Marston Farm Hotel

I loved the building. I just love old buildings. The second room we were put in, was very cozy and warm, and the beds were very inviting as you walked in the room. The courtyard is perfect. It’s so beautiful, and the birds are so lovely there. It’s a place you would want to spend a lot of time in if you could. The dining area and breakfast area, I really liked too, as was overlooking the courtyard, and on warm days the door open is such a beautiful thing to listen to the birds while dining.

It’s such a shame that the first thing I noticed when walking into reception, was just how cold it was. Immediately I had concerns about what the rooms were going to be like. I was right, as had to ask to be moved to a room with a radiator that could be on and off when we needed it, as the room we was in was very cold and only had storage heater in. It’s a shame that the basic little jobs aren’t tweaked, if they were it would make a big difference to my scores. Just the constant leaking bath tap. You cannot hear with the bathroom door closed. BUT if you need a night light from the bathroom, you can’t because you have to close the door because of the leak. Also all the lights in the room are either, on, or off, and it is too bright with all the lights on. Also I was praying the breakfast would be warm. As I dis read a few reviews the breakfast was cold. Sadly it was cold. As if it had been there all morning/night sat on the plate. Yet the sausages were hot and scrambled egg luke warm. With all the different temperatures of food it just put me off I couldn’t eat it. I tried the hash browns and beans and tomatoes and all cold. If these things were sorted. It would have been a much higher score. The staff were absolutely lovely.

Staff were so friendly, beautiful Setting

Just sadly at the time there was a problem with the hot food in the kitchen, but I received a phone call prior about this.

Just where we needed a stopover, lovely spot close to M42 but rooms overlooked courtyard and was quiet

Evening meal wasn't great

Awful!! The room is filthy, bed falling apart, sink cracked, lampshades falling off, mattress is hard as a brick and stained. Skirtings, sills and furniture stained and or dirty. It’s terrible. There’s a towel stuffed under the bed, stiff and covered in god knows what. Avoid avoid avoid at all costs

Very dated, fire alarm went off in the early hours, scrambled eggs were abysmal

Setting

No dinner or breakfast available even though advertised. Extremely tired and needs total overhaul had to get taxi. For food as. None available x totally unacceptable

Nothing

Wasn’t clean staff were completely uninterested in guests

Myself and partner visited for a 2 night stay and were overall incredibly disappointed. We booked via the activity superstore using a voucher we had been gifted - worth £119. Initially, this was for 1 nights stay with breakfast however we decided we would prefer to stay for 2 nights and weren’t concerned about having the breakfast. This was agreed however upon arrival we were told that we had booked for 2 nights with breakfast and that there was an additional charge of £65 for the second nights stay. I queried the cost of the breakfast and was told that there was no additional charge for this and that it was included. We got to our room which was incredibly dated and unkempt. Something sprayed and dried all up the wall. The bed was filthy and the mattress was terribly worn and uncomfortable - we mentioned this at reception on our way out that evening and were told that we could move to another room for the next night or have our £65 refunded and stay for the one night. We decided to move to another room the following day as we had travelled a while to get here. Before moving rooms, I decided to make use of the shower and was left feeling dirtier than before I had gone in. Firstly, the pressure from the shower head was terrible, trickling out in all directions. The water would not drain away and instead the bathtub began to fill up with dirty water and hairs that had come up from the plug! I got out to notice water on the floor so I put another towel down to mop this up, only to find a clump of black hair by the toilet. The next day, we attended the breakfast. I am coeliac and follow a gluten free diet. I was pleased to see that they had gluten free cereal (although only cornflakes and nothing else suitable) and decided to have this. My partner asked about gluten free bread for some toast, which the lady monitoring the breakfast service said they had and she would get. Moments later she returned from the kitchen to say that the chef had frozen all of the bread therefore I could not have any but I was asked if I would like to take some with me for later (??) I politely declined, it wasn’t worth explaining that you can indeed toast frozen bread!! Later that afternoon, we moved to our new room. This appeared to be much better, the bed was new and comfortable, improvements had been made to the decor in the room and the shower head appeared to be new and well functioning. However… my partner decided to have a shower that evening before heading out. The water pressure was incredibly weak, only a trickle, in fact water came out of the taps faster. The hot water lasted for no longer than 30 seconds and then began to run freezing cold so my partner had to get out, still covered in soap. I then went to the toilet and after flushing, the water was orange/brown in colour as was the water from the taps when I went to wash my hands!! As we left the hotel to go out for the evening, there was no one at reception. Upon our return at just before 11pm there were two girls sat at the desk. One of which we had previously spoken with who had kindly swapped us to another room. We informed her of the water issues and asked why this would be happening to which she replied “no idea” and offered to swap us into yet another room. We declined this due to it being so late at night and the fact we were leaving in the morning. Neither of the girls seemed concerned or offered their apologies. I imagine it’s pretty normal for them to hear of these complaints. I was concerned to see that the fire panel that had been flashing and beeping in morning indicating that there was a fault somewhere, was still flashing on our return to the hotel that evening!! Come the morning of us leaving unfortunately there was no one on the desk to pass on our feedback to. We were left feeling wholly dissatisfied with our stay especially at a total cost of £184. I am still questioning what we actually paid for. I have notified the activity superstore to remove this hotel from their list of places to book. If like us, you were hoping for a relaxing and comfortable stay, this is not the place to visit. The hotel and facilities are not fit for purpose. The place needs closing and refurbishing properly before opening again to the public. I have no issue with dated rooms and decor, but there is no excuse for uncleanliness and lack of maintenance.