Slaley Hall, Exclusive Hire

We spent a long weekend at Slaley hall as an extended family. Upon check in our room wasn’t quite ready, but we were able to take a drink in the bar and a walk around the grounds whilst we waited no more than half an hour. When we got to the room, a superior king, it was a refurbished room so was tidy, spacious and had a view over the golf course. Some rooms look into the courtyard and despite being the same room type are smaller due to the nature of the building! Dinner on the first night was in the golf club, the food was tasty and quick despite the fact we had a big table of 12. The breakfast was okay, basic but adequate although it was not topped up quick enough. Staff seemed confused as I asked for a banana and was given one, yet i overheard someone else ask for one and they said it would cost £1.30! The facilities at the hotel were great, the spa and swimming pool were enjoyed by the kids (beware the kids swimming times!) Dinner the second night was in the hotel restaurant, which only appeared to have a glorified version of the golf club menu. Overall, the hotel struggled with an identity- it’s advertised as family friendly, yet offering high chairs and having a “family swim time” (to avoid the inconvenience for other spa users!) it wasn’t the most well equipped “family” hotel. The venue also hosted a wedding on the second day which took the attention of a lot of staff! Having said that, we also played golf and the courses are superb! As a golf resort, it’s great! We still had a great time so a well deserved 4 stars.

We recently booked a weekend of golf through golf break for a party of 6. The golf was great and we were impressed with both golf courses. The Dinner arrangements however were very different. Our dinner reservation was at 8.00pm and we were promptly greeted by a waitress who took our orders and everything at that stage seemed to be fine. Whilst we were waiting we discussed how we all get a £32 dinner contribution, or £64 per room. At 8.15pm the starters arrived (3 in total) and were eaten and cleared away by 8.20pm (we were all pretty hungry after all the golfing!) After 20 minutes or so we had not received any main course dishes, but assumed the food would be along shortly, we understand dinner service can get busy. So, we waited. By 9.00pm we still had not received any main courses, and no staff had checked in with us either. We asked a passing waiter why we had not received our main meals yet. He came back and explained that the kitchen was very busy and food would be with us soon. Eventually our main courses turned up at 9.30pm - with no apology or further explanation? After finishing my main course I asked if I could see the dessert menu, I tried to order my dessert to be told that the kitchen was now closed !! It really was poor service and so disappointing after such a great day of golf. The whole weekend was a special occasion ahead of my sons wedding to spend some time together and sadly the dining experience did put a dampener on our weekend.