Woolley Grange

Beautiful building - very romantic with lots of cosy rooms for afternoon tea, with freshly baked scones, or just reading, which you can do as there is literally loads for the children to do. Far to much to list but ranges from swimming, both indoor and out, to giant jenga and tadpoling. There is also a dog called Peanut who my son totally feel in love with, so be warned you'll need to have your reasons why we can't have a dog up your sleeve !

The kids made bread one day in kids club but were probably at 6 and 8 slightly too old for the club. The kids club was full of absolutely every kind of arts and crafts, imaginary plaything you can imagine. There is a Den for older children with table football, air hockey etc.
While the children were making bread I went to the Spa and had the full body massage which was so relaxing.
As this was my first solo holiday with the children I didnt try the listening or babysitting service, we just had dinner together at 6pm which was really nice, as was the Prosecco !
Lovely restaurant with fine dining for the adults and lots of healthy food on the kids menu.
The staff couldnt be more helpful, in the end I felt as though we had visited friends at a lovely country house.
We're definitely going back !

Brace yourself for a serious workout for your wallet - was it worth it ? ....jury is out for me . love the location and we had a great room in the new annexe area but found the childrens facility fairly basic and the pool ok ish but not great . food was excellent but kids meals less so and as others said fairly early . would probably only contemplate hotel in this group again for a specail occasion .

Stayed here with a 2 year old - thought the house itself and room were lovely. The creche was pretty basic, although staff lovely and a babysitter was sorted for us on a couple of hours' notice. Kids have to eat really really early though, or else with parents in the restaurant which didnt really work. It is v expensive.

We stayed here at the end of a weekend / start of a week in Sept 2008 with an only just 2 yr old and a 9 month old. They enjoyed the playroom, but there were only other kids to interact with on the Sunday, then it was just us and some very bored (but lovely) nursery staff. It could have been better insulated, both the nursery and the bedroom. Heating didn't come on til 6pm each night which was a bit late for our bath and bed times for the kids. We ate in the restaurant but gave up when we were shunted from the main dining room to a hidden side room so that a corporate group could take over the main dining room. We were made to feel a bit like 2nd class citizen when the corporates arrived. Also booked a massage, but the therapist was pretty useless, it was like having a rather bad tickling session. I tried very hard not to laugh but eventually gave in and she had to stop. However, its a beautiful house in lovely grounds. Its a great place to meet local friends for a leisurely lunch. I'm glad we went. It was expensive all round, but we expected that.

A place that promised so much, but delivered so little! We went there with our two year old, hoping we'd get a bit of grown up time but couldn't bring ourselves to leave her on her own in the oddly depressing supervised playroom. When it came to our longed for evening meal (with listening service via the reception desk), the food was overpriced, outrageously salty and the options for vegetarians were very limited. Touches that were meant to be helpful ("we'll warm your baby's bottle for you"), were just annoying because you have to take milk downstairs and wait for someone to organise it for you or wait for room service, when we'd be much happier with a kettle in our room and a bowl. Overall - disappointing.

We stayed this August 09 and were disappointed, the hotel was just so money grabbing. Despite paying

The hotel is beautiful and *some* of the rooms are great but beware, some are *really* small. We had a suite with a living room downstairs with comfy sofa, tv, dvd etc and a good sized bedroom and huge bathroom upstairs. The room looked out to the lawns and pool at the front of the hotel and rolling hills beyond - lovely.

However, I am quite nosey and asked to see a few other rooms and I wouldn't have been happy to stay in a couple of them - very small- and shabby chic decor more shabby than chic ;)

Food was OK - nothing special but there is a fantastic Thai restaurant about 15 mins walk away in the village.

We hired a babysitter and she was great - very experienced.

We did use the creche but only for about an hour. It looked great but there was only one other child there so lacked any kind of atmosphere! The staff were friendly though.

They can provide most baby items including sterlisiers and bottle warmers along with the usual travel cots and stairgates. They have Plum baby food for sale as well I noticed.

All in all a good hotel but perhaps a bit over-priced...

Great place to take children up to about the age of 12

Have not stayed there, as we are local, but have eaten there lots of times. We had a few good meals with a few glitches in ordering/food arriving (& horrible saffron risotto). Last time was terrible. Waitress/Manageress misheard my order, brought wrong salad and took it away to return 10-15 mins later with same salad with a bit of cooked meat on it. Meanwhile the other meals had gone cold at the table and no offer was made to keep them warm/re-heat. Would have made a fuss but it was our Anniversary.

Sorry, but I did not enjoy my stay at Woolley Grange. Ds loved the kid's club, the room was lovely, but don't even think about it if you are vegetarian. I warned them when we booked and when we arrived, but the chef clearly didn't have a clue. We stayed two nights. I had a choice of mushrooms, egg, or mushroom AND egg for starter and main course. I don't even like blasted mushrooms (I'd mentioned that when booking/checking in)!

Second night, I asked very politely if the chef could do something else. The waiter suggested a rissoto. Lovely. Except Mr You Will Eat Meat in the kitchen had tipped half a pot of salt over it - absolutely inedible.

Thing is, if you are there with children, you are stuck there - you can't exactly abandon a three year old and head off to the nearest town for dinner. So a chef who appears to have a violent antipathy to vegetarians is not helpful. Particularly when you are paying the hotel quite a lot of money.

slightly more luxurious than Moonfleet Manor, and with a lovely outdoor pool and grounds. Very relaxing

Didn't like it much; risking a bit of inverted snobbery, it was full of "stockbroker on a break from the city"-types. Food was OK but not posh restaurant standard; have you ever had a Bakewell tart with no evidence of almonds in???. Baby listening service was a bit useless; they came to get us at the first peep, so we would have looked like terrible parents if we hadn't responded where in fact baby settled very quickly; we used out own monitor instead on the second night.
Our room was TINY, barely enough room for our bed plus travel cot. However staff were lovely and I am sure childcare would have been usful for slightly older children.

"Brilliant!" Woolley Grange is a "family oriented", "luxurious hotel" that's "very friendly". It's a "lovely place for a quiet break, to relax and not do much." "On most days we did not leave the hotel as it was nice to just lounge around and enjoy a rest, but there's lots to do." "We didn't have to take a single thing for the children. Everything available from nappy sacks to sunpat spread!" The food is "top notch", the staff are "exceptional" and the surroundings are "lovely." All agreed that it was "expensive" but "worth it." "Perfect for a weekend break."

Comfortable, relaxed, good food (although no decent coffee!).

A lovely "smart" hotel that catered for the needs of our 2 year old and made us all feel very relaxed and comfortable.