Ettington Chase - www.ettingtonchasestratford.co.uk

I read the reviews and thought it sounded amazing and I also phoned up in advance to ask for a nicest room as possible as me and my fiance were celebrating our engagement, anniversary and his upcoming birthday however, when we got into our room it was in poor condition, chipped paint on the walls and radiator, we had to move the bed and bedside tables because the bed was in front of the mirror and not the television, on that note the television was awful as well, we couldn't choose what we wanted to watch as there was no tv guide via the remote and there were no channel names. There was no biscuits with the tea and coffee facilities, there were no dressing gowns and no mini bar. The bed was absolutely horrendous, me and my partner had no sleep at all, the mattress was extremely squeaky and was squidgy like we were almost on a water bed, there was no stability at all and the walls in the hotel were so thin that we could hear the people next door going to the toilet and then throughout the night there were weird bangs that made me jump and woke me up. The leisure facilities were good, especially the heated pool but the jacuzzi was so tiny that only two people could fit in it at a time, with a hotel of more than 130 rooms you would think it would be bigger. We tried the tempus restaurant for dinner on our first night and although the starter was lovely me and my partner both had pork for our main and it was extremely overcooked and i had to ask for a steak knife because i couldnt cut it and my plate was sliding all over the place, we decided we had to go out the next night anf had a beautiful meal somewhere else for half the price. The breakfast however, was really good and definitely the best thing about our stay. I had high hopes for this hotel but was extremely let down, especially after specifically phoning up for a nice room and stating the reasons why. Definitely could have tried better...just glad i booked off laterooms so I didnt have to pay the original price of £195 per night because it definitely would not have been worth it.