The Ickworth Hotel

We went for afternoon tea at the Ickworth Hotel. We enjoyed the tea and the service was friendly, but I'm afraid the experience was marred by the lack of adequate facilities for disabled customers. Firstly, there was no parking assigned for disabled visitors. We managed to find a space, however the ground consisted of fine shingle which makes transfer from car to wheelchair difficult. Access to the building was via a long timber ramp round the side of the building away from the parking. The ramp was showing significant signs of wear. Access to the ramp was across deep shingle which is also difficult in a wheelchair. When asked if there was an accessible toilet we were directed along a narrow corridor to a toilet that was barely large enough for a wheelchair and a carer. There were no grab rails so it could not be considered as a disabled toilet. On leaving the toilet I had to reverse along this narrow corridor as there was no room to turn the wheelchair. For a prestige hotel/restaurant there seemed to have been insufficient thought and care given to provision of ease of access. Notwithstanding this is a listed building surely more could be done to make this an accessible venue which would truly meet the requirements of the DDA.

First word amazing .staff are incredibly helpful and cheerful the room had the most comfortable beds my children shared a bunk bed which was really nice they even had mini Towel robes and to welcome the kids they gave them bubble mixture and it is spotless all round the hotel. in the basement they have a really fun games room. Comfy seats would be welcome in the cinema and fun floats in the pool to be a daily thing! Better than what I was hoping for The food was delicious they have this chocolate pot on the kids menu. which is like a flower pot with an edible pot with a Bee on

Afternoon tea at Ickworth Hotel. We’ve been here many times and sadly today just wasn’t great. We hadn’t been for around five years and the standard of service has fallen so greatly it no longer felt like a luxury afternoon tea (but for the price should be!). The waitress didn’t know the names of any of the teas and said “old lady decaf for all day decaf and darjeeting for Darjeeling. At least give your staff training. If you’re serving afternoon tea then know about the teas! No milk on the table for the tea, very odd. The cakes were very average the sandwiches not fresh (bread dry and stale). The afternoon tea took around 45 mins to be served so you’d expect it was fresh! We’d pre booked and the place was almost empty so they can’t have been rushed. You can do better! Train your staff what real service is. Make sandwiches fresh (or takes five minutes! Buy some decent quality bread and decent jam. The jam tasted like Tesco value strawberry jam!