Moonfleet Manor quickie

[CountessDracula]

Just about to book a few days there in the summer and thought I would consult the Oracle first - any tips or bad things I should know about. Is the food good? We are getting a standard double and single, are they ok?

You are forgiven

I know what you mean about the lack of tea and coffe making facilities, it does seem a bit odd. I suppose what makes me want to go back to Woolley Grange time after time is something undefinable about the atmosphere. I love the way it's furnished, the way everyone smiles and is endlessly helpful, the situation of the swimming pool, the nice nannies and so on. The food is mostly very good but not superb, but that doesn't put me off. At Calcot you just got an overwhelming impression of chaos and, with a few notable exceptions, that guests are frankly a bit of a pest. I could have done without hoards of workmen having a fag just outside our window too, to be honest.

Oh I thought it was on the beach, one of the main reasons for choosing it as dd loves bucket and spadeyness.

I've been nosing around a bit and can't find anything else in the area that I fancy so think will book it but not have high hopes.

Other alternative is to book a bigger cottage and invite family too so that we get some help with dd. Downside: have to spend holiday with family who can be PITA

It is right by a beach, CD, but maybe monkeygirl is right and it's not easily accessible? I would just give them a ring and ask before you book.

What do you all think about this room thing (the rooms are across the hall from each other but on their own on the other side of a fire door - would you be happy with this arrangement ie baby in single us in dbl, with listening device etc.)

Am I understanding this correctly, you're not in the same room as your baby?? Sounds a bit weird. Personal feeling here but if that's true then I wouldn't like it but I'm one of life's worriers and would want dd in my sight despite the snuffling noises she can make all night.

cd, honestly, it feels a bit weird to me, although i can't explain why. sorry, not helpful. presumably you're no further away from your sleeping daughter than you would be at home? we normally go for interconnecting rooms if we can get them or if the bathroom is a good size, put ds's cot in there. like you i couldn't bear to sleep in the same room as him! bad, bad mummy!

you know what, i would just go for it if i were you. it's only a few days right? you will get some pampering and a bit of a break and if you think it's a tad too expensive - well you needn't go again.

now that we have cleared up the pool issue, i can say that i am pretty sure it's near a beach how wrong could it go?

in terms of the room thing, why not just see how it works when you get down there? presumably you would be leaving her alone with monitor/baby listening to go to dinner anyway. if you feel like the set-up is safe when you get down there, fine, if not, speak to the staff. despite my quibbles, i couldn't fault the attitude of the staff at the lfh places i've stayed, i'm sure they would do their best to make an alternative arrangement for you.

what do you think?

COuntessDracula, we have stayed there during summer months. We had a suite, where the children were in the sitting room.

Food was fine, but we were there for a week, so I was dying for something simple by the end! Our room was opposite the laundry and every morning at 6am, the night porter would do his final checks, bang his way through the fire doors, bang his way in and out of the laundry, and they have VERY squeaky floorboards. Drove me MAD! This was our first holiday when the children weren't waking me at 6am (or earlier) and we couldnt enjoy that extra peace.

No beach, there are views of water, you need to drive into Weymouth, which is great, we really enjoyed the beach there.

We had also been to Fowey in Cornwall and really enjoyed our stay there, we would definitely go back to Fowey, but not to Moonfleet, don't know if that helps you!

I imagine main school holidays could be childhell for your DH, we went before schools broke up so its was mainly babies and tiddlers.

The pool is quite tired, but there is a nice lawn, with seats and hammocks, swingball etc.

BK, it really annoys me too when they don't provide tea/coffee making facilities in the room - surely the benefits outweigh the costs to the hotel by a huge amount?

Thanks everyone, it turned out to be not such a quick question after all!

Well we are still undecided
Will let you know what we do decide

I would agree with Issymum about Moonfleet although it is about 4 years since we were there. The decor struck me as rather shabby although I think this is a deliberate part of their "country-house-charm" look. We went at Easter so it was expensive and we had one of the higher priced suites which was rather on the small side. I remember we had to put ds's cot in the bathroom which bizarrely was about the same size at the bedroom but rather unattractively decorated - lino on the sloping floor! Ooh, just remembered the wardrobe was also in the bathroom! Food was good but not amazing, childcare was also good although we didn't use it very much, pool was kind of tired and I may be wrong (too many hotels blurring together!) but I think it was more like a teaching pool and didn't have a shallow end for kiddies so ds (20 months) had to be held all the time. You can walk down to the beach easily but it's a narrow stony beach (remember that very clearly as we stayed near Weymouth this Easter and ended up walking right in front of Moonfleet) but there are lots of better beaches around.

On the whole, we found it expensive for the level of comfort and service, compared to other places we have stayed. I don't think we would go there again!