It was a recent visit to Llyndir Hall which prompted me to write this review as it brought back some very happy memories of six years ago when we held our evening wedding reception there. We had got married in the US which was wonderful for us, but which unfortunately meant that a lot of family members were unable to share the occasion with us. It was for this reason that we decided to hold a reception/party for everyone who was unable to travel to the wedding. Most of my family and friends were still living in Chester at the time, and my husband's family were in North Wales, so we ideally wanted a venue which would be easily accessible for everyone. I had been to Llyndir Hall Hotel only once on a previous occasion for a meal and therefore had very limited knowledge of the place. However, considering the fact that it is located smack bang between Chester and Wrexham, together with its beautiful surroundings, it seemed an ideal place to hold the reception.
>>>A Little Background Information<<<
=========================
Set in the idyllic village of Rossett, which lies just over the Welsh border and is a mere 10 minute drive either way to Chester City Centre or Wrexham Town Centre, Llyndir Hall Hotel is situated in the luxury of its own grounds, with beautiful views over the Welsh hills and countryside.
The hotel itself was once an old country house which has been extensively modernised to cater for the modern day guest. Due to its location, the hotel is ideal for both tourists and business travellers. Chester prides itself on its ever increasing tourist attractions, but the downside of this is that the hotels in the town centre are quite expensive. Therefore, Llyndir Hall Hotel is the perfect base for anyone wishing to visit Chester and its surrounding areas. The same applies to business travellers. Many executives find the hotel to be an ideal overnight stopover due to the accessibility of the surrounding towns.
>>>First Impressions<<< ====================
The hotel is basically hidden down a long, narrow lane (Llyndir Lane) which is situated just off the main Chester to Wrexham road, hence the reference in my title to my little hideaway. On driving into the hotel car park, the first thing you will notice is that there is more than sufficient parking spaces for guests, including disabled parking.
I must admit that I find the entrance to the hotel itself a little disappointing as, in my opinion, it does not reflect the true style or ambience of the rest of the hotel. Once you walk through the front door, you enter the foyer which is probably no bigger than my spare room at home. And believe me, that's small! The receptionist looks like she has been crammed behind her desk, and if more than four guests are standing in the foyer at the same time, you tend to make friends very quickly. On one occasion, we were waiting to book in at the reception and a couple of people queued behind us. Let me just say that, if they had been standing any closer on my, ehm, heels, I would have requested a formal introduction. However, I think it is important not to let this slight downside mar your judgement of the rest of the hotel.
The bar, restaurant and accommodation are approached from the foyer down narrow corridors resembling a rabbit warren set-up. In fact, I half expected to see Bugs Bunny hop round the corner to greet us! Ok, maybe a slight exaggeration, but the hallways are rather small.
>>>Accommodation<<< ===================
Although I have not stayed overnight at the hotel, I do have personal experience of one of the bedrooms! Ahem, no rude comments please. I have a good explanation! I am referring to the evening of our reception and I had decided to wear my wedding dress as some of our guests had told us they wanted to take photos. It is for this reason that the hotel kindly offered us a room for the evening in which we could get changed, use the bathroom, or whatever else we wanted to do. (Sshh!!)
In total, there are 47 rooms in the hotel starting at £65.00 per night, and breakfast is included within this price.
There are three types of room on offer: Double, Twin and Single.
All the rooms are very tastefully decorated and have an en-suite bath and shower. In our room, we had an LCD flat screen satellite t.v. The room also comprised a direct dialtelephone, CD player, trouser press and hairdryer. If you fancy something to play with and are unfortunate enough to be staying at the hotel on your own, you can get a Sony Playstation from reception, together with games, to while away the hours, and DVD's are also available.
>>>Restaurant<<< ===============
I have visited Llyndir Hall on a few occasions, mainly for family meals and, as I mentioned previously, our evening reception, and have never been disappointed. The restaurant itself overlooks the beautifully maintained gardens of the hotel and, whilst quite a formal dress code is required, it does offer a fairly relaxed atmosphere. The style of the restaurant gives the impression of being quite grandeur, yet the staff are extremely friendly and approachable.
The food is of a fairly high standard and, in my opinion, priced very reasonably when you consider the choices, the food presentation and the surroundings in which you are eating. Below is a sample menu provided by the hotel:
Starter ===== Ravioli of Cornish Crab served with a shrimp sauce Terrine of Goosnagh Duck with black pudding, pork chutney and toasted brioche
Main Course ========== Braised Shin of Beef with horseradish dumplings, bubble and squeak and red wine sauce Lamb & Leek Suet Pudding with caramelised carrots and buttered cabbage
The hotel offers a choice of a full English breakfast or breakfast buffet, and both are priced at £12.95.
>>>Facilities<<< =============
For a hotel of this size and in this location, I personally think the standard of facilities are exceptional. It boasts all the additional features one would expect to find in a large city hotel, and although I have not used a lot of them, I did have a sneaky peak!!
The concierge service is superb. On offer are dry cleaning and laundry services, in-house laundry facilities for guests to personally use, a 24 hour front desk and porter service, express checkout, safety deposit boxes, luggage storage facilities and a postal service.
And I love the fact you can be pampered to your heart's content. If you've had a hard day attending meetings in the city centre, or have just been on a busy day expedition and need a little stress relief, visit the spa for a massage or some aromatherapty treatment. For the ladies, or perhaps the men if it floats your boat, beauty and facial treatments are available, together with hydrotherapy and a nail salon.
In addition to the spa, the hotel offers a health suite which includes a sunbed, sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi and spa pool. You can also take advantage of the swimming pool and gymnasium.
>>>Weddings<<< ==============
Llyndir Hall Hotel is licensed for holding wedding ceremonies. I cannot personally comment on the ceremonies themselves, but I can recommend it for wedding receptions. We booked our reception approximately six months in advance, and I would certainly advise making an early booking due to the fact that the hotel gets booked up fairly quickly. A few years ago, the main venue for wedding receptions was Llyndir Hall's neighbouring hotel, Rossett Hall, but Llyndir Hall's reputation for wedding celebrations has certainly grown.
From start to finish, the staff at Llyndir Hall gave us an evening to remember. The booking was flawless and we were not expected to give our final menu selection until two weeks prior to the evening. A side room had been prepared for our guests to have a pre-dinner drink and tables were set out on which we could put wedding presents, cards etc. We had informed the hotel that we would bring our wedding album for guests to look at, especially those who were unable to attend the wedding, and a separate round table was laid out for this purpose.
When all the guests had arrived, the double doors were opened and we were amazed to see such a beautifully set room with the tables laid out exactly how we had requested, and the wedding cake displayed at the front of the room. The staff were particularly attentive and nobody had to wait too long to be served.
Unfortunately, I had one little disappointment with the service. We had already paid for a set number of bottles of wine and it was agreed that there would be three servings per table. Now I don't wish to sound unreasonable, but I would have expected that any wine left over, once each table had been given its allotted three servings, would be left for us to take home. However, it was only when my dad noticed that the remaining six bottles had been left behind the bar that we asked for them back. The bar manageress looked a little put out, and we had to explain that we had already paid for these. We did eventually get the bottles back, but only after the bar manageress insisted she check with the general manager.
On the whole, and disregarding the little 'misunderstanding' with the wine, everything went smoothly.
>>>Families<<< =============
I would say this is a delightful hotel for families. The restaurant offers children's menus and an outdoor play area situated in the garden. There are cots available on request, together with baby changing facilities and high chairs.
Children up to the age of 12 years stay free of charge.
>>>Business Services<<< =====================
As I mentioned earlier, Llyndir Hall is ideal for business travellers. It offers such an extensive range of services that you could almost feel like you are working from the office. These include meeting facilities, secretarial services, internet/e-mail access, Microsoft Office, scanning machines, photocopying (both colour and black & white), lamination of documents, fax service, tv and video hire, conference phones and audio equipment. For those who require it, there is also a translation service available.
>>>Surrounding Places of Interest<<< ==============================
The nearest 'big' city is Chester where there is plenty to keep the whole family entertained. Chester and the surrounding area boasts a vast amount of tourist attractions including the rich heritage of Chester City Centre and the Roman tours, Chester Zoo, River Dee and Groves from where you can take organised boat trips up the River Dee, Cheshire Oaks Shopping Outlet, Blue Planet Aquarium, Boat Museum (Ellesmere Port), Beeston Castle, and various nightlife.
Now I would not personally recommend Chester if you are looking for a good night out. You have the usual hangouts such as Brannigans, Loaf, Destiny & Elite (situated in Ellesmere Port), but in my opinion, it's not worth the taxi fair.
Llyndir Hall is also very popular with visitors to Chester Races due to its proximity to the Roodee Racecourse.
Wrexham Town Centre is only a ten minute drive, though in my opinion, this does not offer much in the way of tourist attractions.
If you fancy travelling further afield into North Wales, there are some beautiful places where you can just chill out if that's what lights your candle. If it's countryside you are looking for, well there is certainly plenty of it. Venture up the hills to the Horseshoe Pass where some of the best views of North Wales can be seen. This is passable by carapart from when there is snow on the ground when they close the road. The summer months see the Pass chock full of bikers who tend to congregate at the tope. A word of warning - beware of sheep. They tend to wander onto the road and are not too hot on their highway code!
Alliteratively, if it's the sea air that you prefer, head up the A55 to Abergele, Kinmel Bay, Rhyl or Prestatyn.
Basically, due to the proximity of the major roads and motorway networks, you can travel with ease from Llyndir Hall to most places in the North West. The nearest motorway is the M56 and the nearest major airport is Manchester, merely 65 km away.
>>>My Thoughts<<< ================
I think Llyndir Hall is well worth considering if you are looking for a base, but don't want the hustle and bustle of a busy town centre hotel. The surroundings are very tranquil and the hotel itself offers an extensive range of facilities. Both my family and myself always choose Llyndir Hall for family occasions and I simply cannot fault it.
On the whole, this is a lovely hotel offering everything any traveller could need. I can only criticise it for two things: the small foyer area and the little issue over the wine at our reception. However, I am all for giving the benefit of the doubt and accept this may have been an oversight on the part of the hotel staff.
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