Best Western Exeter Lord Haldon Country Hotel

Comentarios destacados

• Stevo2009

  18 septiembre 2020
  Punches Below It's Weight

  Stayed here for a couple of days hiking on Dartmoor taking advantage of Best Western's 3 Nights for the price of Two deal. The Lord Haldon is located in the small village of Dunchideock, 3 or 4 miles Southwest of Exeter; driving there down some of the narrow country lanes in the area can be quite an experience. There is a good size guest car park, with an electric vehicle charging point. The Lord Haldon is a country house style hotel which may be a good or bad thing depending on your point of view. The layout is quirky, with a jumble of interconnecting rooms on the ground floor, narrow staircases and corridors with random steps. There is no lift, so anyone with limited mobility may find getting to their room hard work. The whole place looks a bit tired plenty of evidence of faded carpets, cracked plaster, poorly fitting doors etc. On the other hand, the location is glorious, on a hill with a splendid view east, and when the weather is good there are places to sit outside, both in the hotel garden and in a courtyard just outside the restaurant. The hotel is dog friendly, but they won't be allowed in the main restaurant (but can join you in the bar). My room was decent sized, with double bed, wardrobe, desk, television and hospitality tray with kettle, although it suffered the same tired décor as the public areas. Wi-Fi, as you would expect, is available in-room free of charge. The en-suite was also good sized, containing a bath tub with a splendid overhead shower. There is no air conditioning; fortunately, the location away from the city and any major roads means it's quiet outside, and I was able to leave my window open to let some cool air in. Obviously the big deal at the moment is Covid. Reception is behind a screen. I asked about mask etiquette when I checked in, and was told that the hotel 'recommended' guests wore masks in public areas except when eating or drinking. Other guests generally seemed to comply. At present, rooms will not be made up during your stay, although you can top up with coffee, tea, sugar etc from the reception area. The hotel like guests to book a breakfast 'time slot', ideally the previous day, presumably so they can manage social distancing. On the subject of breakfast, although my online booking stated this would be delivered to my room, it turned out that this was out of date information and it was in fact being served in the restaurant. The breakfast experience was the most disappointing aspect of my stay. On my first morning I had to double check I'd come to the right place because the restaurant was basically an empty room furnished with nothing more than several unlaid tables. At the Lord Haldon you can expect table service, with absolutely everything brought in from the kitchen. Not a single thing is left on display for the guests to help themselves to. Obviously the hotel need to consider current regulations, but I've stayed in several other hotels recently where the restaurants were actually set up to retain the look and feel of restaurants including a limited element of self service where breakfast items could be offered hygienically. I ate the cooked breakfast which was fine in itself, but portions were rather modest, and the toast was underdone to the point of being little more than warm bread. Lest this seems unfair, I do appreciate we live in difficult times. Given the special deal I booked I was happy I got good value, and since I didn't spend a massive amount of time on the premises I wasn't overly bothered by the décor or furnishing. I do think, though, that given it's location, with a bit of a facelift and a return to some sort of normality it could be a far more attractive proposition.

  

• seleeyore

  25 septiembre 2020
  Lovely stay, lovely staff

  Off the beaten track down narrow lanes so lovely and quiet. Long walk up hill to reception from the carpark so if you have breathing problems can be tricky. Friendly staff, comfy bed, great breakfast didn't have dinner

  

• DJord99

  16 octubre 2020
  Nice Room, Poor Hotel and Overall Experience.

  We stayed in a Deluxe Room (Room 6). The room itself was fantastic, big TV, huge bathtub and walk in shower and very comfy bed. I would definitely recommend this room to anyone staying here. My partner and I stayed here for 3 nights as a staycation. Had a few walk trails in mind and wanted to get away from home. My partner and I both agree (as stated in a lot of reviews) that the hotel itself seems very outdated and in need of restoration. The staff as a whole were welcoming and friendly, except for the bloke we had checked in with who had very little to say or to offer in terms of helping. Our room was on the 1st floor, which involved walking up stairs and through a variety of doorways to reach our room. For a couple in their 20s, this wasnt so much of an issue, but I can definitely sympathise for the more elderly generation. One thing that immediately became apparent, is that not all touch surfaces were being cleaned frequently. Im sure this was probably a mishap on the hotels behalf and possibly a one-off situation, but in the current pandemic, you cant be too careful and definitely would have put us at ease. The breakfast was included in the price, but I will say that we only took breakfast for 1 of 3 days of our stay as we were quite disappointed with the breakfast. Lacking in quantity of food and overall wasnt a pleasant experience. We skipped breakfast the second day and found a lovely little breakfast place in Exeter on the final day, called Brodys Breakfast Bistro. Would definitely recommend this place, especially if you have a big appetite. We were also woken up on numerous occasions in the middle of the night/morning throughout the duration of our stay by the dogs that were staying in the next room over from us. This of course isnt the hotels fault and is definitely something that shouldve been addressed by the owners of the dogs. My partner and I have dogs, and have no issues with them. But when paying for one of the top rooms in the hotel, you would definitely be slightly agitated if you was woken up throughout the evening by dogs barking, especially with the walls being so thin, it sounds like theyre in the room with you. A few gotchas for you: - Bring some additional soap, shampoo etc. The hotel provide a couple of tiny bottles of subpar products. I ended up driving to the nearest supermarket and buying some products, which was a real shame. - Definitely take other reviewers advise and try to take the route via Ide village. - If you get a chance, try out the Huntsman Inn Pub in Ide. One of the nicest pubs Ive visited in a long time. - Try and visit Canonteign Falls if youre looking for a great walking spot. £8(something) per adult for a great experience. Overall, good trip, beautiful sights and views, lovely room (as I wouldve expected for the price), but definitely some bits that need addressing in the hotel. I wouldnt return here out of choice.

  

• KevinB700

  05 noviembre 2020
  Very nice hotel but spoilt by lack of hot water

  Be careful if following sat nav - mine tried to take me down a rough track to a farmyard! Friendly staff at all times. I was upgraded to a lovely looking exec room. Sunday dinner was a superb roast beef meal, other meals also very nice. Breakfast fairly basic but ok. My stay was spoilt however by problems with lack of hot water which I reported on the first morning to no avail.. At times the cold tap water was warmer than the hot tap so I had 3 completely cold showers and one almost warm shower. It seemed the water was warmer later in the morning but by evening it was cold again (Note this is just in room 21 I believe) I used the hotel as a base for touring and exploring Dartmoor so it was in a good position for this

  

• Scaramanga1972

  05 diciembre 2020
  Bang Average - Check Hot Water & Beer

  Bed comfy and room spacious. Breakfast warm and plentiful. Service good until had no hot water which never got fixed properly and bottled beers served out of date even after mentioning. Suggest improved signage to find hotel car park for people travelling in dark. Had booked for whole of December but have chosen to look elsewhere for future stats.