"Had afternoon tea here as a treat for my 30th birthday. Lovely decor, nice champagne. That's where the positives end for me. Lovely host at reception welcomed us in, and brought us down to where we would be having tea. Once seated by a waitress, we were left for 20 minutes before someone came to take our order. Order placed, and the food/drink came quite quickly. The sandwiches were vile, but that is down to my own personal taste. If you, like myself, also despise salmon, cottage cheese, egg mayonnaise and mustard, you will be very disappointed. We were given a large cafetière of coffee, and the tiniest pot of milk between 2. I complained to my husband, and he said that asking for another wouldn't be a problem. Wrong. We noticed there was a wedding being held elsewhere in the hotel. This clearly meant that guests like us who were paying £70+ for coffee, scones and a few manky sandwiches would be left to our own devises. Tables around us were not cleaned after guests left. There were plenty of staff to-ing and fro-ing in the corridors, but none available to ask us if everything was ok. Or if we needed anything. I needed the toilet, but had no idea where they were. My daughter needed a glass of water, but there wasn't anybody to ask. I needed more milk for the half a pot of coffee I still had remaining, but, there was no one to ask. Eventually, after being left alone complexly for half an hour, another 2 guests arrived for tea. This gave us a chance to just ask for the bill. I didn't want to risk asking for milk instead, then having to wait another half an hour before being able to accost someone to ask for the bill...Was also looking forward to having a walk around the gardens, but, again, this was a disappointment as they have a lawn. No garden. No flowers. Some sheep in the field behind though.All in all, I'm so disappointed with the service we received here today. What should have been a nice experience actually left me feeling rather narked and bitter that we'd chosen to do this on a day when clearly the wedding party needed their full attention. Why book guests for a service if you cannot offer them a pleasant one??Greed."
