Balmer Lawn

When we had breakfast, with a dog we could only access hot buffet , not the tea,coffee, juice ,water , cereal extra
No one offered to help , just asked me to leave the area with the dog

The room had continuous fan noise as its window opened to the roof of the pool, where the ventilation system was quite loud.

Rooms were very hot, food is expensive especially Sunday lunch (£35 for 2 coursss) and there were no other options at the time.

Sadly the rest wasn’t very good. The room was okay but for £252 (I paid less in central London on marathon weekend) you kind of expect a little more. There were no plugs next to the bed which is always a pain. Bed was a bit hard.

Wish as well you could have a breakfast option as we were never going to take advantage of this.

It is SO noisy. We could hear children running up and down the halls and lots of noise from outside and with a newborn it was an absolute nightmare (they knew we had a baby so could have placed us in a better area) and felt a bit awkward that people might have been able to hear him cry in the night based off what we could hear.

The windows were open so far in the room that if I was alone I would have been unable to shut them without getting a staff member which seems a bit silly to do.

We stayed for the new forest marathon which we do each year, we did look to go next year as it’s only one night and in a good area for us, but it’s gone up to £272 and we have to reserve £100 when we get there so we won’t be returning unless we really are stuck.

The economy room on first night was very small and very dark. Could hardly move. Also paying £250 for it. Felt like we had been given worst room in hotel. We were moved to a better room on the second night

The outdoor swimming pool tiles are broken, the pool was dirty
You cannot swim in the indoor pool it’s more a splash pool for children
The bedroom was small with a cheap bed base that was all scratched , cheap ikea furniture , definitely not worth the £230 a night cost!!

Our double bed was two twin beds pushed together.

It is very run down and old. Some areas look like they have not been cleaned in years. There was mold on the sticky mat for the bath which is easy enough to have cleaned. We also chose the housekeeping option and they never changed our towels in 3 days. They only made the bed and took out rubbish- wasn’t really much “housekeeping”. No fridges in the room so we couldn’t keep our toddler’s snacks or milk cold. For somewhere that is child friendly, it doesn’t make sense to not have a fridge. Coffee at breakfast from the machine was terrible. There could have been a better selection of fruit too.

Small and very hot room, provided fan which did not improve conditions. No net curtain at window allowing many midge flies in the room. Noise from both guests upstairs and slamming of doors in the corridor.

Very disappointing experience

Unfortunately, our experience at this hotel and restaurant was extremely disappointing.

The problems started with the hotel room. The toilet was constantly running, and when we turned on the shower, water was leaking everywhere.

The restaurant experience was also very poor. When we were first seated, the table was not clean. I ordered Coca-Cola but was brought Diet Coke instead. We asked for a pencil for my little daughter so she could complete the kids’ menu, but the pencil never arrived.

When our food arrived, I found a piece of bone in my burger. I nearly choked on it, which was extremely frightening and completely unacceptable.

We also asked for ketchup and mayonnaise, but neither ever arrived. Nobody came back to our table to check whether everything was okay or whether we needed anything else.

When we asked for the bill, we waited around 20 minutes, and eventually I had to go inside myself because nobody came to us so that we could pay.

What made this even more disappointing is that we were there to celebrate my birthday with my daughter. I had hoped it would be a lovely and memorable experience, but unfortunately, it turned into a very stressful and disappointing evening.

By the end, I was so disappointed and put off by the whole experience that we didn’t even order dessert to celebrate my birthday, which we had originally planned to do.

Overall, the experience was poor from start to finish. For the price we paid, I expected a much higher standard of cleanliness, food safety and customer service.

Sadly, we will not be returning.

We stayed here in the 90s and it has hardly been updated!
There is a shower over the bath which wasn’t very powerful.
No air con, just a very noisy fan which wasn’t great for a restful night’s sleep. No coffee machine, just a kettle and I had to ask for tea bags.
Seems you have to pay a premium in the summer to stay anywhere in the New Forest, judging by the reviews …

The change for dogs was enormous for our tiny cockapoos. Very expensive sausages they had. The charge should be reduced for small non shedding breeds. £10 per night would have been enough

Not a good view from bedroom .

Arrived to be told restaurant was closed from 7 for a private bbq. No prior notice so we could arrange alternative dinner.
Room was very small with very poor bathroom.
Very hot but nice fan in room, however in the morning we found the shower would only work on scorching hot and shower head wouldn’t stay in place so we couldn’t have a shower! (Room 21)
Breakfast was quite chaotic. Had to have a table in the lobby and breakfast items were allowed to run out with long period waiting to be resupplied.

Only booking one night .