Cheshire, Prestbury, Mottram Hall

The new chef who commenced in Jan. 2008 is very good indeed and the meals are excellent, certainly the wedding breakfast we had at the end of August was very good indeed. The staff who waited on etc did a good job. A big improvement on last year. Customer service is appalling. Reception are most unhelpful. When asked questions they seem unable to give satisfactory answers. Reception do not seem able to communicate with any other section in the hotel to be able to assist the requirements of guests. If the customer service side improved dramatically at least to the standard of the catering side of the hotel it would be one of the better hotels in Cheshire.

We spent a night in Mottram Hall in May. The hotel is set in very impressive grounds. There are lovely gardens and it is surrounded by a championship golf course. Our room was quite nicely furnished - plain furnishings, a large and very comfy bed, TV and small seating area. The bathroom was ultra modern, and had a small selection of toiletries and nice white fluffy towels. The room was also a nice temperature. Not like some hotel rooms which I find are always far too hot. There was no minibar, neither tea nor coffee making facilities. This was a bit of a shame.

We enjoyed walking in the grounds. There is a lovely lake and we saw a family of geese swimming there. It was quite wet during our visit, so the paths and walkways were muddy and waterlogged, but it looked like a lovely place to explore, and had the weather been better we would have liked to do more walking.

We ate in Nathanel's restaurant. This is the main restaurant in the hotel. The breakfast was quite nice, and there was a selection of hot cooked foods, pastries, breads, cereals and fruit. It is a self service buffet. The evening meal was slightly disappointing. The food was nicely presented, but bland and tasted average. I had rack of lamb which was quite tough, and the potatoes and veg were a bit mushy. We had 2 main courses, 2 glasses of wine and 2 portions of garlic bread, and it came to almost £60.00. We felt the quality of the food did not merit this cost and it was not good value for money.

The hotel has a leisure facility. There is a gym, squash courts and a pool area. We used the pool and we enjoyed it. Our son loved the small pool. It was empty while we were there, so we had the place to ourselves. It is a bit "faded" and could do with a face-lift. The changing areas and pool area are clean, but just slightly shabby I thought.

There were 2 weddings there the night we stayed. One in a marquee in the grounds just outside our window. The music in the evening was quite loud, but it did not go on very late, but it was loud and pulsating and a bit distracting if you wanted to watch television.

Our stay at the hotel was free. We had purchased a Cheshire Club card last year. This costs £200 and entitles you to 1 game of golf on the golf course, 1 free stay in the hotel and a few other things. The golf was great - easy to book and recommended. The overnight stay was another matter. They refuse to let you book more than 4 weeks in advance, and we really struggled to get any date at all in April or May. They are also not particularly helpful in suggesting dates. I would not recommend the Cheshire card.

Overall though, we did enjoy our stay in the hotel and would recommend it.