The Great House at Sonning

We were guests at an event there. Lovely venue, great location. Superb event. We went to bed at 11.45. At 6.50 am the dustmen parked their huge big lorry directly under our window and worked there for a long long while. It was so noisy that we gave up trying to sleep, so went to breakfast. On the way there we were stopped by two female cleaners, who through a little English asked what room we were in….clearly hoping we were leaving at 8.30! When I said we were just going for breakfast they walked away without acknowledgment or thanks for the info. I wanted to mention to the receptionist on leaving after breakfast about my experience and lack of sleep but she was disinterested. I’d hope to offer a 5 star review but the lack of sleep and then general staff attitude was disappointing. I’m sure Great House can be a lot better - but this was my personal experience.

We recently had a three night stay here staying in the Clockhouse family suite The room is very hot so they have provided fans Unfortunately the fans were extremely noisy so it the best night sleep for three nights! We had use of the sofa beds and the children area for sleeping. Despite asking on the first morning for more cups etc….. we weren’t provided with enough cups or tea/ milk for the tea and coffee facilities and there was only one sugar sachet for the remaining two nights . We booked to have a large family celebration meal in one of the pods. The service was ok albeit a little forgetful, the food was so disappointing for the cost! My fish was oily and I asked for normal peas instead of mushy peas , my meal came out with the mushy peas so I had to ask for this to be changed. I was presented with the smallest pot with about a tablespoon of peas in it ! The prawn starter was cold ! The steaks ordered were very tough. My mums Hake was ordered with normal choos not skinny fries . It came out with skinny fries . By the time this was rectified, the Hake had all gone. This meal was taken off the bill at least. When drinks were ordered on a few occasions they were forgotten to be given to us. They just couldn’t get it quite right. We had been looking forward to this stay for a long time so we are very disappointed and the meal cost a lot of money, so we feel very upset that we have wasted money on this awful food for our celebration. We had Breakfast on the first morning . Service was slow and the food took a while to come. When it did, it was cold and dry. The eggs were freezing and overcooked on the most part. I did say when we went to sign the bill as the staff didn’t come to us and we needed to leave . The response was ‘ sorry about that’ , they just don’t seem to care. Again the breakfast was pricey for what was served up! The next two days we went to The Bull across the road for Breakfast and this was an excellent Breakfast and service was much more improved . Overall we spent a lot of money as a group of 8 of us with this hotel. Such a shame they didn’t deliver the standard they claim to be able to. We will not be returning.

Situated by the river and the Copper Club restaurant in the main building, we had a comfortable stay. We had the twin room which was quite spacious as it happened to be the disabled room so the bathroom had a very shallow bath. Everything you need for a few days, fridge, kettle, coffee machine, fresh milk etc. no view but relatively quiet. My only suggestion would be to have head boards as the wall behind the bed is getting a bit grubby, just to Finnish this room. Enjoyable stay otherwise.