Chilston Park Country House Hotel, Lenham

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Beautiful, lovely food, romantic, intimate .
Disadvantages:	Inadequate service .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I decided to stay at the Chilston Park hotel by accident really. On lastminute.com they have this promo called 'Top Secret Hotels,' this basically means that they tell you where you are staying in terms of location but don't tell you the name of the hotel until after you book. After looking for top secret hotels near me, I decided I would crack the system. There was a short description of the hotel on the website; some person had named the restaurant in the 'secret' hotel so I googled the restaurant and it came up with Chilston park. It was £77 but I decided to look on the actual website for Chilston Park. I saw a deal £99 for a stay on a Thursday night with a three course meal, champagne and canopes and breakfast. I booked this deal for two people. I stayed here on the 22nd January 2009 with my boyfriend for his birthday.

*About the hotel* The hotel is in Lenham which is a really small village near Maidstone in Kent. It has 53 rooms and is an old grade one listed manor house set in 22 acres of land. The hotel has four stars and has a restaurant called the Culpeper which has been awarded two AA fine dining rosettes. It has a great wine cellar and specialises in a variety of different wines.

*First
Impressions* The hotel is fairly easy to find. A week before we stayed, we went to see what it looked like and found it without the sat nav, we just headed for Maidstone and then followed the signs to Lenham, driving through Lenham village, it is well signposted. Second time we used the sat nav and it got us there just as easily. The hotel is at the end of a long sweeping driveway and the first thing you see is the large lake. We parked the car and headed into the reception to check in. The hallway is so quaint with rows of welly boots and a croquet set, it really sets the scene for you. Inside the reception is a sitting area with a warm open fire, comfy sofas and complimentary magazines and newspapers to read. I gave my name in at reception and was handed a map of the hotel and a welcome note. I asked about dinner arrangements and to my dismay I was told that I was not booked in for dinner. However, on my confirmation email it said I was having complimentary dinner so the lady on reception had to go and check. It was sorted out and she apologised saying it was "my mistake." We were given our key and told our room was called 'Bowtie.' We walked up the stairs and there was a table in the hallway. We had checked in at 3PM but we were rather shocked to see that there was a stack of dirty breakfast plates and tea pots and mugs on the table. This didn't really bother me because I'm not one to complain, but considering you have to be out of your room by 11 AM, I think that four hours is enough to clean 53 rooms. We carried on to our room which had a little bowtie on the door. There are no room numbers, just little pictures.

*The Room* The room was clean and fairly large. I had opted for the 'classic' room which is just the basic standard double room. The room was clean and tidy but very cold so I immediately located the radiator and put it on, the room warmed up very quickly. The room was decorated nicely, with all different kinds of bowties painted on the cream walls. There was so much bowtie paraphernalia! It was lovely! The bed was big and comfortable and there was a widescreen television with a DVD player. There was a desk with complimentary tea, coffee and hot chocolate, milk and a kettle. There was also a small table with a chair, a wardrobe and the bathroom was possibly the most luxurious feature of the room. It featured wonderful light decor, spotlights and a bath-shower. The shower itself was very powerful although it wasn't at all that hot even on the highest setting, although it was unbearably too cold. There was a also a trouser press, iron and hairdryer. In our 'welcome pack' we were given a menu and also a list of DVDs that we could watch for free. I thought this was a great feature and all you have to do is phone up reception and they deliver it to you for free! We used this facility but we were shocked to find that the DVD was a shabby copy. It looked very much like a pirate copy because the sleeve looked like it was printed from a home printer and so did the disc!!! It's not as if we chose an unknown DVD either! There were certainly a range of DVDs too, to suit families as well and adults. There weren't just movies either, there were series such as Friends and The Office. We never got round to watching our DVD though. After pressing the DVD button on the remote and trying all the AV channels, the DVD didn't work and it was then I realised it wasn't plugged in. I couldn't reach to the back of the TV and couldn't safely move it because it was so large so couldn't actually plug in the DVD player. I'm pretty sure that one of the staff could have done it for me if I had phoned reception but I didn't really care, to me, that wasn't the point, it should have been plugged in anyway. The view from our window was of the quaint little courtyard which was lovely. There were little shrubs and it truly was a lovely view. It wasn't very private though, as guests and staff kept passing through the courtyard and could easily see inside our room if the curtains were open, which they were for most of the time because the room lighting was so dark. Having said this, the room was lovely. But for a four star hotel I didn't think it was all that, it could have been alot more luxury.

*Facilities* The hotel features:
- Trouser press, Turndown service, Restaurant, Gifts, Seating areas, Payphones, Free parking, Iron, Hairdryer, Single and Double rooms, Executive four-poster rooms, Suite, Conference rooms, Outdoor activities: outdoor chess, croquet, duck-feeding, piano, table-tennis, television and DVD player and special events days.

*Service* If I'm honest, the service was not excellent. Not only did they not realise I was booked in for dinner, when I went for dinner, the waiter, who was lovely, didn't realise either and it was kind of embarrassing. Also, the waiter forgot our champagne and canapés and when we reminded him, he gave use our canapés and asked if we wanted our champagne with our desert. We said yes but he forgot the champagne. Also, he left towards the end of our meal and didn't come back into the restaurant for about another half an hour. This was kind of annoying because it was getting late and we wanted to go to our room. When my boyfriend went to find him, he was nowhere to be seen. The woman on the reception was helpful and friendly although, when we were leaving the hotel we gave her back the key and DVD and she asked if we had paid for everything. We said yes because we had chosen to pay for our drinks at dinner instead of putting them on a tab. She said she would just check to make sure and when she did she said "you haven't paid for your stay." Now I thought I had because obviously I had booked this online and given my credit card details over the internet. She said that this was just to confirm the booking, so I put my card in the chip and pin and paid. Now I'm not faulting her for this spare of the moment check, if she hadn't of done this I wouldn't have paid! But it's the fact that obviously she doesn't really know the procedures! She even seemed confused when we handed back the DVD we borrowed as she said "Oh, is this ours?" ! They didn't seem that clued up! Apart from the bad things about the waiter, when we walked into the restaurant, he pulled out my chair and pushed me in and put a napkin on my lap, it was very formal and nice and he was friendly.

*Location* Lenham was lovely. It's a little country village with small pubs and a few tiny specialised shops. However, be warned, the hotel does not have a cash point and there isn't actually one in Lenham. The hotel will tell you where one is, but we didn't think of asking them where one was until after we got cash. We ended up asking at a petrol garage about 5 minutes from the hotel and they told us to go to a Londis in Charing village which was a ten minute drive away. There was no cash point here but they allowed us to get cash back at a charge of 30 pence. Also, beware of driving through Lenham at night because it's very very dark and the roads are small and wonky anyway so driving is very difficult. In terms of attractions around the hotel, there is Leeds castle: 'The loveliest Castle in the world.' This is definitely a lovely places to visit. And it's not too far from the hotel, about a fifteen minute drive and also included in the ticket price, you can visit again for free. So if you visit the Chilston again! You can visit again for free! Also Maidstone is just down the road and there is restaurants and shops here too.

*Restaurant* The Culpeper restaurant is lovely. It's an intimate and beautifully decorated restaurant and it was not busy at all! There was two men dining when we got there and then two more groups of people came. The dress code is smart casual and there are some beautiful paintings and decorations. There are two menus. One menu is £29.95 for three courses or free for people staying at the hotel with the dinner included. There is another menu, I'm not sure how much it was but it wasn't included in our package. I had partridge with creamed lentils for starter and my boyfriend had a duck terrine with chutney. Both were delicious. Next I had beef with potatoes and my boyfriend had local goats cheese and caramelised red onion tart. Both were delicious! Next we both had a selection of ice creams and sorbets in a sweet basket with fresh berries! Delicious!!!! Breakfast was lovely too! There is a cold buffet breakfast with fresh fruit, juice and cereals and you can also order cooked breakfasts such as fry ups, haddock, champagne breakfast etc. Etc. Breakfast was included for us but was £12.95 per person otherwise. The cooked breakfast was lovely but small and the sausage wasn't actually cooked properly so I left it. The food in general was delicious and was not too small like a la carte. There is something on the menu for everyone and the room service menu did light-bites like sandwiches and that sounded pretty good too. You can also have room service breakfast and can also arrange for private dining in a cute little room too! One piece of advice: When you ask for your breakfast, on the menu, there is a range of option extras like hash browns and beans (it comes with tomatoes) I love hash browns but didn't order them as extras because I thought you would have to pay for them, but you don't because the extras are actually included within the price. The restaurant was out of haddock at breakfast, although this didn't bother me. If you have a night stay room only- it's worth having breakfast and dinner as an extra because they are both lovely and well worth the money. Or for a cheaper option, do what I did and get a fully inclusive package, (just make sure they know what you booked!) One warning: I bought a G&T for my boyfriend and it cost £7.50!!!! Be prepared to pay alot for alcohol. The cheapest bottle of red wine was £19 which isn't all that bad considering the hotel and restaurant specialises in fine wines. We also got complimetary bread and butternut squash soup.

*Overall* The hotel was absolutely lovely. With beautiful grounds and excellent decor. It was the loveliest hotel I've ever been too and great value. It would be lovely in the summer and I felt so relaxed afterwards. The only negative points are the staff not really knowing what they are doing. I would recommend this hotel, it's truly beautiful and traditional, just like staying in a lovely castle and I will stay here again. I think it's suitable for young couples, families with older children, older couples, singles and they also do weddings!