De Vere Belton Woods, Grantham

Booked on a De Vere special rate - B&B for two nights, with dinner on the first night.

The hotel is currently ungergoing refurbishment - most of this is completed (due to finish Feb 07) - the first floor rooms (room numbers start with 2xx) were being finished during our stay and therefore only the ground floor rooms (1xx) were available. I understand that the ground floor rooms which overlook the golf course have been refurb'd, although our room (at one of the farthest points from the reception) overlooked the end of the car park and hadn't been tidied up.

That said, I had read reviews on other sites of the hotel, and didn't think that the rooms looked as tired as people have previously complained. Ours was comfortable and pleasant, with plenty of room. We had a wardrobe, large desk, sofa and armchair, TV offering Sky Sports, facilities to watch recently released films and Playstation games (chargeable). Also included was tea and coffee making facilities and a cooler.

Our room was at the very far end of a long and winding corridor - this meant that it was a trek to and from Reception, but the advantage of this was that we didn't have lots of people tramping past at all hours.

Because of the reduced capacity the hotel were very vocal about the place being full. They were extremely organised - advising people to book dinner as they checked in (and providing this facility) and also popped notes into each of the rooms regarding breakfast times and queues. I was very impressed - I have had to sit and wait at other De Veres and Village hotels with no apology before.

There's an outdoor activity centre onsite, but there wasn't many details on the website. They offer activities such as Quad Biking, Archery, Clay Pigeon Shooting and Paintball amongst others.
When I arrived I found that you need to book in advance and ask about timetables of events - although most events are daily it's worth knowing what's on and when - my tip to travellers would be to call the hotel ahead and ask for the Premier Events timetable and price list. I will do this when I go back (because we will go!) and will book the quad biking and archery for definite!

I'm not a golfer so I can't comment on the courses - although I know that there were two main courses and a half course. The restaurants and bar overlook one of the courses.

We opted to use the onsite leisure facilities, and save for the children's swimming lessons which meant that the pool was partly laned off on a Saturday afternoon (possibly the worst time if you ask me), the pool was clean and not too busy, providing ample swimming space. The steamroom and sauna were small but effective! The gym was well equipped and not too busy during 'peak' times, and the equipment was new and up to date. I didn't use the 'beauty' works nor the squash courts - the former was quite expensive (averaging at £50/hr for a massage or facial), the latter... well, I was too busy relaxing in the pool!

We ate lunch in the Tapps cafe bar which is looking slightly tired and could do with a bit of a facelift, although the food was very good, if a little overpriced. I wasn't impressed at the cost of soft drinks, mind - £1.70 for a small diet Coke! Ouch...

The included dinner was taken in Stantons Brassiere (also the location for breakfast) and was a set three course menu with about 6 choices for each course - the options were varied and the food very good. Breakfast was a buffet affair and plentiful if you arrive before 9am - we took our first breakfast at 9.30 and the cereals and fruit was almost non existent. Learning from experience, we took breakfast at 8.30 the next morning and was pleased to see that more food was available.

One final tip - take walking boots or wellies if staying during the winter months - there are three separate walks to take part in up through the woods, taking you across some muddy grounds!