Stayed at the Tudor Grange (B&B) as a couple for several nights in late March 2018.
The property is in a superb location a short walk from the East Cliffs and the sandy beach of Bournemouth. The property sits in pleasant grounds and guests should not be affected by traffic noise.
We opted to pay a little extra for a larger ‘Deluxe’ Triple Room with en-suite including a hot buffet breakfast. Their website indicated all rooms to be ‘finished to a high standard’ and the family run business has, since 2006, been ‘running a continual improvement programme’. They state ‘all thirteen rooms have now been completely refurbished including all en-suites, with individual styling and charm’.
We rang the doorbell at 2.50pm (check-in was at 3pm) but we were forced back to our car as the place was deserted. At about 2.57pm a member of staff arrived and we returned for check-in. While the welcome was friendly it was done with brevity and no explanation of room heater controls etc.
After an hour or two of settling in we noticed some small irritations; dusty work surfaces and bedside cabinets, a castor wheel off the rather tired and threadbare sofa, a large red wine stain on the carpet, a sink plug that would not hold water for longer than 20 seconds. We also discovered that free wi-fi was only available if you have a Facebook account (although one manager let me use...Stayed at the Tudor Grange (B&B) as a couple for several nights in late March 2018.
The property is in a superb location a short walk from the East Cliffs and the sandy beach of Bournemouth. The property sits in pleasant grounds and guests should not be affected by traffic noise.
We opted to pay a little extra for a larger ‘Deluxe’ Triple Room with en-suite including a hot buffet breakfast. Their website indicated all rooms to be ‘finished to a high standard’ and the family run business has, since 2006, been ‘running a continual improvement programme’. They state ‘all thirteen rooms have now been completely refurbished including all en-suites, with individual styling and charm’.
We rang the doorbell at 2.50pm (check-in was at 3pm) but we were forced back to our car as the place was deserted. At about 2.57pm a member of staff arrived and we returned for check-in. While the welcome was friendly it was done with brevity and no explanation of room heater controls etc.
After an hour or two of settling in we noticed some small irritations; dusty work surfaces and bedside cabinets, a castor wheel off the rather tired and threadbare sofa, a large red wine stain on the carpet, a sink plug that would not hold water for longer than 20 seconds. We also discovered that free wi-fi was only available if you have a Facebook account (although one manager let me use the staff account).
The next morning we arrived for breakfast about 30 mins before the deadline. The solitary waitress took our order for tea. We soon noticed that much of the food such as fruit (all tinned), yogurt in a bowl, sliced bread, tureens of allegedly hot baked beans, tomatoes, scrambled and boiled eggs etc had been taken by other diners and were not being replenished until a guest actually requested it.
We waited for the items to be topped up in this so-called hot buffet then selected some. I felt a bit uncomfortable with the fact that when I lifted the lids on the bain marie no steam emerged from anything, suggesting the food was far from hot. Tasting it soon confirmed that this was indeed the case and from a food hygiene point of view alarm bells rang. We had suffered the consequences of luke warm buffets in the past and did not want a repeat. We therefore both decided to err on the side of caution and skip the full English until we had checked with management whether they were aware there might be a problem.
The opportunity to do this presented itself after breakfast.I mentioned my...More
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