Hotels with babysitters/nannies - recommendations please!

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

It is our 5th wedding anniversary at the end of October, and we were planning to do something nice but umming and ahhing about budget.

However a lovely tax rebate has dropped through the door today, so we have about £1000-£1200 and have decided to have a 3 night break.

We would like to stay somewhere where we can leave the boys with a babysitter or a nanny in the room and go and have dinner on our own one evening, so somewhere with decent food and good kids facilities.

We have been to Bedruthan Steps before and love it there, but somewhere a bit closer to home would be good - we are in Hampshire.

Not sure if this is the sort of thing you are looking for but I've just come back from a two night break at foxhills in Surrey. They have 3 restaurants, one family friendly and two adult only ones. We hired a baby sitter through the company that foxhills recommended and went to a different restaurant each night (the manor being the nicest one). It's basically a golf and spa hotel. DD went to the crèche there for 4 hours on Saturday whilst I relaxed in the spa and had a facial. It has great kids facilities, an indoor and 2 outdoor pools, soft play area, youth area (with table tennis etc) and adventure play ground and play area for smaller kids. I'm not sure if there is enough there for 3 nights though. 2 was enough for us although if someone offered me another night I wouldn't have turned it down
It's very nr Thorpe park and chessington so options for family friendly days out.
We got a great deal on the hotel as DH played golf so golf breaks tend to be cheaper. What I will say though is the babysitting and crèche all adds up. I think it was £32 for 4 hours in the crèche and the baby sitting was £12 an hour (with a minimum of 4 hour sessions) so adds a lot on to the initial cost of the hotel.
Was worth it for a one off treat though, but I did end up thinking it cost almost as much as the week abroad we had earlier in the year.

It does look nice - but it is booked out the weekend we want to go! :)

Ah yes, it does get booked up quite quickly. We originally wanted to go in August but ended up having to go mid September. Good luck finding something else, sure there's lots out there. I've not been but think the grove in Hertfordshire is very similar and looks really nice but you may find they are also fully booked too.

Calcot manor in Cotswolds I, exactly what you are looking for.