Bowden Hall Review

The hotel staff are very friendly and helpful, the location was good for us, being close to Hiking routes. Rooms a little noisy due to the age of the building.

It is a shame the restaurant lets the hotel down. The food at dinner was over cooked so even with the simple fish and chips, the fish was very dry and the batter over done. The chicken was also overcooked and had the texture of rubber.

Buffet style breakfast generally OK at the weekend but on the Monday morning it was cooked to order. The table next to us placed a vegetarian order but received our meat based full English and was some way through before she was informed she was eating meat at which point the staff were going to give the already started breakfast to us.

When ours did arrive, my meat sausages were cold and cutting open showed they were raw in the middle but instead of taking them away the staff member went to get a temperature probe which was duly inserted whilst I waited to see if I the raw piece I was looking at met the restaurants minimum temperature requirements. The min temperature requirement started at 65 deg but strangely dropped to 52 deg as we watched the temperature only reach just under 50.

After having waited patiently (and being embarrassed by the process) whilst the rest of the breakfast went cold she offered to reheat them, rather than replace them.

We were finally offered a free coffee in compensation, but had already unfortunately drank two cups with the breakfast.

Good, but room for improvement.

Enjoyed our stay, excellent value for money. Public rooms very nice, but bedroom, and en suite in particular, looking tired and in need of updating. Food OK, but menu definitely not gourmet - could do with a makeover to make it less pub-like. Enjoyed the bar and it s contents (!), with the exception of the wine list, which lacked variety and (once again) was somewhat pub-like; corporate perhaps? All only our opinion of course, and the bottom line was we enjoyed our stay.

A lovely .......

Why the 'but'? The whole two days we were there the most AWFUL modern jazz was played over the hotel's system. It sqeaked at us in the restaurant while we ate (we complained to the waitress who said she sympathised and would report it to management). And when we decided to sit in the beautiful, relaxing lounge one afternoon, we couldn't concentrate to read our books as it was squealing at us from , we complained to the barman and the receptionist who tried to turn the volume down for us.

You have the most lovely hotel set in stunning grounds with a wonderful relaxing why wreck that with such ghastly music in your guests ears all day long? Modern jazz is an acquired taste and I suspect, by very few people. How about Classic FM playing quietly in the background? I do hope you can do something to rectify this situation.

OPL break

Warmly welcomed. Restaurant service really good, as were our food choices. Sunny cold day helped as we walked to village. Bad weather would've given us a different perspective as no swimming pool as I had mistakenly thought! Overall enjoyable stay at a quiet time of year.

Nice hotel

Nice hotel in lovely grounds.
Disappointing breakfast and we had to ask for our complimentary champagne otherwise it might have been forgotten.
Room perfect.
Bit of a challenge climbing up to the top floor for my husband who has cancer and recovering g from a broken foot but all in all a very pleasant stay.

Not 4 star

This hotel is in a good location for exploring the surrounding countryside. However in a number of respects it falls below what one would expect for a 4 star hotel. The room we were allocated was on the fourth floor accessed via a winding difficult staircase. There is no lift. The room itself was an attic room, dark and rather cramped. Although the bed itself was comfortable there were no electrical sockets nearby and we had to use an extension lead trailing across the room. The breakfasts were good. However the first evening meal was something of a disaster. We ordered a salad starter which took over 35 minutes to arrive; the main courses were rather bland; the only saving grace was the deserts. In the light of all of this we decided not to eat in the hotel restaurant in the evenings and ate out. The grounds of the hotel are extensive but not well maintained. Although the offer we booked under was a good one, this hotel needs to up its game considerably to merit a 4 star rating.

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2Night stay

Lovely staff & room. Exceptional food. The only downside was the hotel needs some TLC, really filthy windows & cobwebs, a day's work & it could look so much more appealing.