Brownsover Hall is a magical place, especially if you appreciate history and architecture. It takes…read moreyou back in time. My husband and I stayed there the week before last on a recent trip to Rugby. It was one of the most romantic places I have ever stayed, but also a little creepy. Room 45's door to the closet room (which you must walk through to get to the bathroom) closed all by itself about an hour after we settled in, and loudly too. It could be that the building is not level, but still, it was weird. Then a couple days later we were sitting in the lobby and the door to the grandfather clock just swung open by itself. Again, probably a leveling issue, but still weird.
We stayed in two different rooms, the first was room 45 (in the stables). The WiFi was not good in this room so we had to move to room 34 the next day. Reception was incredibly helpful. They immediately fulfilled our every request.
Here are the pros and cons that I noticed during my stay.
Cons
1) There are spiders everywhere. It must be an absolute nightmare for housekeeping to try to keep up with all the spiders. Whenever I encounter a spider inside, I typically catch it and let it outside, but being on vacation and not wanting to worry about spending our precious time doing this over and over again, we just killed them. I killed 7 and my husband killed 10. They were in almost every corner, behind both toilettes, in the hallway, and above the shower. I feel very guilty killing all of these wonderful little creatures, but nothing freaks me out more then feeling insects crawling on me as I am trying to go to sleep.
2) It appears that the carpet in both rooms has not been updated since Brownsover Hall was converted into a hotel in the 1970's. It grossed me out a little to think of everything that has happened on these carpets.
3) Privacy was a major issue because there were no sheer curtains to let natural light in while keeping our room and its contents private. The curtains, also from the 1970's (or earlier) are very heavy, torn, and difficult to maneuver.
4) There were not enough towels or toilette paper in either of the rooms. We had to ask for more.
Pros
1) The staff is excellent and fulfilled all of our requests. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. It really made our stay a pleasant one.
2) The grounds are absolutely gorgeous . The variety of plants is really incredible and the lawns are so well kept. The scene makes for the most romantic walks. My husband and I walked from the hotel to the nature preserve on a beautiful fall day (see pics). When we crossed the canal bridge it was like stepping back in time. Once you are inside the gate of the nature preserve, you can walk along a beautiful path, lined with rose bushes, berries and mint. Magical.
3) The closets and bathrooms in both rooms have been recently renovated. They were very nice and both bathrooms had bathtubs, which I appreciated. There is nothing like a nice hot bath after a long day exploring a new place.
4) The food was incredibly delicious. I especially liked the pumpkin soup and salmon. The presentation was great and so was the service. I felt like I was eating in a five star restaurant.
The owners of this hotel may not be interested in renovating guest rooms unless absolutely necessary, but it would be nice if they did because they could do a lot more business with some modernization and some simple aesthetic improvements. Their guests would be more comfortable as well.
My recommendations for improvement to this hotel are the following... just incase management is reading this and wants feedback.
1) Mitigate the spider issue using a nontoxic method and take preventative measures to prevent more spiders from coming in.
2) Renovate the rooms by adding sheer curtains for privacy and some sort of hard floor. There are also too many walls that are blank. At times I felt like I was staying in a renovated warehouse. It would be nice if for example, there was a painting of horses in the stable rooms. The rooms could definitely use a theme.
3) Make 4 large towels, 2 hand towels and 2 full rolls of toilette paper standard for every bathroom.
Staying here was one of the highlights of our vacation in England. I will definitely be staying here again and would recommend it to anyone who has an appreciation for historical places.
