I've stayed at the picturesque Dunston Hall twice now for work purposes and can confidently say that it's not a bad place to stay in Norwich. It's close to Lotus Cars (where I need to go when I'm in the area) and Norwich centre (for the social/after-work) and the train station.
It's affordable, especially if you book online. Typically 70GBP a night.
The breakfast is your typical British selection in buffet format. Cereals, breads (croissants, muffins, toast), beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, hash browns, fried toast, sausage, bacon, fried eggs (although rather oily), a selection of fresh fruit, juices ranging from orange to grapefruit to tomato, coffee and tea.
The bar and lounge offers some decent food selections (I recommend the chicken caesar wrap) and decent drink selection. The bartender didn't know what a Shirley Temple was though... maybe it's really just an American drink?
Rooms in the main building are much nicer and modern than the rooms in the other buildings, I've found, but every room has free internet hookup available. The bathrooms are typically clean and the towels are ok (not as soft and sometimes I sense a strong bleach odor). The place is generally a maze and the numbering system with the rooms doesn't make sense either.
I've heard golf is quite big here since they have a huge course, but I've also heard of stories where the golf course was sabotaged years ago for whatever reason... weird.
Service is decent, but not as friendly as I would like... maybe that's just the British way. I've never experienced great hospitality in Britain anywhere. A clear example is that my card key didn't work when I walked down to my room with my luggage. So I went back to the front desk and asked them if they could help fix it... well, this happened another 2 times and as you can imagine, I was quite frustrated after a long day and having to walk all the way to my room and back to the front desk 3 times (WITH my luggage, mind you) when they insisted the card key worked every time. No one offered to go with me and they wouldn't change my room. Eventually they gave me a new key which did work, but I was really pissed at them for being so unhelpful and unapologetic.
It's probably a cultural thing... I would never expect this to happen in any hotel I stayed at in America though... or even in Japan or China.
Overall though, it's a good place for the price. Can't beat the price. Although next time I'm definitely going to consider somewhere else if I have to stay for more than a week. read more