Holmes Chapel

Our 2nd visit to The Vicarage, the first time to check out places to visit in the area. On this visit we were surprised at the number of dogs which were allowed into the restaurant at breakfast time,one even sitting on a chair
This time we felt that the Hotel had improved and more staff meant better service in the restaurant.
Staff were cheerful and attentive.
I felt that, for me, the restaurant menu was limited. There was also an absence of fresh vegetables, sea bass on top of noodles didn't quite hit the spot!!
Placed around the hotel there were sanitiser dispensers but they were all empty!
The room was a bit 'tired' but the towels were of exceptional quality.
Bathroom in room 15 could do with a shelf.

Disappointing

The Vicarage is a nice pub with rooms. The room was spacious enough with the usual facilities, although the bed was softer than we prefer. We were on the quiet side of the building offering views over the air conditioning outlets, the other side would have offered views over the busy road. The food is not gourmet style, but was well-prepared and plentiful. Staff could be better trained (one couldn't remember which wine had been ordered, another had to be asked for toast at breakfast then brought no preserves for it). Dinner is served in the bar or the conservatory off the bar, but the music was too loud in both. For us the big problem came at check-out. We had paid for the room in full when making the booking, but the bill presented did not account for this or the package discounts. Staff at reception did not have the authority to rectify the situation, although she could identify the errors. We had to leave on the promise that no money would be taken without agreement. A subsequent phone call that day resulted in a corrected account, but a promised email attaching the breakdown was not sent until requested the following day.

Good location for Jodrell Bank Visit

Stayed to visit friends in Manchester and to visit Jodrell bank. The hotel location was excellent for those purposes. Unfortunately the room TV was not fit for purpose, it was internet dependant and kept cutting out making it impossible to watch even the news. The restaurant was not up to our expected standard although the Breakfast was very good.

Harry Potter Stay

We stayed here as it was an ideal location to visit the Harry Potter Forbidden Forest Experience. On arrival we had to drive around the car park a few times as there were no spaces. Eventually we went to check in, the lady at reception was friendly and helpful (we didn t receive our welcome drinks so had to get these at the bar later on).

The room was clean but basic and small. The radiator didn t work and the shower needs addressing as it almost flooded the bathroom floor. The bed was ok for one night but pretty sure it wasn t a double bed, maybe a small double.

Dinner was lovely, took a while to arrive but nice and fresh ingredients. The cocktails were lovely too! It was nice having a live singer too - really enjoyable atmosphere.

Breakfast - they probably shouldn t offer this service. We waited at the table 20 minutes and eventually went up to ask if somebody could come and bring us a menu and take our order for hot drinks. Nobody came over so we did this at the bar. The continental area had no pastries left, the juice containers were empty, no yoghurts left in the fridge and the bread had dried out.
Eventually after a while, we received our drinks (with no milk, had to go up and ask for this again) and then another 20 minutes after this, received our breakfast. Small portions but nice enough. I will add - breakfast service wasn t particularly busy, the restaurant was large and there were probably only another 3 to 4 tables being used at the same time so unsure why service was so slow.

Parts of the stay were nice but I wouldn t class this as a luxury stay and there are other places around the area for the same cost which seem to have better reviews.

It could be much better

We arrived on the hottest day of the year in July and the room which was quite pleasant was stifling. Staff had made an attempt to mitigate the heat with the provision of a small fan which frankly wasn't up to the job. The hotel is on a main road which is busy all the time and with the single glazed windows open at night, it was very difficult to sleep because of the noise. Staff were pleasant, willing and responsive but very short on the ground meaning you often had to wait a long time to be served, either in the restaurant, garden or bar. There were some nice touches in the room although the furniture could have been more functional. We had a nice and very big en-suite with a freestanding Victorian style bath. The idea is nice but it took forever to get a reasonable amount of water in it. Unfortunately, it wasn't cleaned properly.

Trying hard

I am not sure how this hotel got onto off peak luxury.com. One the plus side the staff were brilliant and nothing was too much trouble. A lot of effort had been put into design but this couldn t hide the fact that the rooms were basically a roadside motel and smaller than a premier inn. The restaurant was struggling and had run out of most of its Sunday lunch menu by the time we arrived at our pre booked table at 7:30. We made do with a, admittedly very nice, cauliflower cheese; a side as a main meal. The breakfast was innovative and very good so clearly a good chef but
We were visiting a relative we had not seen since before the pandemic so it didn t matter but if I had booked this as a break I would have been very disappointed.

Lovely venue, average food.

We were really pleased with the room and hotel on arrival. It was very comfortable and relaxed. I think the amount of self proclaimed superlatives on the information about the food led us to very high expectations. It was just ok. Breakfast on the last morning was a nightmare, waiting an hour, despite asking for just some toast while we were waiting, that only arrived after the main food. One of girls waiting on was fantastic and very apologetic. Trying to check out I raised this, but due to a system problem the bill couldn't be worked out and I was emailed an invoice a few days later with no reference or apology to the breakfast.

Disappointing

The Vicarage was poorly described as a country hotel, located on the A50 which is a very busy road, not even set back down a drive. Our room was the smallest accessible room we've stayed in, smaller than on cruise ships we've been on. It had a very well appointed wet room that was spacious and equipped with lots of handrails. Bedroom itself had dark grey walls, carpet and black, budget hotel-style furniture so seemed even gloomier! Had no mirror in Bedroom, only in bathroom which had no shaver plug either. Requested a mirror for Bedroom and a full length mirror was brought the same day. However, not fixed to wall and had to balance on waste paper bin to use. Front of house staff were very friendly and helpful, best part about The Vicarage. Food poor and v. hit and miss. Sent steak back twice as came rare but had ordered it medium. Poor breakfast choices with no Danish pastries due to non delivery one day, another day no yogurts, and fruit choices were oranges or grapes.Supposed to be dog friendly and staff and hotel were; however nowhere but car park to walk our dog, no grassy area and busy, noisy road certainly not suitable.