Woolley Grange Luxury Family Hotel

Woolley Grange Luxury Family Hotel - What WE Say...

When LittleStuff asked me if I would review Woolley Grange family hotel with my husband and six year old daughter, I virtually bit their hand off. I have ogled the website for a few years now but never quite got around to it, and to be honest this was influenced by the fairly substantial price tag. This was my chance to find out it really lived up the hype and whether it was worth the price.

It was a long, fractious journey down from London and we were all a bit frazzled by the time we arrived. However, the mood was lightened as soon as we approached the reception; it was that time of the evening when smart hotel guests are all dressed for dinner, having drinks on the terrace and Woolley Grange was no different except in one vital way. Instead of frowns at our casual attire and noisy arrival, Sophie attracted nothing but smiles from the other guests as she trundled across the crunchy gravel with her Cinderella suitcase and backpack. A charming young man in reception managed to further soothe my grumpy, “been in the car for 4 hours” demeanour and to be honest that set the tone for the whole weekend. Nothing was too much trouble for the Woolley Grange staff.

Our room was the biggest suite in the hotel, The Hayloft; it was HUGE, slightly quirky, very stylish with a lovely mix of the contemporary and antique. As we entered the suite, our room and the bathroom was off to the right and the long, large lounge was on the left with the twin room at the far end. Perfect for being near a small child but to maintain some nice adult privacy. The bathroom was amazing, nearly as big as our bedroom; twin sinks, a shower and a huge roll top bath. Big bathrooms is a feature of the hotel from what I can make out, they are almost all large and gorgeous and way bigger than normal.

The suite had lots of wonderful child friendly touches, cookies in a jar, child sized bathrobe with cute hood, appropriate children’s books lying around. Big soft cushions and enormous over sized lights gave the whole place as slight Alice in Wonderland feel.

So we settled Sophie down for the night and our table for dinner is waiting. My husband began to set up the baby listening which works via the phone as these things do but we weren’t sure if it was working. A quick call to reception and literally 2 minutes later a lovely young woman came over and ensured it was working. Great service.

The dining room was very plush, exactly what you expect from a high quality hotel, and we were soon feeling very comfortable. Next door is the Orangery where tea with the children is available from 6pm (there is even an early tea for younger children at 5pm but more of that later). Our meal was excellent, in fact all our food over the entire weekend was very high quality, this is important to us, and we consider good food to be a vital component of any weekend away. Woolley Grange exceeded our expectations in this department and it helped a lot that the wine list is interesting and reasonably priced too.

However this does bring me to one my few gripes of the weekend. The baby listening worked very well and we both had to pop back to Sophie during the meal. The first time my husband was gone a little while and I felt it would have been good if someone had offered to cover his food to keep it warm, instead it was up to me to use the bread plate. It is a small thing but after all, we assumed they did know that he was checking on the little one. A little later when the receptionist let me know Sophie needed me again. I wasn’t gone long but the waiter asked my husband if they should serve the main course whilst I was away! This was clearly ridiculous and it did make us wonder if the there was enough communication between the staff. Luckily she didn’t wake up again so the rest of the meal was wonderful and undisturbed. It was very impressive how speedy and efficient the baby listening was and we felt totally confident that the staff was listening attentively.

It took us a while to get to breakfast the next day. Coffee and apple juice delivered to the room only 5 minutes after we ordered it, allowed for more relaxation. We were further delayed by having to tempt Sophie out from our enormous wardrobe which she LOVED and then she spent an age counting the lily pads in the pond.

Breakfast at Woolley Grange is a wonderful affair, children at every table and yet not overly noisy, not in-your-face like some so called child friendly places. There was simple plastic tableware for the children, their own special menu with a lovely range of food for them and Sophie was particularly smitten with the miniature croissants and pain au chocolat. Grown up breakfast was lovely too and the jam was in proper crockery pots on every table. I know you’ll think I’m mad but that is a sign of a classy country house hotel to me!

So, breakfast over we went off to explore and there was a lot of exploring to do! It took all day and much of the next day. We wandered to the main lawn and as we approached the trampoline Sophie’s eyes lit up and after much bouncing we had to drag her off to try other stuff, and only on the strict condition that she could go back to it. And of course she did, again and again. Why drag her off at all you ask? Well, my husband’s eyes had lit up just as much when he spotted the swing ball on the lawn! Several fun and just ever-so-slightly competitive games later I had to drag him off to play table tennis with Sophie.

We were really lucky, it was a beautiful hot sunny day and so we had the laborious task of testing out the heated outdoor pool. In fact we were able to do this on both days of our weekend. The pool is a nice size for swimming and the perfect size for mucking about and having fun. The temperature is just right, there are lots of towels and Sophie was able to give that cute little hooded bathrobe an outing. There are rubber rings, arm bands, hoops, floats and little balls all provided in a basket by the pool – a lovely touch. As Sophie was swimming with her daddy, I was able to chill out in the sun and read the paper whilst listening to the happy chatter of other parents and the excited laughter of the children. It was truly idyllic. I really wished that our teenage son was able to be with us – too busy on a school trip – although he would have been the only child over 10, I still think he would have loved it. And my husband would have had more competitive company for the air hockey and pool in the Hen House for the older children.

Sophie also tried out the Woolley Bear’s Den which is their clean, brightly coloured creche with really nice cuddly nannies running it. It was very quiet whilst Sophie was there due to the great weather, and to be honest we probably wouldn’t have been there had we not promised to review EVERYTHING. That said Sophie said she really liked it, one of the nannies played Scrabble with her and later that day – after a go on the swings, slide and grass maze, she had her tea there. Tea was great, really good children’s menu, spaghetti bolognese for little Miss and she thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, all the children’s meals are very healthy but fun and tasty too. Every drink is served in a plastic glass which looks just like an adult one – she loved that, she felt like she was having the same thing as Mummy and Daddy which is important when you are six. Woolley Grange really understands children! However, Sophie at six was probably too old for tea in the Den. A chat with the manager, Clare, later explained that she could have had tea in the Orangery even if we didn’t want to eat with her, we could sit with her and have drinks. She apologised for not suggesting it – a measure of their dedication to getting it right. What was lovely was that that conversation with Clare took place in one of the attractive, olde worlde type lounges in early evening, sipping drinks and playing family monopoly. Blissful.

So, final thoughts. Sophie says she would give Woolley 10/10 if she had have had tea in the Orangery, high praise indeed from a much travelled small child. We have been trying to decide if it is value for money, a difficult question and we have discussed it at length. Certainly the room rates are high, but then again the rooms are all gorgeous, all different but very spacious, very high quality and of course the excellent Woolley Den and always available nannies and all the other fun activities are included in that price. Once you are there, the meals and drinks are all very reasonable.

However, even more importantly, they really do what they say on the tin, Woolley Grange is the best family orientated hotel I have ever stayed at; it does it in a relaxed yet sophisticated and stylish way, very tasteful, amazing food and best of all, we all left totally chilled out, having had lots of quality time together as a family. So yes, it is worth it, and yes I can’t wait to go back.

Website: www.woolleygrangehotel.co.uk

Woolley Grange Luxury Family Hotel - What THEY Say...

Woolley Grange was the original Luxury Family Hotel, opened by Nigel Chapman in 1989 - We look forward to celebrating our 20th Anniversary in 2009!

The original concept was to offer parents the luxury hotel environment for all the family. Children have always been an integral part of Woolley and they are positively welcomed. From the Ofsted–registered Woolley Bears Den, offering child care from birth upwards, to the simplicity of having baby equipment and baby listening in all rooms, Woolley is a relaxed treat for the whole family.

Families and children have changed over the past twenty years but the ambience at Woolley is still very special - the lingering smell of beeswax, log fires in the winter, lavender from the garden in summer, comforting surroundings and fabulous food, continue to make this a very special place for a family break.