There is much to like about this resort, a throwback to a bygone era, but overall, in a good way. There are also some serious drawbacks dragging down the compelling positives. We checked in on Saturday, during an off time for this type of resort. Someone else made the reservation for us, and a very nice porter helped us with our luggage. We were ushered into a pleasantly updated but very small room. There was nowhere comfortable to sit except on the bed, there was a tiny munchkin desk with sufficient space for a laptop, after we moved the Keurig into the closet. I could barely fit my knees under the desk. There was an armoire in the corner, which housed a small TV, mini fridge, and a good size safe. Because of the limited space, the armoire was placed at an angle to the corner to face the bed. This made it very difficult to maneuver past this bottleneck as there was only 18-20 inches between the armoire and the bed. The view was fair, a partial view of the lovely lawn bowling area and a significant view of a roof. Normally I'd request a change of rooms, but since the reservation was made for us, we stayed.
That said, I found out that occupancy was low on Saturday, at only 68%, and the hotel was very quiet the following two nights. Meaning, it would have been much smarter for the hotel to provide a larger room with a chair or a couch upon which to sit, because anyone staying in our modest room would not have a great experience! After all, there were a plethora of these rooms available. Upon checking out, they asked about my stay, I noted the dissatisfaction with the room, and the front desk said they would have been happy to move us. But... why go there? Why not start off on the right foot?
Another drawback was the HVAC. It was unseasonably warm during our trip, and our room faced the afternoon sun. With the windows open, the room temperature was 77 degrees. Why not turn on the AC, you ask? It's an old hotel, so you have two choices, heat or air conditioning, but not at the same time. Hotel AC gets turned on later in the season. Meaning, our room was uncomfortably warm in the afternoon, the hotel staff should have been aware of this.
The grounds are beautiful, and the hotel offers so many activities. We tried lawn bowling (similar to bocce ball), axe throwing at $30 per person (a blast), afternoon tea and cookies are also free (fun to watch all the children go wild) and hiking (check out their beautiful lake loop) and we went for a swim in their indoor pool. They also offer arts and crafts, face painting for children, a game room, live music in the evening and a beautiful porch with rocking chairs. There is a golf course, playground, boating, shooting and an outdoor pool. So many things to do!
There are somewhat limited dining options, and they are not all open at the same time. The Windsor is on the main floor, and it's a lovely white tablecloth restaurant serving breakfast and dinner. The only option when we stayed was the $25 breakfast buffet. Both our breakfast and dinner here were very good. We were less impressed with the Taproom bistro which was egregiously slow the first time we dined there (about 50 minutes to get our dinners), and we found the food to be average fare. It's open for lunch and dinner. The Corner Roast serves coffee and pastries in the morning, the only other option for breakfast in the hotel. The Market serves sandwiches, which we enjoyed, and offers seating inside and outside in a lovely courtyard. We didn't try Lakeview, which is in their Inn, a few minutes away.
I'd rate this resort overall at four-stars but must round it down to three-stars for an uncomfortable room and some dining issues. I'd suggest my fellow Yelpers make sure they get a comfortable room before settling in here. And if you have young children who go to sleep early, make sure your room is located far away from the lobby area as the music can be very loud until 10pm.