Stoke Rochford Hall

If you like roughing it this place is for you. It uses to have 50 staff. Down to 5 now. Exceptional property in the country.

This was probably the weirdest hotel experience in my life. The huge manor has been converted to a hotel but has been neglected recently (including a time housing asylum seekers - Google it). The time around 10 of the 100+ rooms are being used so you “rattle around” especially when you’re the only guests!! The hotel needs investment but it has so much potential and you can imagine it being a thriving hotel in the past. Imagine Covid and only a few rooms allowed to open. We knew there were no food and drink facilities so took our own. The 2 staff we met were really friendly and we spoke to them a lot about the history of the building and how it was as it currently is. The room we had was clean, lovely new bathroom, kettle, TV and the best hotel WiFi I’ve seen (300mbs!). The public areas weren’t great and as I say, need investment. It was hard to imagine this as a busy hotel, but was hosting weddings up to 18months ago. The grounds are well maintained by Paul (the gardener) and the building is amazing. But take a time to see the unused empty pool and vandalised gym buildings. Just impossible, despite my efforts, to explain the experience!!! It’s like Chernobyl where, abandoned and intriguing in equal measure. Not worth £150 unless, like me, you’re fascinated by the place!!

Regarding our one night stay Stoke Rochford Hall: Thursday 8th September Upon check-in; reception staff were friendly, welcoming and helpful in directing us to our room and taking payment. Making our way to our room, number 46, we were disappointed to be greeted with painters and decorators in the unkempt corridors and rooms leading to ours however, we accepted this was part of the hotel upkeep. As we had a wedding to attend that evening we left promptly and returned to our room from our evening out, around midnight, to discover there was no hot water for a shower or bath. We left the water running to allow chance for it to heat up however, not even warm water was coming through at this point, it was stone cold. Reception was contacted by ourselves at this point. Two members of staff attended the room shortly after and agreed there was no hot water. A change of room was offered but at this point I was already upset that I could not have a shower and i was in bed due to the late hour. As well as this, our bags were unpacked all around the room. I felt like our extremely rare night away had been spoilt and I became very upset. Waking up the next morning to decorators in near by rooms to again discover there was no hot water. There was no hot water for a bath, shower or to the sink. I felt dirty and disappointed leaving the room. I approached reception to check out. I explained what had happened and no apology was given by the receptionist. She stated that we ‘didn’t

I was kept awake all night by a humming noise,emanating from another stable block room.I walked over to the main house at 1:30am to report the issue to the night porter,who returned to my room 17...to identify the cause...He confirmed he could hear the noise and suggested it was "The boiler"...11seconds silence 5 seconds hum.I counted these intervals throughout that night. I consequently had a very,very disturbed night. I reported the issue in the morning before breakfast to the receptionist and ask to see the manager...he was not available 9:30am..I was given his email address. In addition to my disturbed night in room 17...There was no soap or shower gel made available !.

The property is a magnificent building when viewed externally. However, whilst there was also some splendour internally, especially some ceilings in the main public rooms, generally the interior was "tired".It needs a large injection of cash to bring it up to scratch. Only stayed one night, to break a journey. Lovely grounds and the evening dinner, from the limited choice Sunday menu, was well cooked and presented. However, the waiting staff at dinner and breakfast need some training on how to welcome and assist guests. Proactive, rather than reactive. We were up-graded from a courtyard room to the main house. We were left wondering if the courtyard room would actually have been better. e.g. no toilet roll holder, so the rolls were out of easy reach on top of the cistern. A convenient place to stay when breaking a journey but, not somewhere to take a holiday. A reasonable price when compared with other hotels and, it is appreciated that this is part of a vicious circle of low price but insufficient income to make improvements