South Lodge

I booked a night away as a belated birthday present for my fiancé. We were so lucky with the weather. We arrived just before 12pm, parked up & went to Botanica first as I’d booked us in for lunch. We chose a table at the front of the balcony which unfortunately for us got very hot as the minimal cloud there parted while we were eating so we did kick ourselves for not sitting in the shade! We shared whitebait, chicken Caesar salad, olives & tomato focaccia which was all delicious. I had two Aperol Spritzes & my fiancé had a glass of rose sparkling wine. An excellent start to our stay! We went to the spa & got changed. My fiancé went into the steam rooms & I swam in the indoor pool. I noticed that there were sunbeds available by the outdoor pool/natural pond so we moved outside. We spent a lovely afternoon relaxing & reading. A couple of delicious Pimms were enjoyed too! We checked into our room at around 5pm. We were shown up to the “Earl of Athlone” - a stunning room with gorgeous views of the grounds & a free standing bath in the room. Lovely selection of snacks & fresh milk. I had a shower but couldn’t get any hot water to come out. My fiancé called down & a maintenance man came up very quickly but by the time he had the situation had resolved itself - I’d probably decided to have a shower when everyone else had! We ordered (via the iPad) a latte & a glass of sparking wine from room service - these came very quickly. The latte arrived with fresh shortbread & cookies. We went down to the bar for a pre-dinner drink. The service was very good & it was such a delight when we were asked to take our table for dinner at Camelia as I hadn’t “checked in” for our table anywhere. It’s the extra touches like that that really make the difference. Dinner was superb. I had the dressed crab, the lamb then the blood orange soufflé. My fiancé had the black pudding, the lamb then the rhubarb tart. We agreed it was one of the best meals we’d had in a very long time. Service was excellent without being over solicitous. We had a post dinner drink at the bar then went to bed. We both slept well & I made use of the bath in the morning. Breakfast at Camelia in the morning was again delicious. I had the Eggs Royale & my fiancé had the Eggs Benedict. The toast & pastries were delicious too. We had a very friendly check out & passed on our comments about all the delicious food we’d had. All staff we came into contact with were excellent. I asked my fiancé if we’d come back for our first year anniversary (we get married in two weeks) but he did say there was lots of other places to try. But I’d definitely like to think we’d return being only 45 minutes from home. The only slight negatives I could comment on was the shower head needs descaling as half the holes didn’t have any water coming out of them. Couldn’t find a setting on the iPad to “sleep” the screen at night so had to lay it face down. Overall well done South Lodge!

My wife and I visited South Lodge over the late May bank holiday. The location is stunning, and the weather cooperated as well - which is lovely. The main “house” itself is very much a converted stately home that oozes of history and character. There are two more modern “wings” to the hotel, that I assume have been added in the past 10-years or so. There is also an amazing spa, as well as a nice restaurant, great bar, etc. We travel alot, including to the Middle East and Asia. So, our standards and expectations are quite high. I also rarely give poor reviews. However, we paid £460 for one night including breakfast, and frankly I don’t think it was worth the money. Four reasons: 1. The room was large and well appointed, but it was plain dirty. Carpets and furniture stains were evident. Towels were not clean. 2. The spa was amazing, but it was so busy and overcrowded that we could barely use the facilities. The sauna and large heated pool were consistently packed to the brim. Towel and robe availability was sparse. To make matters worse; there was a swim yoga class being taught on the Monday morning, so we couldn’t even access the pool for nearly 2 hours on the date of departure. 3. The Staff were nice, but the service was consistently slow (breakfast, drinks, etc.). Their uniforms were also noticeably unclean and unkept. I also noticed that plates and cutlery were not fully cleaned (I had to send back a coffee in one case) 4. Finally and somewhat annoyingly, our room was not ready at the 3pm check in time. To be fair, we arrived about 90 mins early - at 1:30. We were told to expect a text when our room was ready. That text never came. We eventually came back to the front desk at 3:05, at which time we were told that it still wasn’t ready. We eventually go into the room by 3:15, but you could tell that the cleaning had been last minute and rushed. Thus is also probably why the room appeared dirty. My wife and I both agreed that South Lodge has so much potential. But for £460 per night (and for a room that faced the entry parking lot), it needs to be near perfect.

I booked an overnight stay for my mum’s birthday. We arrived early but were shown to our room - the Earl of Anthone - straight away, which was much appreciated after driving from London. Our stay was perfect from start to finish. Even before we arrived, the bookings team were in touch with thoughtful suggestions such as offering to set up our room as a twin, and checking my mum’s name so that they could leave a lovely card and a box of chocolates for her in the room which was such a nice surprise. The room and spa were gorgeous and meticulously maintained, and we had a wonderful time relaxing there. The food at Botanica (dinner and lunch) and Camellia (breakfast) was delicious and beautifully presented. Our ‘relax and unwind’ evening yoga class was another highlight. What really stood out to us both was how friendly and helpful all the staff were across the hotel, spa and restaurants, which really elevated the experience.