Last week we took the kids to Legoland Windsor and on the way back we stopped for a night at Mercure Brandon Hall Hotel and Spa in Warwickshire. I was sent a voucher by Red Letter Days as part of my Easter gift guide and chose to pay £15 to upgrade to a family room.
We arrived at Brandon Hall hotel and spa after 9 pm on Friday night, after a long day in Legoland. The kids had both fallen asleep in the car after a very exciting day. The lady on reception was lovely and checked us in quickly whilst giving us all the relevant information we needed to enjoy our stay and we were soon in our room for the night so we could get the kids back to sleep.
To get to our room we had to go through a small courtyard as the hotel and spa is made up of a few different buildings. Our room was spacious and included a king size bed and a sofa bed for the kids. There was also a desk area, flat screen tv, comfy chair, mini fridge, tea and coffee making facilities, free wifi and a large built-in wardrobe which included ironing facilities. The bathroom was lovely, large and included a bath and a separate shower.
The hotel is currently undergoing a major renovation and our room was not one of the renovated ones. Whilst it was adequate for our stay it was a little dated and tired looking. Never the less our bed was comfy and whilst I didn’t find the sofa bed comfy when I tried it, my kids slept well so it is fine for little ones.
Breakfast was served from in the dining room which has been recently renovated to a high standard. The selection of options for breakfast was great, both hot and cold buffet areas were set up with all the food you would usually expect to see. Despite not being particularly busy when we were eating the buffet wasn’t replenished as often as needed resulting in empty dishes. We all enjoyed our breakfast though.
Check out isn’t until 12 noon so that meant we had the morning to explore and enjoy the pool. We started with a walk around the grounds as it was dark when we arrived. The hotel is set in 17 acres of grounds which includes plenty of parking and gardens with outdoor seating areas. The gardens are lovely and indeed the village the hotel is situated is beautiful too.
Children are allowed in the pool at designated times and the receptionist the night before had already told us that children were welcome between 8 am and 12 noon. The changing room facilities were fantastic with plenty of space, hair dryers, swimwear dryers, lockers and showers. The pool itself is 1.2 meters deep the entire length. There were plenty of floats and woggles available for children to borrow which is a nice touch. As part of the spa, there is also a sauna and steam room but no jacuzzi.
We all enjoyed our family swim which is a bit of a novelty for us. My eldest has swimming lessons but we rarely seem to make time to take our youngest. She loved it and we’ve promised to make more of an effort to take her.
Overall we enjoyed our stay. Ordering a voucher through Red Letter Days was easy, the most difficult part was picking an experience from all the options available. There aren’t a lot of family breaks to choose from but there are plenty of breaks for couples as well as other experiences to choose from. Redeeming the voucher at this particular hotel was a little more difficult than when I’ve used vouchers like this before. We tried to phone and book the room on a weekend only to be told the reservations line is only open 9-5 Monday to Friday. Once I got through on that number I was given an email address that I had to send my voucher to in order to book the stay. It took a good few days from choosing this hotel to getting confirmation that we had a room booked on the date we requested. Pin for later:
Disclosure – We received the vouchers to pay for our night at Mercure Brandon Hall Hotel and Spa from a previous blog post with Red Letter Days. All photos, thoughts and opinions are my own.
It does look like the hotel needs a revamp but that it did the job! A swimming pool is always a bonus with kids!
It was a lovely bonus. We really enjoyed it
Looks really lovely glad you had fun!
Thank you
Oo that breakfast looks delicious! It would be interesting to see the hotel when it has finished being renovated, as the dining area looks very nice 🙂
I saw some pictures of renovated rooms and they look lovely
A comfy bed is the most important thing! And you’ve reminded me that we need take our boys swimming again! Haven’t been swimming in almost two years.
I’m glad I’m not the only one!
Legoland AND a hotel stay –
Lucky children! And … a pool! I do love a hotel with a pool and even better, a spa!
It was lovely to have a family swim. It’s been a long time since we’ve done that.
It looks like a lovely place for an overnight stop over. The rooms look well presented and the kids look like the enjoyed themselves.
The kids loved it. They’re still talking about hotels now.
It looks so lovely with ample space in there. I do like it when you get a bath in a hotel as it makes it easier to wash the children and you have the option of relaxing in there too. The grounds look amazing!! A great place for exploring
A bath is a real bonus with kids.
This looks like a lovely stay. It’s nice that they do a later checkout too as no one wants to rush around in the morning! £15 is a reasonable upgrade to a family room too.
What a fantastic break! The hotel looks the perfect place for a relaxing stay. I’m just a teensy bit jealous about LegoLand though!
Sounds like a nice hotel and good that they’re currently updating it. It’s not often hotels have pools so that’s a nice touch too. I like too that you were able to update your room voucher to a family room for a small fee.