Ravelston House

I chose this place for its location, but might not stay again. On Saturday 7 Feb, I checked in early so I could meet friends. Check-in was very brief: I was shown the room door and handed a key. Before that, I had to wait a long time at the bar to be served. When I returned later, the front door was shut and the bar revellers had gone. Only in the morning did I notice the window wouldn't close properly, letting cold air in. The room was chilly, and even with the heating turned up fully, it didn't warm up. The shower water also never got warm enough for a comfortable shower, even at full heat.

We paid £150 for one night in a Deluxe Room, and were unhappy to find it dirty, dusty, mouldy, and terribly small. Both lampshades had mould and dust, and black mould on the shower sealant meant we couldn't use it. The sealant needs redoing. There were no hand towels, only bath towels, which seemed ridiculous and wasteful for drying your hands. The windows opened fully without child locks, which is dangerous. This was our second issue with this 'House', and we had to pay twice because we had other guests. The staff made us feel like it was a burden to fix the twin room we had specifically requested. We arrived to find two single beds pushed together, then they came to change it later in the night. I'm sad to leave a bad review, but the price they charged for an unkept, dirty room made us feel worse. I don't know where their prices come from. This certainly isn't a Hotel. I've had cheaper, nicer, more spacious rooms in the middle of town. Anyone considering paying for a room that size should know it wasn't kept to Hotel Standards. Three stars doesn't mean cleanliness can be lacking.

The disco was fun, and the staff were lovely, but I wouldn't go back for a meal or Christmas night out. For £40, our two-course dinner was a letdown: chewy turkey, a spoonful of hard carrot and parsnip discs, two dry roast potatoes, and one pig in a blanket. Nobody ate the very tart apple crumble, and we didn't even have a cracker on the table. I missed my complimentary glass of bubbly, though they gave me one when I asked. I didn't stay, so can't comment on the rooms. I know my group was disappointed too.

We went on 20th December with a voucher for high tea, and it went badly from start to finish. Someone calling himself the manager said Groupon shouldn't have issued the voucher, making us feel as if it was our fault. The sandwiches were awful, with cheap, horrible bread and hardly any filling. The cake and biscuits were cut into triangles and falling apart, and the scones were hard enough to use as doorstops. He admitted they wouldn't normally serve what we got, which says it all. Still, we were blamed and told to take it up with Groupon. I pointed out that they, not Groupon, had served the food, then left. I'll never return.