The Ickworth

We had a lovely spacious room in the Dower apartments - a 10/15 minute walk away from the main hotel. The grounds are fabulous and activities such as horseriding and cycling were very enjoyable (but very expensive). The den (creche) was very good with lots of arts and crafts type activities for no extra charge. The games room for older children was also good with table tennis and playstation. The pool was a bit disappointing. A bit musty and cold, with no seating area. So relaxing with a book while the kids are playing in the pool for hours was not really a possibility. The spa was also a bit disappointing - basically three small treatment rooms and some expensive products on sale. Does that make a spa? The food was ok, but not consistently excellent. Overall we had a good time, I would consider going again, but I couldn't honestly say it was good value for money.

Hated it - It was like staying at your grannies stately home without the comfort. The pool area was cold, the food grotty and for the nearly £600 it cost us over 2 days, not worth the money at all!!

LOVE this place. We stayed a few months ago for a long weekend and am only writing now as we have just had a weekend away to a place that sounded similar but was hopeless. Ickworth is stunning- we had the most beautiful room in the dower house overlooking rose garden. Childcare facilities were fantastic, food was lovely, service was impeccable, spa treatments were great, pool fab. LOVED it.

Fantastic retreat for our whole family (parents, 4-year old and baby). We have stayed twice - first in the hotel which was fab and then in the apartments which were of equal high quality. Best bit for us was being able to go to the creche with our baby at 5am to let rest of the family sleep! Head Porter even brought me a tray of tea and biscuits to keep me going! (You can leave children with fully qualified staff for up to 2 hours in the daytime at no extra charge). Food was first class - just can't say a bad thing about facilities / service.

Fantastic retreat for our whole family (parents, 4-year old and baby). We have stayed twice - first in the hotel which was fab and then in the apartments which were of equal high quality. Best bit for us was being able to go to the creche with our baby at 5am to let rest of the family sleep! Head Porter even brought me a tray of tea and biscuits to keep me going! (You can leave children with fully qualified staff for up to 2 hours in the daytime at no extra charge). Food was first class - just can't say a bad thing about facilities / service.

A beautiful hotel worth a repeat visit. Some gorgeous rooms and lovely food. The creche is a bit pokey compared to the sister hotels in this chain and there's not a lot to do locally - but still a great break.

Beautiful house and grounds. We had a large double and it was quite crowded with 2 extra beds and a cot though it was 'grand'. Bikes & pods to use, lots of trikes, swimming pool, riding, play ground etc. Lovely conservatory that we never got to eat in once during our 3 night stay because we were always shunted off into a gloomy sideroom! Food in evening was pretty crap for price - same menu each night and they never had the wine we wanted. We disappointingly never got to see inside the NT house (Rotunda) as it was closed the whole time we were there.
We didn't use the creche for childcare but overall the kids had a great time esp pain au chocolat for breakfast and falling asleep watching dvds in our big bed.

This hotel is part of Ickworth House which is a grand National Trust property surrounded by fantastic parkland. We had a great weekend here with our 4 and 7 yr old. The staff are friendly, the mealtimes are completely flexible, the food is good and the amenities are great. We went on a wildlife tour (not much wildlife to see in Feb but a fun drive around the 2,500 acre estate in a buggy type car), used the creche (briefly), enjoyed a few table tennis / table football games, used the swimming pool (which is very nice and perfectly clean when we used it), had sandwiches in the sitting room and meals in the family-friendly (i.e noisy) conservatory, had a facial downstairs in the spa, borrowed bikes to do some cycling, watched a couple of dvds, almost went horseriding and then we had to go back home. It was above all a relaxing experience. The hotel is not about slick, 5 star luxury, but it is a wonderfully relaxing and comfortable stay - a world away from day to day worries and stresses in a beautiful part of England.

This hotel is very a sham, a two night stay cost my husband approx £800 - this included a beauty treatment for myself by a girl barely out of beauty school for £80 in a room like a utility room. Our bedrooom (a suite) was small and not up to a high quality 9its the one featured in the brochure), the pool area was dirty and cold, the reception didn't even know how to use the bottle warmers and the restaurant food was disgusting. The food in the pub down the road (the Beehive) was fantastic! A very disappointed birthday treat for myself and my husband! Absolute rubbish for loads of cash!!

Beautiful get-away-from-it-all location. Bikes, trampolines, pool etc meant entertaining the kids was effortless and enabled us to lounge around outside. The apartments were fabulous and spacious. Only downside was very patchy service. Would go again if can get another good offer!

Great place to take children and keep them entertained. Great bike rides (with free bikes you can just pick up from the shed), nice pool and play area (for under 6 ish) & trampoline. Beautiful grounds to explore. Room nice, a little cramped with two extra beds for the children. Food OK, evening BBQ overpriced and rather dark on the terrace after 8pm (in August). Breakfast very good. Would go back.