"They say first impressions are important, and initially I thought it was going to be a very long week.
All the things wrong with this hotel you discover in the first hour or so. Firstly, and as usual, we were given a room on the top floor, and advised that unfortunately the hotel has no lift. That was the last thing I wanted to hear, having knee ligament damage. We dragged our cases up four flights of stairs to our room, personally now in agony. The room was ok, a bit old fashioned in style but reasonable enough. The bathroom was straight out of the 1960’s, a bath/shower with a curtain, plenty of pipework to contemplate, and a mirror set far too low so that when standing at the period sink you were looking at your own chest. When you have a shower, you need ear plugs because of the tremendous racket from the extractor fan, as if powered by its own diesel generator. The room had no air-con, no mini ‘fridge/cool box, and contrary to as advised above, no safe. The tv didn’t work. There was a bed-side cabinet and lamp on one side of the bed, fresh air on the other.
Actually, that is the sum total of the bad stuff. The tv was eventually fixed, the air-con issue ameliorated by opening the windows for the entirety of our stay. Everything was very clean, fairly quiet, and the staff friendly enough. The food is excellent. The evening meal is a-la-carte, beautifully cooked, presented and served, delicious and different most evenings, if relatively limited in choice. There was a barbeque one evening, which was also of very high quality. Cooked breakfast is also good and served to you, while cereals, fruit, toast etc is usual buffet style. Coffee is out of machines unfortunately.
The grounds of the hotel are very nice, large sloping grassy areas with plenty of seating, as well as a reasonably sized pool and a smaller children’s version, with a budgie and cockatiel filled aviary. Although the hotel is essentially a half-board establishment, snack lunch can be obtained from the pool-side bar, but at a cost; like everything else in Jersey, nothing is cheap, the bar prices are very high. Also be aware that the hotel pool and grounds are open to non-residents, and at the weekends often private parties use it too, so it can be busy and noisy. There is a courtesy mini bus that runs, again contrary to what you are led to believe above, not ‘several’ but three times each mid-morning from the hotel down the St Helier bus station which is good, except that you are then left to it, have to make your own way back. One reviewer here reckons its a half hour walk to St Helier – they should enter the Olympics. The local buses are ok, but not cheap, scarce in the middle of the day, especially so on Sundays. For example if you go to the war tunnels – which are worth it – you need to study the bus timetable and plan your visit accordingly, as you can end up waiting well over an hour to get away again. And the two buses that do go there were scheduled to call within a minute of each other. Brilliant. To get around, best idea is get a 3 day or weekly bus pass - again, not cheap - but if you are not driving, use it and get all around the island.
My main bugbear of the hotel though is the layout. Its odd considering that a high proportion of the guests were either elderly or at least getting on a bit ( ie, me ) and with limited mobility ( for the duration of my stay, me again ), but there are stairs everywhere, even on the ground floor there are steps or stairs between the lounge and the dining room, the foyer, and even up to front door and into the gardens. It just isn’t a good choice for anyone who has mobility issues. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this at all but I was suffering from knee trouble, and I was in agony from the constant up and down stairs.
But in the end, we did grow to like it there. Some of it is a little old fashioned, had an ever so slight whiff of 1960’s, but its clean, quite enough, has great food and a nice relaxed atmosphere.
Its just the stairs ….."
