at the list we found our colleague on the list!!!

We ate our evening and lunch meal in the conservatory, which had a fantastic view over the river into Eaton. There were doors to a seating area outside. I was impressed with the food. Very tasty. The most disappointing thing about the hotel was the room. My twin room had beds where you could feel the springs of the mattress poking through. I also had about 10 flies flying around which was a bit off-putting. When I called reception, they very kindly obliged by bringing me some fly spray, but the first impression was already set in. I would not STAY at this hotel again, but would go there to eat on a hot sunny day. This hotel also has a spa which we didn't visit.