Review of Stonehouse Court Hotel 3*

We booked this hotel for a romantic night away in the Cotswolds. The main building is a beautiful Tudor mansion and looked very impressive. When we checked in the receptionist directed us to our room which turned out to be a long way from the main hotel down various corridors in the garden wing. This part of the hotel looked shabby, most of the door frames were only partially painted and there was an odd smell in the air. When we eventually got to our room it was very dark and gloomy, the double glazed window was completely misted up and there were stains on the carpet. We called down to reception as we weren't happy with the condition of the room, and they kindly moved us to a room in the main hotel which was much nicer, however it did feature a toilet seat which refused to stay up which is always regrettable. After all this we needed a drink, so headed to the bar where a very stressed barman was taking a very large drinks order. This took about twenty minutes, after which the barman disappeared. A waitress filled in for him and asked if anyone needed serving, however as she was under 18 she was unable to serve any drinks after all. She informed the crowded and somewhat tired bar that the barman would return "in about five minutes". Having eventually got our drinks five minutes later, we were free to explore the hotel grounds. This was probably the highlight of the trip as the grounds were beautiful and there is a canal at the bottom of the garden. Later we went down for dinner and ordered some food. The restaurant was fairly busy and it was obvious something was amiss as no-one seemed to be getting any food. There was a large group sat next to us who were there for a special occasion, none of them got to eat at the same time and the waiting staff kept apologising and topping up their drinks. Apparently there was some sort of technical issue in the kitchen. After 55 minutes we got our starters and to be fair they were really nice, as was the beef shin main. Just a bit disappointing we had to wait so long. The next morning we mentioned this to the receptionist and she kindly took the evening's drinks off our bill. In the end Stonehouse Court seems like a hotel with great potential, but unfortunately feels sloppy and disorganised in its current state. The staff were all lovely, but there seem to be some serious management issues that need addressing before this potential can be reached. Also the garden wing needs some serious refurbishment to be a nice part of the hotel. I wouldn't stay here again, but our stay was quite amusing in a way.