Whatley Manor

We had the most wonderful time celebrating my husband's 70th birthday. The accommodation, food, service, spa and ambiance were all faultless. We experienced the tasting menu in The Dining Room and "experience" is the word; this is food as art and a full-on sensory experience. One of the most attractive aspects of this hotel is that it is a small country house hotel (although the spa beats those in most other much larger establishments), as a result you feel as though you have arrived at a friend's lovely home in order to relax and/or celebrate your special event. It feels private and other guests do not impinge on your enjoyment as there are so many different areas in which to relax and be by yourselves. Whilst it is not cheap it is definitely, IMHO, excellent value for money for a special celebration. I hope that we will be able to return in the future and, in the meantime, I would recommend it without hesitation to those seeking an authentic experience.

We spent a wonderful afternoon at Whatley manor to celebrate my mums 80th and my daughters 18th. We had the most amazing afternoon tea and relaxing time. We enjoyed exploring the stunning gardens and were lucky to have a sunny dry day. The staff were friendly and looked after us wonderfully. The afternoon tea was superb.

Whatley Manor is a converted 17th century manor set in acres of beautiful grounds. There's a real feeling of understated elegance here, helped by the fact that the staff are so professional and welcoming. In fact, I think you can tell a lot about a place by how happy the staff seem and without exception everyone we talked to at Whatley Manor loved to chat about their work, whether it be the history of the building or the dishes on the menu. (And who can blame them? More of which in a moment...) From the wait staff - and indeed the chef himself - at the restaurants, to front of house, we were made to feel welcome at every point during our stay. A particular shout-out is due to Michele Mella, the charming general manager, who drove us in his own car to our friend's wedding, 25 minutes drive away, when the local taxi firm cancelled on us at the last minute. Not only that, but they refused to charge us for it. Now that's service. Rooms are spacious, comfortable and quiet, with none of the creakiness around the edges you can sometimes get from older hotels. The spa is gorgeous and the gardens even more so. They're lovely wander around, including a butterfly garden and some thoughtfully hidden away little reading nooks, complete with lanterns for you to light once the sun goes down. We ate at The Dining Room on one night and the more casual Grey's on the other. Both are excellent but The Dining Room is truly superb, more than deserving of its Michelin star. Allow three hours or more for the full experience but I promise it will fly by. Anything I'd like to see done differently? No... although we did have a very interesting conversation with Michele about his idea of turning part of the dining area into a wine bar serving little tapas style nibbles. That would be a great addition, a space with a more intimate vibe than the spacious (and, it must be said, very comfortable) lounge bar. I have no idea if it'll happen, but I guess we'll just have to keep coming back to check whether it does. And that's definitely no hardship at all.

My friend and I stayed to celebrate our big birthdays and took advantage of the Sunday Spacation deal. The room was lovely and spacious and a wonderful big bathroom with Molton brown goodies. Beds were very comfortable. Room was a little on the warm side for two women of a certain age! The Dining Room experience was excellent and going into the kitchen was a lovely surprise. Staff were very good and very knowledgable about the food. Service was excellent. We have visited the spa a number of times over the last 10 years and whilst the staff were lovely and experience still nice, there are a couple of things to note: 1) Algae growing on the top tiles of the pool near the opening to the outside part of the pool. Clearly needs a good clean; 2) Sun beds inside need moving and cleaning underneath - clear to see dust when in the pool; 3) It would be nice as a returning customer if the hotel acknowledged this. As a 5star hotel I think they should know who their returning customers are as part of the service and shouldn’t be constantly asking “Have you been here before?” A very expensive 1 night stay which I enjoyed but I think the hotel has some areas to address and are not quite as good as they think they are.

An incredible nights stay at Whatley Manor for my husbands 40th. From the moment you walk in they cannot do enough for you, the staff are all welcoming and friendly, making you feel immediately at home. The spa is one of the best I have been to, never feeling too busy and a very relaxing experience with great facilities. We booked the Starry Night offer which included The Dining Room tasting menu which was so amazing it deserves its own review, as well as a bottle of delicious sparkling wine in our incredibly comfortable room. We didn't have much time to explore the grounds, but what we did see was beautiful and we would love to visit again in the summer months to make the most of these. Overall, Whatley Manor is a very special place to enjoy a celebration!

We had heard very good things about Whatley's spa so we decided to give it a go based on what we had heard. We were not disappointed! From the moment we walked in we were made to feel extremely welcome by the lovely Deb ( with the most beautiful eyeshadow! ) who was so utterly warm and friendly. The view on walking into the spa lounge was beautiful. It was a cold day so there was steam coming from the pool outdoors which looked so gorgeous and inviting. We were served some delicious smoothie shots and hot flannels and asked if we would like to have coffees before our day began, which was a fabulous idea. And the young lady who served us was very sweet. Lovely start. Once ready we were guided down to the changing rooms and then given a tour of the facilities. Everything looked lovely and we couldn't wait to begin. The warmth of the pool was just heavenly. We didn't want to get out! But we did, to go and relax on the heated stone beds which were bliss. We were then collected by our lovely therapists, Natalie and Shannon. Both so friendly. And the massages, wow. Divine. So relaxing! Absolutely loved them and you clearly have some very talented staff! We felt so spoilt! The only downside was that it came to an end far too quickly! All in all we had an absolutely wonderful morning in the spa and we will be back! We will be telling our friends and family about Whatley Manor spa and will certainly be encouraging all to experience it! Thank you to everyone involved for making our spa day so perfect. You have a lovely team.

As you drive up the gates open and you are impressed before you get in the door. We were given amazing suite and it was our birthday and they were kind enough to give us champagne and a birthday cake with a candle. Everywhere was clean. The room we had a fridge, coffee machine and TV in sitting room and bedroom. Bathrobes and slippers. Beds were comfortable Had a safe too Then the spa is amazing We were showed around Lots of special touches in this hotel Massage I had was amazing The gym is great They don't try and sell you anything which is great. Dyson hair dryers in changing room We had a buffet dinner included and was amazed wine was included too. The staff were lovely I can't rate this hotel high enough I have been to several 5 star hotels but this one was great in every way. They clean your shoes Park your car Help you in any way they can I will definitely come back

A very special birthday stay was organised by my other half. An impressive sweeping driveway leads to a beautiful house. A warm welcome on arrival and shown to our room (number 9) The hotel had kindly left a card and a cupcake for my birthday. The bedroom was lovely, traditional style, a nice big comfortable bed and good bedding. The lounge area was comfortable. The lounge and bedroom were cold on arrival but we soon worked out how the radiators work. The bathroom was nice enough, nice Molton Brown toiletries. We had two towelling robes but no slippers which was a shame. All in all a lovely room. The room was nice and quiet and we enjoyed using the lounge area. Everywhere was clean. The breakfast in the main restaurant was really nice, a nice choice and vegetarians get their own menu which is a nice gesture. The avocado on toast was delicious. The evening meal in the main restaurant was enjoyable. Again, a good vegetarian selection. Portions are small and beautifully presented, but surprisingly filling (although that might be due to the piles of sourdough bread and creamy butter that we ordered over and over again, delicious!). Service was efficient and friendly. There was a private event, I think it was a wedding, taking place in the hotel. The guests of the wedding congregated for drinks and nibbles at the bottom of the staircase from our bedroom. We wanted to go to the spa in our bathrobes for the full spa experience but because of the wedding guests enjoying their champagne at the bottom of our staircase, we didnt think it was appropriate to walk through the wedding guests in our bathrobes so we had to go to the spa in our clothes and change there which was a shame. Speaking of the spa, we had 3 lovely treatments. A full body massage and a facial and back massage combo. (I would like to mention our therapist's names on here as they were very good, but unfortunately they didnt introduce themselves with a name, they just got on with the treatment which thankfully was a really nice spa treatment). With the 2 nights stay in a very nice room, a pricy dinner on just one evening, £16 gin and tonics, a £50 bottle of wine and a few treatments in the spa, our bill was hefty, as you would expect for a place like this. But THEN when we checked out, they had added a 10% service charge on the whole bill, even including the accommodation! That made it a £125 service charge which is ridiculous! We have NEVER had a service charge added to a hotel bill before to include a charge for staying in a room, and we have stayed in 5* star hotels all around the world. Surely the accomodation charge doesn't require a service charge? We understand that food, drinks and spa treatments would have a service charge, but the accommodation? That left a bitter taste in our mouth having had a nice stay. We gave it a go for a special birthday and we will tick it off our list. All in all, a nice traditional hotel, pleasant staff, nice food, good spa treatments.

What a great hotel. Superb staff and that’s what makes a good hotel great. We had room 8.. a junior suite. Beautiful room. Walk in wardrobe huge bath and very comfy bed. I love that the hotel is focussed on sustai ability. We had lunch in the lounge both days.. this is a lovely relaxing room. Roaring log fire on cold wet day. Dinner in greys was excellent but the experience in the dining room was superb. spending time in the kitchen with Ricki and team really added to the experience. The whole team were superb. I had a great massage with Jess. Sadly didn’t get to walk around the grounds due to the English weather. We will have to go back!