De Vere Theobalds Park Hotel

A few weeks ago, I had one of my very favourite weekends in a long time. The setting was Hertfordshire, activities included the Harry Potter Studio Tour and a wildlife park, and the sun had got its hat on.

The venue was De Vere Theobalds Park Hotel, in Cheshunt, and that's what I'm writing about today.

The approach was beautiful, with a long tree-lined drive leading up to a building which looked almost castle-like. It was a beautiful building, and set in lush, green grounds.

The one thing I will say, which was a recurring theme, is the whole hotel needs a little bit of love. It was one of those places which feels like it maybe looked incredible 10 years ago, but little details are being ignored.

Take the room, for example. The bed was big and comfy, it had all the usual comforts, but there were marks on the bedhead and around the TV that just made it all look a bit worn. There was also a tear in one of the towels in the bathroom, which I wasn't too impressed about!

It was still a nice room, but I just expected a little more having stayed in other De Vere hotels and been blown away by the standard.

It was also absolutely boiling hot in the room, meaning we needed the desk fan turned on at all times.

 Breakfast was tasty, a very standard hotel buffet breakfast, and the room service dinner we had was delicious. However, again attention to detail let the hotel down a little. A drink was brought, then the wrong drink arrived, then there was no salt in the salt cellar... I did request that the tray charge be knocked off the bill, which was done as an apology for these problems.

As you can see, the grounds were beautiful, and it felt like a true escape from the city. Since living in London, I've learned just how important it is to escape for some proper fresh air every now and then!

Strolling round the grounds was a lovely way to spend Sunday morning - it was quiet, the sun was out, and there was nobody else around. The weather made the whole weekend feel even more like a holiday.

I started this post by saying this was one of my favourite weekends ever, and it was, but that wasn't because of the hotel. It was because of everything else that made up the weekend, including the beautiful weather.

The hotel did give us a nice setting to stay in, but it was in need of some real TLC which did let it down.

It by no means ruined the weekend - the bed was comfy and the grounds were quiet, which are probably two of the most important things - but the hotel could have pushed itself over the edge into being fantastic had a little more attention been paid to the details.