De Vere Cranage Estate

I liked in fact we both liked the first impression which was the lovely Sarah, (who I'd chatted to on the phone as we drove up from Eastbourne to tell her we might be late due to traffic) at Reception who immediately sorted a beautiful room overlooking the park with bath. Sarah was the first impression of Cranage and even found out where the hotels amazing vases came from for me. Then the room allocated to us was clean warm welcoming - we always judge our hotel stays by the bathroom/bedroom. We were not disappointed. Wonderful. Then the third impression we got was when with our daughter and son in law we went to the bar then on to dinner. We were attended to by Abbie who is new to.the hotel.and in Management training - another wonderful caring and attentive but not obsequious member of staff. Having heard I was up for my birthday she got a special.desert for me with Happy Birthday in it. Friendly and thoughtful especially when the next day I'd been given flowers and Abbie got me a wine cooler to put them in. The Hpusekerping staff in particular a delightful young man, Chinese I think who waited patiently for me to finish in my room before he came to spruce the room up. Wonderful smile. Also the Polish lady housekeeper who was sorting out our room the next day when I duddenly rushed back to grab domething and I was able to.thank her in person and other staff members for looking after everything so beautifully. The leisure club manager who allowed us to bring in our youngest, who we'd just picked up.from.Manchester airport and whose luggage was still in Brisbane! Our Meg who.was allowed to.come in and swim.and have a jacuzzi (thank heavens I had spares of everything. PH and finally last but not least George also.on Reception who was just a total.delight and gave us a late checkout as There wasn't a single person in the gorgeous Cranage Estate that didn't make us feel.at home and welcome over our three nights.

The place is very grand as you arrive and the public spaces are attractive. The staff were great.

We arrived at Cranage at approaching 9pm after visiting friends. When trying to check in it became apparent that I had made a major error and booked for the wrong night. The reception staff were so helpful - agreeing to honour the booking for the same price for that night and then getting our family room set up. We were so grateful at the end of a long day. Our kids had a dairy free pizza in the bar as well and breakfast in the morning was excellent too. Every member of staff we came across was smiley, polite and helpful.

Lovely breakfast and catered for vegetarians/vegans One small comment would be that if you have non-dairy milk in tea/coffee, you had to get the soya milk over where the food is and not where the tea machines were, but not a big issue.

A gorgeous estate, on the inside it has been converted however and looks just like a hotel. The place is smoothly run with large spaces that can be hired out for events and our room was warm and comfortable. The spa was lovely and everything we were hoping for (pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam). The breakfast was decent and the estate is easy enough to get to as it is signposted. We had the pleasure of seeing the grounds covered in snow and frost, absolutely beautiful, wish we could have stayed for longer. It was a relaxing environment we are likely to revisit in the future.