Marriott Hanbury Manor Hotel and Country Club

Hotel is beautifully situated but miles from anywhere.

We stayed there for two nights as part of a group on a half board basis .

The room was beautiful and well appointed although situated in the annex which is at least a five minues walk from the dining and reception rooms.

To get to our room, although on the ground floor, one had to climb a fight of stairs up and then go down another as the annex had no covered access from the main hotel at ground level, although one could walk thru the grounds if it was dry

We were were surprised to find that we were not being served the same menu as that advertised in the dining room, the choice was very limited and if you were on a low fat or colesterol free diet you stood no chance.

The portions were tiny and the service very slow, on the second night there was a wedding so we were herding into a back room with the staff laying the tables round us as we tried to order our meal.

Drinks in the dining room were horrendously expensive and, on the second night, our courier asked for complimentary water because of how we were being treated, the girl was banging the bottles down so hard on the tables we thought they would split

Breakfast was the worst I have had anywhere for a long time, poor fruit salad, just melon and a few bits of apple and orage stirred in, no other fruit either tinned or fresh, a bowl of natural yogourt, streaky bacon, no choice of eggs just scrambled, beans and hash browns.

No rolls or pastries just sliced bread, a few individual pots of jam, no marmalade, and a d.i.y. toaster that took four slices and five minutes per time for a party of over fifty mainly elderly people.

The tea and coffee cups were tiny and rather than putting a pot of tea and coffee on each tabled they insisted on serving everybody so you can guess how long that took.

Drinks in the Vardon's, the sports bar, were surprisingly reasonable but one couple were charged £16.00 plus £2.00 room service for half a bottle of wine, and don't even think about the prices for the in room mini-bar.

All in all our conclusion was that they wanted our money but not us

The Hotel is a combination of an original and beautiful old manor house and extentions added on, most of which are in keeping with the original. There is a newer modern block of rooms in a separate building. Our room was in the main old part. It was of adequate size with a view of the golf course which surrounds the hotel.I particularly liked the fact that the bathroom was separated by a small hallway and a separating door which gave privacy, sadly missing in most en-suite hotel rooms. The bathroom itself was quite dated with a bath with shower over and a pull across curtain. There were mould spots and other dirt visible as well.An iron and safe were provided in the room.The bed was comfortable, we had a good nights sleep.The spa area was very nice with a relaxing atmosphere and a comfy sitting area next to the swimming pool. The range of treatments on offer were good. The breakfast was a buffet style, help yourself to everything, including having to make your own toast. The range of food available was hot and cold and of excellent quality.It is also available until 11 am which suited us. All in all the service and surroundings are definitely 5 star, but the rooms where we were need updating.

All of the staff we came into contact with were very helpful, polite and welcoming.

We booked this at the last minute for the bank holiday weekend and were pleasantly surprised at how lovely the hotel and grounds were. We had a room with two double beds in which meant we had a lot of space with a nice view of the manicured grounds. We especially liked the restaurant where we had lunch and breakfast, which had a lovely balcony terrace overlooking the golf course.

The local area did not have a lot of things to do, we ended up driving quite far to find an English heritage type of site, though it's not too far from Welwyn Garden city for shopping. Having said that, you don't really need to leave the hotel with a lovely indoor pool, health spa, two restaurants etc.

Dining at the more of expensive of the restaurants was a very grand experience in a beautiful room with great service. However, for me the food was not quite up to the high price tag, though I did enjoy my meal and a nightcap in the lovely bar afterwards.