Last weekend we took a much-needed break away as a family to the Marwell Hotel in Hampshire. It was a great weekend away that we all enjoyed.
The Marwell Hotel is nestled in its own little patch of woodland. The hotel comprises a series of wooden 'lodges' which are joined together with covered glass walkways. The walkways make you feel like you are out among the trees even though you are tucked up in the luxury and warmth of the hotel - with the leaves falling around us, it was really very magical.
Describing the hotel as a series of lodges makes it sound incredibly rustic and when we first saw the lodges I was a little worried that they looked and felt a little bit like the kind of place you would visit on a school trip but in fact the Marwell hotel is very far from rustic. Inside our room we felt very pampered indeed - the room was really smart, beautifully decorated, pretty spacious and packed full of special little touches that made us all smile. The girls rushed straight to their bunkbed to investigate their free colouring sets while we headed straight for the REAL coffee maker and the complimentary cake!
Our room had a DVD player and all the rooms have one available on request along with a series of family DVDs that can be borrowed from reception. There are also indoor games on offer as well as an outdoor play area for the children.
We dined in the Marwell Hotel restaurant which was a very smart affair. The children were welcome during the early hours of the evening restaurant service and they were very well catered for. The menu for children offered a small selection of smaller family favourite dishes cooked to the same high standards as the full adult menu... Lara was flummoxed when she was served her first ever amuse-bouche, a small mug of beetroot soup. I got the impression that the staff didn't regularly cater for toddlers and pre-schoolers but that they did really well to try and respond to our needs throughout the evening.
We all enjoyed our dinner - it was great to be able to share such a grown-up meal with our girls and I was really glad that they enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant as much as we did. Dinner for the four of us, including dessert, wine and drinks came to around £100. I thought it was good value for a special meal but I think that it makes the package deals at the Marwell Hotel very appealing for families because some of the packages include dinner.
The Marwell Hotel also offer Zoofari package deals from £150 for a family room which includes family tickets to Marwell Wildlife which is a VERY short walk from the hotel. We visited Marwell Wildlife after a scrumptious breakfast and had a wonderful day spotting snow leopards, rhinos, giraffes (Holly's favourite) and poison dart frogs (Lara's new discovery!).
On Sunday morning we took advantage of the hotel's leisure facilities. We took the girls to the small swimming pool and had a ball - the girls don't often get to swim together and the pool was the perfect size for a little person like Lara to practice her swimming. A morning dip is a great way to work up an appetite for a huuuuuuge cooked breakfast. I thought the buffet breakfast was brilliant and catered for all sorts of different tastes and once again I was impressed by the little details such as mini pastries wrapped in a warm cloth which were served with our toast.
The Marwell Hotel is a short drive from Winchester in Hampshire and is easily accessible from the M3.
Image credit: Pool image courtesy of Marwell Hotel. Undercover walkway image courtesy of www.lcphotographics.co.uk
The Marwell Hotel is nestled in its own little patch of woodland. The hotel comprises a series of wooden 'lodges' which are joined together with covered glass walkways. The walkways make you feel like you are out among the trees even though you are tucked up in the luxury and warmth of the hotel - with the leaves falling around us, it was really very magical.
Describing the hotel as a series of lodges makes it sound incredibly rustic and when we first saw the lodges I was a little worried that they looked and felt a little bit like the kind of place you would visit on a school trip but in fact the Marwell hotel is very far from rustic. Inside our room we felt very pampered indeed - the room was really smart, beautifully decorated, pretty spacious and packed full of special little touches that made us all smile. The girls rushed straight to their bunkbed to investigate their free colouring sets while we headed straight for the REAL coffee maker and the complimentary cake!
Our room had a DVD player and all the rooms have one available on request along with a series of family DVDs that can be borrowed from reception. There are also indoor games on offer as well as an outdoor play area for the children.
We dined in the Marwell Hotel restaurant which was a very smart affair. The children were welcome during the early hours of the evening restaurant service and they were very well catered for. The menu for children offered a small selection of smaller family favourite dishes cooked to the same high standards as the full adult menu... Lara was flummoxed when she was served her first ever amuse-bouche, a small mug of beetroot soup. I got the impression that the staff didn't regularly cater for toddlers and pre-schoolers but that they did really well to try and respond to our needs throughout the evening.
We all enjoyed our dinner - it was great to be able to share such a grown-up meal with our girls and I was really glad that they enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant as much as we did. Dinner for the four of us, including dessert, wine and drinks came to around £100. I thought it was good value for a special meal but I think that it makes the package deals at the Marwell Hotel very appealing for families because some of the packages include dinner.
The Marwell Hotel also offer Zoofari package deals from £150 for a family room which includes family tickets to Marwell Wildlife which is a VERY short walk from the hotel. We visited Marwell Wildlife after a scrumptious breakfast and had a wonderful day spotting snow leopards, rhinos, giraffes (Holly's favourite) and poison dart frogs (Lara's new discovery!).
On Sunday morning we took advantage of the hotel's leisure facilities. We took the girls to the small swimming pool and had a ball - the girls don't often get to swim together and the pool was the perfect size for a little person like Lara to practice her swimming. A morning dip is a great way to work up an appetite for a huuuuuuge cooked breakfast. I thought the buffet breakfast was brilliant and catered for all sorts of different tastes and once again I was impressed by the little details such as mini pastries wrapped in a warm cloth which were served with our toast.
The Marwell Hotel is a short drive from Winchester in Hampshire and is easily accessible from the M3.
Image credit: Pool image courtesy of Marwell Hotel. Undercover walkway image courtesy of www.lcphotographics.co.uk
