Beaulieu Hotel

We had a very nice long weekend in a lovely hotel set in the heart of the New Forest, with good options for walks and cycle rides. The hospitality arrangements were a bit odd: even in heavy rain, we had to cross the car park to get to the bar and restaurant for breakfast and dinner. There's an adequate room with tables and chairs and a fully working bar, but reception staff are the only people manning it at present. Those were our couple of gripes.

Dinner and breakfast at the Drift next door were both good, with generous servings and great quality produce. I also enjoyed a swim before breakfast. The hotel itself is beautiful, the rooms are large, and the staff are wonderfully friendly. The towels were big, heavy and fluffy. We'll definitely be back!

It's a lovely location, but the stay was frustrating. We had neither heating nor hot water for both days, and the hotel didn't tell us about the problems at check-in or at any point during our visit. Breakfast was advertised until 10:30 AM, yet we were told the chef had left by 10:00 AM. The lack of basic facilities and management oversight means I wouldn't recommend staying here.

We came for two nights with our dog and our 12-year-old son. The friendly, welcoming staff, reasonably comfortable bed, dog welcome gift and fairly good continental breakfast were all positives, as was the location. But the place felt tatty and tired. Our carpet was badly stained, the patchy wall touch-ups were almost funny, and the bathroom paint was peeling. A broken plug meant we couldn't have a bath, only a shower. The first fold-out bed for our son was broken, and its replacement sagged so badly he couldn't sleep on it comfortably. We ended up putting its mattress on the floor. Our room was at the back, close to the train line, and the high-speed train disrupted us through the night. The green fire escape light was extremely bright and stayed on all night. At this price, we expected better and probably wouldn't return.