We love this old hotel and stayed in the suite this time, amazing! Great food, great service and amazing spa! A lovely break away set in the South Downs, we enjoyed much needed rest and relaxing. The spa facilities are a excellent and lovely treatments also.
We had a private event for my parents 60th wedding anniversary. Stephen Crane created a special menu for us which delivered to those in the family who like it really plain and those that are more adventurous. Brilliantly cooked by Martin and crew on the night. Russell is the restaurant manager and dedicated himself to us, excellent wines and chat! The spa is great and relaxing with no noisy children. It was a big investment for a very special occasion and worth it. For the smaller very special events I would recommend Ockenden Manor.
This location is beautiful and it feels a shame to leave a slightly negative review but I just hope that they might take some constructive feedback on board, it’s not to just moan and put people off going, because it is a lovely day out.
I came for a spa day with a friend. The spa is nice but there is some noticeable wear and tear, namely the jacuzzi that had broken tiles which my friend cut herself on. My massage therapist was a nice lady but she was quite timid and awkward and didn’t put me at ease before my massage which is really important before something that’s meant to be relaxing. The pressure was also very varied during the massage, sometimes too hard and something too light. It just wasn’t the most relaxing experience.
The package we bought sets the times for you, and timed things quite badly, massage at 12:30-1:30, which my therapist was late for, arriving at 12:45, then lunch was at 1:45 so there wasn’t time to relax after my massage in the relaxation room.
The food at the restaurant was pretty awful, the burger and bun were so dry, and lacking in flavour. The chilli jam just made the burger take sweet and unpleasant. The chips were so over cooked and tasted mostly of vinegar. Also my friends burger came with mayo inside it which she doesn’t like and didn’t realise they would just add that in as standard, usually mayo and ketchup come on the side. We asked for a new one which they didn’t seem too happy about. We also asked for more ketchup to which the waitress replied ‘you’ve got some there’ referring to the one pot of ketchup between us, we said yes please can we have some more… it was also cheap ketchup not Heinz.
Having paid over £340 for both of us, it was quite disappointing.The whole experience just felt a bit rushed and not relaxing which is the opposite of a good spa experience.
Our room above the spa was cosy and beautiful with direct access to the roof (lovely views). Everyone we spoke to was friendly and helpful and we were made to feel very welcome. There was a problem with the water in our room when we arrived and it was fixed in no time - the manager came from home to sort it out, apparently. All in all, a wonderful mini-moon. One of my favourite stays anywhere.
There were some nice touches to our stay. As it was our anniversary, we were given bubbles on arrival and a special desert. The restaurant staff were lovely and the spa was nice and relaxing.
Unfortunately that’s where the positives end. We booked a ‘cosy’ room which in the pictures looked lovely. The room’s descriptions had ‘en-suite and thoroughly modern bathrooms’ (see attached. They’ve since changed this description). The bathroom we were given however was dreadful (images attached). It didn’t even have a shower to stand under or a bracket.
When we complained, the lady at reception was patronising and extremely unhelpful and nothing was done to address the issue. We were told the manager had gone home and that was that.
It’s such a shame given to have this service given the cost of the rooms and I would recommend everyone avoid ‘Thomas’ room like the plague.
