Merchants Manor Spa

Room so poorly lit in contrast to website picture, could not judge cleanliness. Breakfast - poor service, not all food options available, despite small menu. Limited ‘small plate’ options in evening. Staff unable to properly reheat shepherd’s pie. Unmanned reception at times, very impersonal.

Positives -Nice spacious, quiet room with comfy bed. -Incredible 30 minute massages with Mia. Negatives -Barely got a smile from Simon on arrival, neither did he ask how our stay was when checking out. This role requires people skills, surely? -Was not shown the “spa” so had to navigate our way around ourselves. The package included “use of garden hot tubs” - we had to go on a hunt to find these. They were grotty and the wooden decking with slippery and filthy! -The pool was cold. -Below average breakfast, really not enjoyable at all. The juice glasses given were shot glasses, which did make us laugh. -Prior to our stay, i had emailed (twice) asking for evening meal menu, was looking forward to a Sunday Roast, but no reply. Asked again when checking in, only to be told that there was no chef so no evening meals! We are thankful to Mia for the wonderful 30 minute massages, and grateful for a peaceful night sleep however, the rest of our stay was below average. We would not recommend this place.

Attended a staff Christmas party this evening and couldn’t believe how stunning the 3 course meal was. The soup had sooo much flavour, the roast potatoes were probably the best I’ve ever tasted, the veg was incredible. I don’t usually eat turkey either but it was beautiful. As a local it hadn’t even crossed my mind to take my family to MM for a roast dinner but I can’t wait to bring family back next time.

Check in was most peculiar, all done on a screen.no reception.someone came and showed us to our room in an annex so not in the manor.Very comfortable good size room with large bed.bottle of water supplied and kettle etc.lovely bedding and towels.bathroom not huge but sufficient with a bath and rain shower combined.view out of window was dismal.only stayed one night on room only as breakfast was £14.00 each and dinner expensive and just a pattern on the plate meal.not for us .we managed to find a cosy place for a large proper roast dinner that delicious. 😋

We stayed here for 3 nights, on the day of check in we were greeted by a member of staff that checked us in and showed us up to our room, pleasant enough. Our room was of a very generous size and fairly well appointed, although a bit tired looking, old rated ceilings a weird grubby balcony that you couldn’t really see out of unless you were stood up. It was a bit like fawlty towers, there was a sea view “it’s between the land and the sky” The room and corridors were absolutely baking hot for some reason, I tried to turn the radiator down but the valve just snapped off in my hand. We ended up needing to leave the very stiff patio door open and use the big Dyson fan to blow cool air around. But that was noisy and hard wired into the wall so couldn’t move it far. There was no one on reception to speak to just a computer to self check in / check out. The staff were all very pleasant but their experience and attentiveness varied greatly over the few days. Never any salt and pepper on the table, not offered water, lunch came out with no serving spoons, just a bit of a lack of experience we felt. The bathroom was quite nice with a lovely shower, however the toilet was very tight against the wall and up against a red hot towel rail, so we found you had to lean away from it after I burnt myself on it. Seriously, turn the flow temperature of the central heating system down, there is no need for it to be that hot and you’d literally save thousands on utility bills!! The selling point of our stay was the spa facilities and the impressive looking photos, the spa left a lot to be desired, arguably the best presented part of the hotel although a little rough around the edges was quite pleasant. My idea of a spa is a jacuzzi, sauna, steam room and swimming pool, maybe with a cold pool / shower etc. There was no sauna, no jacuzzi (or at least it didn’t work if there was) apparently there was a cold shower but it was outside which we found out talking to someone after. There was no signage. The hotel on the whole was cleaned to a good standard but unfortunately the nature of the building, an impressive old period property has obviously seen a lack of maintenance for some time, it’s really sad to see it’s potential go to waste, a series of I’d guess 60’s and 70’s add ons and a lot of old upvc makes the majority of the building very tired and a bit grubby in places, the reception area and lounge still retaining its original beautiful features. Good points: Sunday lunch was fantastic, the food on the whole pretty good. Lovely old building in parts, friendly staff. Nice decor in some areas. Well placed in the town, only a 20 minute walk to the harbour. Bad points: Vastly overpriced for the facilities offered (feel ripped off especially with the lack of spa facilities) tired looking in places, lack of quality maintenance and inadequate investment to the basics. Central heating stuck on surface of the sun temperature. Lack of reception staff, very

Once again a most enjoyable visit, I believe our 5th over the last few years. The standard of service never disappoints, nor do the breakfasts!!i. Big thanks to Max, Simon and Maja for looking after us. The upgrade really was appreciated. We thought the introduction of the Happy Hour worked well. Looking forward to seeing you all again next year.