Cottage Lodge Hotel

We've been coming to the Cottage Lodge for over 10 years now with our Basset Hounds. As always the staff are amazing the rooms are lovely and clean and the best part is the lovely freshly cooked breakfast in the morning! We will be back next year!

Very welcoming hotel with gorgeous rooms. We stayed for my 70th birthday and our room had happy birthday bunting strung from the four poster bed. The food in the adjacent restaurant was excellent. It was our second stay and we will definitely be back

Had a wonderful two night stay at Cottage Lodge Hotel. A big plus was the reserved parking in front of the hotel which takes away any anxiety about being able to park, and knowing you still have your space after a day out. The bed was comfortable and the room had a very good shower and bath. Shampoo & conditioner and liquid soap included in easy to use containers. Internet connection was very good. Our room had an open wardrobe with enough space for a short stay. The room also had a safe at just above eye level and not tucked away at the bottom of a wardrobe like some. The room was spotless. Women might like it if there was an extra mirror by the desk. Even just a portable one. No scenic view but nice big windows and plenty of daylight. A fan and extra heater are in the room if needed. The fan was whisper quiet. Location was good being a short walk from the train station and with regular busses including an open top tour bus outside the hotel. A bike hire shop was close by. A few restaurants and pubs close by including White Plains a small independent restaurant within the hotel. There is no bar in the hotel, but does have a small seating area where you can buy a selection of bottled drinks from the honesty bar. You list what you have and this is added to your bill. Some canned spirits would be a nice addition. Breakfast had a good selection, although eggs were poached in vinegar which I don’t like. The cooked breakfast is quite small, but you have a good selection of pastries and fruit, which you order the night before. The famous hosts were not there but the welcoming and friendly manager made up for it. This is somewhere I will definitely stay again when visiting the New Forest.

This was a second visit to this hotel, in consequence of the previous visit. Ticks all the boxes and we found quite outstanding staff attitudes that were excellent; in contrast to some larger hotels that no doubt have recruitment difficulties.

We stayed for 1 night for our 30th Anniversary. Quirky touch with naming the car parking spaces with a "welcome" sign. Tea and a slice of cake while checking in and booking time slot for breakfast is a nice touch as well. We'd chosen an upper floor room but you need to beware as roof slopes down towards bed head and I banged my head a number of times! You pre-order cold breakfast / cereals etc and then choose your main breakfast whilst enjoying your cereals and pastries. Breakfast is then cooked to order and is excellent. Another nice touch is a brief history of the hotel and furniture on the reverse of the breakfast menu. As others have mentioned onprevious reviews occasionally, we found the rooms and the dining room a little chilly: central heating is presumably on timers, and serving the jam and marmalade in those little paper cups (like you get in McDonalds for the ketchup) but then putting those paper cups in ramekins seems a little pointless...why not put the jam / marmalade directly in the ramekins....would look so much nicer! These however, were minor niggles for what is a very nice hotel in an excellent location for visiting the New Forest and surrounding towns and villages.

Very warm welcome by Mauricio. Lovely cake and cup of tea. Our room was Verderers which is on the ground floor. Room and especially the bathroom very old fashioned. Lovely toiletries, locally sourced. The bed was so soft and springy it was extremely uncomfortable. On our first morning we went to have a shower but the water flow was so low the button on the taps to convert it to a shower would not stay up and the water flow kept stopping. It was impossible to have a shower. We reported the issue to Mauricio who could not understand it as we were next to the pump room and he stated he would look at it during the day. The next morning it was just the same so we started to run the bath at 7.45am and by 8.05 there was about 5 inches of water. Just about enough for a bath. To rinse my hair I had to hold the button on the taps with one hand and the shower head with the other for the slightest trickle of water. Not good enough. As other guests have said breakfast was extremely good but dining room cold on both mornings, no radiators on. Coffee could not have been weaker! Jam and marmalade were served in a tiny paper cup, no jars on table as shown in photos on website. It just felt as if money was being saved at every turn. We would definitely never return nor could we recommend.