The Speech House Hotel

We stumbled across the speech house after a walk in the Forest of Dean on New Year’s Day and Emily, Becca and Jayne were so accommodating in sorting out lunch for us. The best tomato soup we’d ever tasted and delicious sausage rolls!

We stayed in a courtyard 4 poster for our Christmas Package.
The room was clean, comfortable and in good order.
We enjoyed the Christmas entertainment and activities, in particular Clearwell Caves and the Lydbrook brass band on Christmas Eve.
The food was very good throughout and the service was excellent. Your staff are a credit to you and we appreciate them.
Thank you 😀

Spent Christmas as the Speech House. Amazed to read two other reviews praising the hotel so highly. My husband and I had a four poster room in the Courtyard. On arrival the room was dirty with cobwebs on the framework of the bed which had obviously been there for some time. There was also a plumbing issue with the toilet (
( the plumbing issue was sorted out the following day). The cobwebs were also removed the following day). The rest of the room was dusty and again had obviously not been dusted for some time. The food was not good and the turkey dinner was barely edible. Luckily my daughter had a room (in the cottage) which was clean and the plumbing worked. To say that the restaurant offered fine dining was simply not true. On a positive note, the entertainment offered was excellent and we really enjoyed this aspect of our stay. Having travelled and lived in several different countries around the world perhaps our experiences have been different to others staying in this hotel. We had stayed here some years earlier and had really enjoyed or stay at that time but this visit simply did not measure up. Would certainly not recommend a stay here. Surroundings are wonderful though.

We had a great 3 days over Christmas at the Speech House. The programme of events was excellent, friendly and inclusive with lots going on and opportunities to meet other guests and get to know them. We had walks in the Forest, a coach was laid on to take us to midnight mass and music and dancing. The food was fantastic and abundant and all the staff friendly and welcoming. Very good value for money too. We will definitely be returning.

Stayed here for their inclusive Christmas break package. Wonderful Food. Really good staff. Amazing attention to detail. Would recommend unhesitatingly to anybody

My husband and I stayed here for 2 nights this weekend with our dog Ruby.
We had a wonderful stay - it’s a lovely country hotel and just how we like it.
We first came here last year for a wedding and decided back then we would return with our dog as we knew she would love running through the woods right across the road and also in the enclosed field backing onto the hotel-ideal for early morning and nightime toileting for her. Although the hotel provide a dog throw and towel - we also brought a stack of our own and covered everything in the room as we knew how muddy she would get!!
The food is great and there was plenty of choice for myself- I follow a vegan diet.
But what REALLY stood out for us are fabulous staff employed there!!
Shout out especially for Emily, Jayne, Adrian, Meg and Suzanne and also the guy from Melbourne- sorry I didn’t catch your name! They all went above and beyond to make us feel truly welcome and Ruby adored them! So lovely to meet staff who truly enjoy their job!
We will definitely be back again next year!
Thank you all.

It’s 1:38 am and i am wide awake thinking why on earth did i not just book an Airbnb instead of this dive. After reading several reviews I'm intrigued to see what snide comments the owner will reply to my review, but here goes..

The entire hotel is in drastic need of renovations and a good thorough clean. New mattresses. New carpets. New baby beds. New appliances. A course of mold treatment, perhaps. For nearly £200 a night i expected far better.

To have so much black mold in a room where a child is staying is abhorrent. Theres no way you can excuse this, sort it out.

The 4 poster bed is far too small, both mine and my husbands feet are currenrly hanging off the end, and one wrong move and one of us is going to fall 5 feet onto the (stained) floor. I also have my 1 year old sandwiched between us, as the crib provided was covered in unidentifiable marks and the ‘mattress’ inside it was about as padded as a piece of cardboard.

Doors arent sealed properly and the floor is very old and thin, so you can hear EVERYTHING. Our room is next to the stairs so every time someone walks to their room you can hear every step and their entire conversation.

The heating was also broken but stuck on full blast, so we had to get maintenance to come and resolve the issue.

Ordered room service which was OK, generally lacking seasoning and way too flouncy with the ‘microgreens’. Dishes did seem like they had been prepared earlier in the day and simply reheated when ordered, though.

Will not be returning, will not be recommending.

A return visit after 50 years — we had a lovely time then, and a lovely time this time too. Nothing is too much trouble for these people though they didn’t fix the weather! My wife described the atmosphere as ‘faded grandeur’ with old fashioned service, no little extras charged for, one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in a hotel, and the sense of being with people who care. A bit ‘shabby without the chic’ here and there, but a wonderful few days at a very fair price for a large room. Great.

I have never used Trip Adviser to write a porridge review before but reading the reviews and their replies on here I feel that I must share my experience. A group of 5 friends went to this hotel to celebrate the 60th Aniiversary of our meeting at Teacher Traing College and we were made aware before our arrival that wedding was going to taking place on one of the days and that we were lucky to get rooms at all as the venue was fully booked. We were allocated our rooms for which we had all been charged identical sums. One person was in a suite and two others in a sweet cottage with views of the forest. One was in an accessible room as she has mobility issues and I was in a very small twin with views of an air-conditioning unit or some other mechanism. My room was right next door to the wedding venue and I was not only kept awake by the music but people were gathering outside my room to smoke and chat. Later in the evening the language used by the guests was quite offensive( and I am no prude or party pooper).
My shower was faulty and the television took up the entire space of the dressing table. The hotel was shabby, the veneer is badly chipped on the tables in the dining room and apart from the staff the place was very disappointing. When I complained on checkout, I was told I should have asked to move rooms, but on check in we were told they were full, so where would I have been moved to? Why was my inferior room the same price as the suite? Despite my first email getting a reply dismissing my complaints I have heard nothing since which is just rude. I would not recommend this hotel ever

We stayed here for two nights to take part in the Forest of Dean Trail Half Marathon which starts in the adjacent field.
I dont know where to start with compliments but I think the staff is the greatest asset here. So genuinely helpful and friendly and that was during an extremely busy period.
The food was excellent during our stay. We tried both the Orangery, which is very pleasant, light and airy, and the Verderers. The mackrel starter in the restaurant was particularly good. One our second morning we had a perfectly cooked full breakfast served in the restaurant. If the hotel is full they do buffet service but on quieter days it is cooked to order.
Our room 3 on the first floor was spotlessly clean and the bathroom looked newly refurbished with a nice rainshower over the bath. Lovely towels and plenty of hot water. Good wardrobe space with sufficient hangars. Plenty of sockets with USB ports for chargers. The radiator had a thermal control which was great to have the room temperature to suit us.
From our experience here I would recommend this hotel and would definitely stay again.

Really enjoyed our time here, 2 nights but could have absolutely stayed a week. Beautiful base to explore the surroundings. Comfy bed, beautiful architecture, food and staff were excellent. Looking forward to returning

Great breakfast and evening meal, however breakfast on our last day was very dissapointing, overcooked eggs and clearly a different chef from the previous day. The hotel states light cleaning is carried out during your stay but our bed wasnt made and the dirty cups not cleaned. We found this very dissapointing, the only thing the housekeeping did was empty the bin and refill the tea bags, we would of much preferred the bed making. We had a junior four poster room in the main building it was very comfortable and spacious. The hotel has an old charm about it and is situated in an ideal position for exploring the forest of dean. The staff were all warm and welcoming and we would stay here again if in the area.

Stopped in for a drink on a long walk. The Bar staff were helpful and friendly. Place looks clean and toilets were clean. They have a lovely little outside seating area. We didn't eat there but the food we saw coming to other people looks very well presented.

Beautiful place, with excellent staff.
We were unluckily because they celebrate weddings and we arrive with a wedding on-going.
The music was fine (not too loud) the guest were fine, normal noise for a wedding.
The kids fron the wedding were under our window, playing shouting and screaming (normal for kids) but it was very late night and very early morninig so we did not have too much rest.
We will come back but we will make sure is not a wedding day.

Slept super well, room sufficient for our needs. Delighted to find an electric fan in the room as the day was very hot.
Food excellent at dinner and much appreciated the gentleman who looked after us- a great sense of humour.

Went for Sunday lunch, very disappointed. If you are looking for very basic pub grub in huge quantities this is the place for you, but if you are looking for something special look elsewhere. We ordered scotch egg for starter it was far to large, cold and very bland, the roast beef mains included large quantity of reasonably cooked beef, cold hard roast potatoes, overcooked and dried out yorkshire puddings and mountains of ok veggies but again very cool. It's a shame but we will not be going back despite it being fairly local.

From the moment we arrived at our Wedding Venue, Speech House provided us with comforts and kindness. Our Day was a wonderful celebration of excellent food and wine along with many laughs with such happy, efficient and friendly staff. Thank you everyone.

Memorable stay at The Speech House over the weekend. The Taittinger Champagne experience in the garden on Saturday was quite superb with perfect food pairings and lots of interesting information supplied by the team from Taittinger - highly recommended when it repeats next year....

Staff were really friendly and attentive, food in the Verderers' Restaurant in the evening was great and after a hearty breakfast on Sunday morning we enjoyed a walk in the forest before heading home.

All in all a perfect weekend break !!

Ian Hudson

We had an excellent stay and experience this weekend- We stayed for 3 nights in a courtyard 4 poster room which was clean and very comfortable.
We enjoyed dinner and breakfasts which were all of a high standard.

The champagne picnic on Saturday afternoon was great - we loved
relaxing outdoors with perfect weather, learning about the particular Taittinger champagnes and then drinking them, as well as eating the delicious food that was paired with the drink.
Great to see the Taittinger hot air balloon , listen to music and partake of the outdoor games too!
The highlight of the weekend , as always is the performance of the staff who are friendly and efficient and a credit to you.
We look forward to our next stay- Thanks

Absolute amazing time at The Speech House on Saturday. We attended the Champagne Picnic event they were hosting which was just amazing! The hotel offers so much warmth and character, the staff are so polite and work super super hard, my partner and I loved every moment of it! We will defiantly be staying again!