We had a very disappointing stay. The room was dirty, lots of dog hair all over the stained sofa, the room is dated, mattress was very old so you can feel every spring and you can hear everything from the corridor/ other rooms. Our upgraded room was above the kitchen so we could also hear the music playing too from below. Zero water pressure it was nearly pointless to have the shower.The breakfast was good.We had booked a few nights but cut the trip short and have moved elsewhere unfortunately.
David Milner
We recently returned to Eshott Hall for the fifth time as part of our honeymoon, only to find a noticeable decline in the hotel's overall condition. The original room, a familiar choice for us, was dishearteningly thick with dust, featured hairs in the bath, stains on chairs, and dirty carpets. The subsequent room in the main house wasn't any better, with dust, curly hairs in the sink and bath, dusty bed frames, lumpy mattresses, and more dirty carpets.It's evident that maintenance has been neglected over the past 18 months, both in the rooms and throughout the hotel's internal and external spaces. There was a lack of apology initially, but we hope to hear from the General Manager soon.Regrettably, this experience has led us to decide against returning to Eshott Hall. It's disappointing to witness a decline in quality and pride in a place we once held in high regard. On a positive note, we were able to secure a last-minute booking at Matfen Hall, saving our honeymoon from further disappointment.
Mick Merriott Photography
As a wedding photographer I LOVE this venue. This is a stunning venue with equally gorgeous indoor and outdoor spaces to give SO much potential on your wedding day. The staff are great and make sure all goes according to plan. Can't wait to return again very soon.
Ellen Murray-Pym
We have just been back after 5 years when we got married for a festive afternoon tea, and I say festive lightly as it was not what was advertised online, however it was tasty none the less, but value for money not naming other places but for the price you can get much more for your money in near by places. It appeared we were the only people booked in for afternoon tea and it felt like apart from the sandwiches the rest of the afternoon tea had been defrosted also Having to constantly ask for coffee tops ups was slightly irritating. The staff at reception constantly phoning customers on loud speaker and leaving them on loud speaker was annoying and detracted from the whole experience. To say it has gone down hill in the last 5 years doesn't cover it, which is such a shame. Staff are very hit and miss, some helpful, where as others aren't.Hopefully someone buys this as a business and injects some much needed love, attention and staff training!Food & drinks: Food is tasty but not worth the money.
Geraldine Barrett
Wonderful place. Friendly, helpful and welcoming staff. Good facilities in the warm and well presented rooms. Excellent food in the restaurant. Exceptional 2 night stay. Highly recommend.
Keith Bradbury
As many others have said, the overall experience is a very strange mix of star ratings.Restaurant + Food: The actual ambience in the restaurant is rather poor with bright lights and quite awful music. The service from staff is very poor with varying levels of incompetence. It's not quite fawly towers scenes but some of it was comically bad. This ranged from an inability to pour wine without spilling it, taking 15min for a drink order to arrive (with perhaps 6 tables dining during our time) and a request for bread that went mostly ignored although the lady with the break basket walked past our table several times. Sometimes they would come back to a table to double check the order, sometimes they would just bring the wrong food to the wrong table. It's as if the staff have never worked in a restaurant before and they were drafted in an hour before the shift and told to do their best. They absolutely were not rude and they didn't appear to be purposefully difficult - it was more just a genuine incompetence.The food itself was very good. We didn't meet the chef but clearly he or she was working magic behind closed doors. Starters, mains, and desserts were very good and completely out of keeping with the rest of the experience. I would congratulate the chef and the kitchen on managing to produce lovely food that made the entire experience worthwhile.Breakfast was a more basic affair and was ok but nothing special.The room: We stayed in the stable view and the room had an extra door that opened onto what I imagine was a fire escape route or potentially staff quarters. That part of the building was completely filthy and left a terrible impression. I accept it wasn't intended to be a part of the building which guests could access but a door from our room did open directly onto it. That also meant that at night the light would continue to bleed into our room because the lights in that section remained on and the door wasn't very well sealed.The room itself was warm and nicely proportioned with a lovely large bathroom. Water pressure in the shower was disappointing but acceptable given the old building.The mattress was very poor though and didn't meet expectations. It was an old sprung mattress without much of a topper and you could feel the springs poking into your body. I would expect much, much better of a 4 (or even 2) star hotel. Both my wife and I didn't sleep well as a result.The setting: The house itself is really nice with lovely grounds and beautiful tall redwood trees. Looking out from breakfast was onto a idyllic snow covered lawn. Very nice overall.Summary: Whilst always a challenge to utilise an old country house like this as a hotel, the biggest let down was the level of service. Staff weren't rude or specifically bad but they weren't competent on how to run a hotel or service business. That ended up tarring the entire experience. We wouldn't go back which is a shame as it's a very nice setting.
Eshott Hall was a beautiful backdrop for our wedding, and while our special day was filled with moments of joy and love, there were some unfortunate issues that prevent us from giving it a perfect review.Our journey with Eshott Hall began with an unexpected change in our wedding date only 3 months after putting down our deposit. We had to move our wedding forward by a year due to the venue's sudden closure, which was a stressful situation to navigate. Despite this unexpected change, we were still excited about the prospect of celebrating our union at this beautiful location.Our wedding weekend was a two-day celebration, with the Friday evening being the prelude to our main event on Saturday. We appreciate the efforts made by the staff in helping us set up and coordinate the final details during our run-through meeting. However, the hiccups began on the first evening.A handful of our guests reported issues, including not having towels in their rooms upon check-in, which was unexpected for a luxury hotel. On Friday night, welcome drinks were not circulated as planned, and when I inquired about them, the barman's rude and abrupt response was shocking and disappointing. This behaviour was observed by our guests and marred the evening. Thankfully, the manager quickly rectified the situation. Later, when dinner was brought out, it was discovered that the wine we had provided for our guests to drink with dinner was not being circulated, and the dietary requirements of a family member were completely overlooked, despite all details being agreed upon in advance (both one month before and immediately before the celebrations proceeded).The most distressing revelation was that the barman had been charging our guests for non-alcoholic drinks instead of putting them on our pre-paid bar tab and not offering the welcome drinks or the wine we had imported specially from France. He had instead been charging guests for the wine sold by Eshott Hall and not informing them of the wine that we had provided. The wine we had imported was meant to be provided to our guests free of charge, and the corkage fee was paid in advance. This error was especially disheartening since we wanted to ensure our guests were well taken care of as they had all travelled a long way to celebrate with us.On the brighter side, the Saturday of our wedding was a dream come true. The morning staff were very apologetic for the previous night's issues and ensured that the staff on duty were aware of the bar tab and wine arrangements. The day itself was splendid, with exceptional service and delicious food. The wedding breakfast in the beautifully dressed ballroom was exquisite, and the lamb roast in the evening was incredible. Special dietary requirements were handled well, and we received many compliments on our inclusive approach.Our wedding weekend, despite the Friday night hiccups, was filled with happiness and love, and we are grateful for the effort put in by the staff to make our wedding memorable.In summary, Eshott Hall provided a picturesque setting and memorable moments for all invited, but the issues on the Friday night left a lasting impact. We hope that these points are taken constructively to enhance the experience for future couples celebrating their special day at Eshott Hall.We would like to say a big thank you to the staff at Eshott Hall again for all of their efforts.
Chris Hogg
A lovely place to stop for afternoon tea in a nice setting. Would be great on a warm sunny day to sit outdoors.
B Mo
Wonderful hotel in a beautiful period property !! Set in a quiet Northumberland village, not far from the coast. Rooms are comfortable and spacious. Food in the restaurant is delicious. The staff are all friendly and helpful.
Wonderfully relaxing stay in a beautiful hotel surrounded by quiet grounds and woodlands. Delicious food, clean and comfortable room and super friendly staff. Looking forward to another break next year.
druenzler
The overall condition is very bad. The furniture, the curtains and especially the carpet in the rooms and in the dinging rooms is very worn and even dirty. At dinner I had to ask the service 3 times to close at least the door to the service room when they left, because I had a full view at the service room with a broom at the wall. I think the staff simple does not know, how to run a 4 star hotel and the general management does not care about the condition of the hotel. I have not seen in more than 40 years of extensive traveling such a extensive discrepancy between the home page in the internet and the real condition.
Dawn H
We love the intimacy of Eshott, we had our wedding here 5 years ago and return every year, this is a special place for us with lots of good memories, would highly recommend the Italian room with freestanding bath
markwd65
our first trip to Northumberland. We were very lucky with the weather, very nice, pet friendly hotel, we had a lovely relaxing holiday. We stayed in the grange, nice big room with easy garden access which was ideal having a dog. would stay at this hotel again
PeterOGStevenageUK
Stayed 2 nights whilst exploring Northumberland and location was ideal. It’s an old quirky building and full of character. Great welcome on arrival from the reception. Gardens are well maintained and the stripes on the lawns are a credit to the gardener. We only had breakfast and it was perfect. Served fresh from the kitchen rather than sitting under lamps for ages whilst self serving. We had a large room in the main house which was perfectly clean and well resourced with bottled water topped up daily. Just a couple of comments for attention… the wardrobe was so old we did not use it as it smelt very musty, the tissues where not topped up after day one and the dead flies on the carpet in the corridor leading to our room were there for the duration of our visit. The staff at breakfast were excellent, so attentive and friendly, as was the barman who couldn’t do enough for us and went out of his way to source a local beer. Wi-Fi quality was excellent.
We had a very disappointing stay. The room was dirty, lots of dog hair all over the stained sofa, the room is dated, mattress was very old so you can feel every spring and you can hear everything from the corridor/ other rooms. Our upgraded room was above the kitchen so we could also hear the music playing too from below. Zero water pressure it was nearly pointless to have the shower.The breakfast was good.We had booked a few nights but cut the trip short and have moved elsewhere unfortunately.
We recently returned to Eshott Hall for the fifth time as part of our honeymoon, only to find a noticeable decline in the hotel's overall condition. The original room, a familiar choice for us, was dishearteningly thick with dust, featured hairs in the bath, stains on chairs, and dirty carpets. The subsequent room in the main house wasn't any better, with dust, curly hairs in the sink and bath, dusty bed frames, lumpy mattresses, and more dirty carpets.It's evident that maintenance has been neglected over the past 18 months, both in the rooms and throughout the hotel's internal and external spaces. There was a lack of apology initially, but we hope to hear from the General Manager soon.Regrettably, this experience has led us to decide against returning to Eshott Hall. It's disappointing to witness a decline in quality and pride in a place we once held in high regard. On a positive note, we were able to secure a last-minute booking at Matfen Hall, saving our honeymoon from further disappointment.
As a wedding photographer I LOVE this venue. This is a stunning venue with equally gorgeous indoor and outdoor spaces to give SO much potential on your wedding day. The staff are great and make sure all goes according to plan. Can't wait to return again very soon.
We have just been back after 5 years when we got married for a festive afternoon tea, and I say festive lightly as it was not what was advertised online, however it was tasty none the less, but value for money not naming other places but for the price you can get much more for your money in near by places. It appeared we were the only people booked in for afternoon tea and it felt like apart from the sandwiches the rest of the afternoon tea had been defrosted also Having to constantly ask for coffee tops ups was slightly irritating. The staff at reception constantly phoning customers on loud speaker and leaving them on loud speaker was annoying and detracted from the whole experience. To say it has gone down hill in the last 5 years doesn't cover it, which is such a shame. Staff are very hit and miss, some helpful, where as others aren't.Hopefully someone buys this as a business and injects some much needed love, attention and staff training!Food & drinks: Food is tasty but not worth the money.
Wonderful place. Friendly, helpful and welcoming staff. Good facilities in the warm and well presented rooms. Excellent food in the restaurant. Exceptional 2 night stay. Highly recommend.
As many others have said, the overall experience is a very strange mix of star ratings.Restaurant + Food: The actual ambience in the restaurant is rather poor with bright lights and quite awful music. The service from staff is very poor with varying levels of incompetence. It's not quite fawly towers scenes but some of it was comically bad. This ranged from an inability to pour wine without spilling it, taking 15min for a drink order to arrive (with perhaps 6 tables dining during our time) and a request for bread that went mostly ignored although the lady with the break basket walked past our table several times. Sometimes they would come back to a table to double check the order, sometimes they would just bring the wrong food to the wrong table. It's as if the staff have never worked in a restaurant before and they were drafted in an hour before the shift and told to do their best. They absolutely were not rude and they didn't appear to be purposefully difficult - it was more just a genuine incompetence.The food itself was very good. We didn't meet the chef but clearly he or she was working magic behind closed doors. Starters, mains, and desserts were very good and completely out of keeping with the rest of the experience. I would congratulate the chef and the kitchen on managing to produce lovely food that made the entire experience worthwhile.Breakfast was a more basic affair and was ok but nothing special.The room: We stayed in the stable view and the room had an extra door that opened onto what I imagine was a fire escape route or potentially staff quarters. That part of the building was completely filthy and left a terrible impression. I accept it wasn't intended to be a part of the building which guests could access but a door from our room did open directly onto it. That also meant that at night the light would continue to bleed into our room because the lights in that section remained on and the door wasn't very well sealed.The room itself was warm and nicely proportioned with a lovely large bathroom. Water pressure in the shower was disappointing but acceptable given the old building.The mattress was very poor though and didn't meet expectations. It was an old sprung mattress without much of a topper and you could feel the springs poking into your body. I would expect much, much better of a 4 (or even 2) star hotel. Both my wife and I didn't sleep well as a result.The setting: The house itself is really nice with lovely grounds and beautiful tall redwood trees. Looking out from breakfast was onto a idyllic snow covered lawn. Very nice overall.Summary: Whilst always a challenge to utilise an old country house like this as a hotel, the biggest let down was the level of service. Staff weren't rude or specifically bad but they weren't competent on how to run a hotel or service business. That ended up tarring the entire experience. We wouldn't go back which is a shame as it's a very nice setting.
Gorgeous building. Warm welcome. Lovely food. Friendly staff. Super tasty food.
Eshott Hall was a beautiful backdrop for our wedding, and while our special day was filled with moments of joy and love, there were some unfortunate issues that prevent us from giving it a perfect review.Our journey with Eshott Hall began with an unexpected change in our wedding date only 3 months after putting down our deposit. We had to move our wedding forward by a year due to the venue's sudden closure, which was a stressful situation to navigate. Despite this unexpected change, we were still excited about the prospect of celebrating our union at this beautiful location.Our wedding weekend was a two-day celebration, with the Friday evening being the prelude to our main event on Saturday. We appreciate the efforts made by the staff in helping us set up and coordinate the final details during our run-through meeting. However, the hiccups began on the first evening.A handful of our guests reported issues, including not having towels in their rooms upon check-in, which was unexpected for a luxury hotel. On Friday night, welcome drinks were not circulated as planned, and when I inquired about them, the barman's rude and abrupt response was shocking and disappointing. This behaviour was observed by our guests and marred the evening. Thankfully, the manager quickly rectified the situation. Later, when dinner was brought out, it was discovered that the wine we had provided for our guests to drink with dinner was not being circulated, and the dietary requirements of a family member were completely overlooked, despite all details being agreed upon in advance (both one month before and immediately before the celebrations proceeded).The most distressing revelation was that the barman had been charging our guests for non-alcoholic drinks instead of putting them on our pre-paid bar tab and not offering the welcome drinks or the wine we had imported specially from France. He had instead been charging guests for the wine sold by Eshott Hall and not informing them of the wine that we had provided. The wine we had imported was meant to be provided to our guests free of charge, and the corkage fee was paid in advance. This error was especially disheartening since we wanted to ensure our guests were well taken care of as they had all travelled a long way to celebrate with us.On the brighter side, the Saturday of our wedding was a dream come true. The morning staff were very apologetic for the previous night's issues and ensured that the staff on duty were aware of the bar tab and wine arrangements. The day itself was splendid, with exceptional service and delicious food. The wedding breakfast in the beautifully dressed ballroom was exquisite, and the lamb roast in the evening was incredible. Special dietary requirements were handled well, and we received many compliments on our inclusive approach.Our wedding weekend, despite the Friday night hiccups, was filled with happiness and love, and we are grateful for the effort put in by the staff to make our wedding memorable.In summary, Eshott Hall provided a picturesque setting and memorable moments for all invited, but the issues on the Friday night left a lasting impact. We hope that these points are taken constructively to enhance the experience for future couples celebrating their special day at Eshott Hall.We would like to say a big thank you to the staff at Eshott Hall again for all of their efforts.
A lovely place to stop for afternoon tea in a nice setting. Would be great on a warm sunny day to sit outdoors.
Wonderful hotel in a beautiful period property !! Set in a quiet Northumberland village, not far from the coast. Rooms are comfortable and spacious. Food in the restaurant is delicious. The staff are all friendly and helpful.
Restaurantji Recommends
Wonderfully relaxing stay in a beautiful hotel surrounded by quiet grounds and woodlands. Delicious food, clean and comfortable room and super friendly staff. Looking forward to another break next year.
The overall condition is very bad. The furniture, the curtains and especially the carpet in the rooms and in the dinging rooms is very worn and even dirty. At dinner I had to ask the service 3 times to close at least the door to the service room when they left, because I had a full view at the service room with a broom at the wall. I think the staff simple does not know, how to run a 4 star hotel and the general management does not care about the condition of the hotel. I have not seen in more than 40 years of extensive traveling such a extensive discrepancy between the home page in the internet and the real condition.
We love the intimacy of Eshott, we had our wedding here 5 years ago and return every year, this is a special place for us with lots of good memories, would highly recommend the Italian room with freestanding bath
our first trip to Northumberland. We were very lucky with the weather, very nice, pet friendly hotel, we had a lovely relaxing holiday. We stayed in the grange, nice big room with easy garden access which was ideal having a dog. would stay at this hotel again
Stayed 2 nights whilst exploring Northumberland and location was ideal. It’s an old quirky building and full of character. Great welcome on arrival from the reception. Gardens are well maintained and the stripes on the lawns are a credit to the gardener. We only had breakfast and it was perfect. Served fresh from the kitchen rather than sitting under lamps for ages whilst self serving. We had a large room in the main house which was perfectly clean and well resourced with bottled water topped up daily. Just a couple of comments for attention… the wardrobe was so old we did not use it as it smelt very musty, the tissues where not topped up after day one and the dead flies on the carpet in the corridor leading to our room were there for the duration of our visit. The staff at breakfast were excellent, so attentive and friendly, as was the barman who couldn’t do enough for us and went out of his way to source a local beer. Wi-Fi quality was excellent.