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| Allt Yr Ynys Country Hotel |
I
got a super deal on this hotel from Kgb Deals last year and thought I
would use it to escape from the rat race for a couple of days!
Allt Yr Ynys is a quaint little country hotel in Walterstone between
Hereford and Abergavenny. More like a big house than a proper hotel, it
features it’s own hot tub, sauna and pool and is set in some lovely
grounds with a stream running through it. First impressions are very
good. It’s quaint and quiet and looks beautiful. You enter the hotel
from a big wooden door at the front and go straight into the dining area
with the beautiful drawing room on your right hand side. It’s not far
to wander to find the reception, its tucked around the corner - although
there’s no indication as to where it is! The staff seem to have this
remarkable ability to not seem to be present ever which is sort of nice,
but frustrating if you need something.
We
paid for an upgrade to stay in the Jacobean suite in the main building.
The other rooms are in separate, modern, purpose built outhouses – a
bit of a shame if you were expecting to be staying in a traditional
country house as is indicated on the website. But the other rooms, from
the photo’s we have seen, look really quite nice regardless of being
modern and away from the main building. As for the suite, it was really
lovely.
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| Our upgraded room |
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| Stunning bed! |
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| The dressing room |
Chris
and I weren’t looking for all the mod con’s and leather sofa’s we
wanted to experience what it is like staying in a Jacobean room and
that’s exactly what we got. The suite was made up of a huge bedroom and a
separate dressing room which led into a bathroom with a spa bath. The
furniture was lovely and the bed stunning (though very soft! Be aware
this will do bad backs no good!). Everything in the room looked like
replica antiques (rather than the real deal) but worked and it was all
set off by the mahogany panel walls. We were rather looking forward to a
relaxing bubble bath in the spa bath but were put off by the incredibly
loud motors. A shame as it was the one real mod con luxury the room
afforded. But then when we switched off the spa motor we had to contend
with the remarkably thin floors, through which we heard every intimate
detail of conversation between the staff below. The shower was pretty
appalling so we stuck with having baths but if you’re expecting to have a
quiet relaxing bath in this room… Well just don’t expect to have a
quiet relaxing bath in this room. We did have a beautiful view of the gardens from the bathroom window though. The main negative point I have is,
while it was nice to be the only couple staying in the main building we
were asked frequently what time we were expecting to be back when we
left for dinner in the evening because there would be no night staff to
let us into the main building. It was made pretty clear that they didn’t
want to be hanging around and having a curfew put a bit of a dampener
on our break.
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| Antique replica's |
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| The sadly noisy spa bath! |
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| The view of the back gardens |
The
pool and sauna have a bit of a bad review on Travelzoo but I honestly
didn’t see the problem with them. The pool area is very pretty and well
done with a cute Mediterranean design to it. It is right by the
reception, separated by a curtain and there is a smaller bar just off
the pool area (unmanned as was the case everywhere generally) which
would have probably made me feel uncomfortable if the hotel was busier
and there were people milling about not in swimwear. But the quirkiness
of the layout just adds to the character for me. We didn’t get to try
out the hot tub as it had broken down which was a bit gutting. The pool
was on the cooler side but not totally unpleasant and the sauna small
but did the job perfectly!
The
real let down, which surprised me greatly due to the rave reviews on
Travelzoo, was the food. We stayed for dinner at the hotel to take
advantage of the free bottle of wine with a three course meal deal that
came with our voucher and were really looking forward to it. But it was
unbelievably disappointing. We had booked the table for 7.30pm as per
the owner’s suggestion when I initially called to book before arriving,
but decided to dress up a bit and have a couple of pre-dinner drinks at
7pm. As soon as we stepped off the staircase we were being ushered into
the drawing room and given menus. The staff were persistent on asking us
to order in spite of being asked to leave us alone while we enjoyed our
drinks. After being approached 3 times in 15 minutes, we decided
(begrudgingly) to order our food. My seafood salad starter was smothered
in some strange, dodgy tasting mayonnaise-like dressing; the main of
duck breast was grossly overcooked and chewy and poorly presented with a
splodge of plain boiled rice (not wild rice as on the menu) and a
dollop of butter soaked red cabbage. The cheesecake dessert was average
but didn’t redeem the meal. Chris’s meal really wasn’t much better.
Disappointing and certainly not worth the £60 paid. Breakfast was pretty
poor as well though we only went for the standard breakfast and didn’t
opt to pay an extra £7 for a full English. There was an unlimited buffet
of standard cereals and basic fruits and warm yoghurts from Lidl. Toast
had to be ordered (with no choice as to white or brown) and you were
supplied with 6 triangles of it between two of you. A microwaved, shop
bought croissant was the other option.
For
all the negatives however, this hotel is a nice hotel and I’m really
glad I visited. It is well turned out and the owner is lovely even if
the same cannot be said for his staff. I would say if you do choose to
stay in this hotel, just be aware. There is a real sense of trying to
get as much as possible out of the guests whilst trying to save as much
as possible on costs (like all hotels I’m sure) but this comes as a real
detriment to the service and quality of the accommodation offered. If
you have an unfinished bottle of wine and the waiter asks if you would
like a couple of glasses to take up to your room with you, you will be
charged £5 for the privilege. Another £5 if you want an ice bucket. All
the best sounding dishes on the menu (though I wouldn’t recommend going
to the hotel restaurant at all if I’m honest…) charge a surplus of up to
£8. Cooked breakfasts are not included in your hotel rate unless
previously arranged and again will be available at a surplus. As long as
you know exactly what you are in for this is a nice place to be. If
you’re frugal with money or don’t want to spend your stay being careful
not to fall into the ‘optional extras’ trap I would advise you look for
somewhere else to stay. But in terms of being in the middle of nowhere
and having complete seclusion, this is close to perfect.
Cost Breakdown
KGB Deal 2 nights incl. breakfast with free bottle of wine - £99
Optional upgrade to Jacobean suite - £60
Dinner - £60
Drinks - £8
If you are paying full whack the Jacobean room will set you back between £120-180 per night. Full and up to date details and tariffs can be found on their website.
Biz x
