Staying at the Macdonald Frimley Hall Hotel, Camberley, Surrey

{This is a review post, but I paid for the night stay myself, so I haven't been requested to write this}

My Mum and I have a tradition of staying in London together to celebrate Mothers Day each year, sadly we had to cancel for 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. We really missed our girlie time and were desperate to spend some time together without the kids constantly wanting our attention, but with my Mum having COPD we were a bit cautious to travel into London yet and thus we opted for a night away together, but not that far from my parents home and we enjoyed a day at Kew Gardens together. 

I've stayed at Macdonald Frimley Hall Hotel a couple of times before, once with my husband and once with my daughter as a Christmas treat, both have been lovely stays, so I was happy to book again for a night for my mum and me.

I'm on the Macdonald Hotels mailing list and before Christmas, I had a mailing that allowed me to buy a gift certificate and receive a 20% top-up. So I paid £40 and got a £50 voucher. Then once lockdown eased and they released rooms for sale again I was able to book a standard twin room for £114 for one night for us both to stay and enjoy breakfast and a three-course meal too. I think this is a great price and it is the kind of price I have secured before too, so always look for the deals. Also, make sure you go via Quidco and earn some cashback too, it is 5% currently. 

We could have chosen to use the leisure club too, within the cost of our room, it has a fully equipped gym, 17-metre swimming pool, sauna and steam room. You can book spa treatments and I had a massage when I stayed back in 2014 and it was very good and there is a nice chill-out area for afterwards where I enjoyed herbal tea. Of course, we went whilst it was still in the time of Covid regulations, so you had to make bookings for using the areas. We didn't make use of these facilities on this occasion as we already had a full itinerary planned.

A Family Trip to Polesden Lacey - National Trust, Surrey

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I absolutely adore National Trust properties. Looking around an old character house, exploring the grounds and enjoying some good food whilst I am there is my idea of a dream day. I am super lucky that there are so many of them around and I can always find somewhere new within a couple of hours of our home in East Sussex. 

A couple of weeks ago my girls had a Friday inset day so we headed off to Surrey and met my Mum at one of her local National Trust properties - Polesden Lacey and as I expected it was a delight. As you can see from the photos we were very lucky with the weather and this helped us to have a wonderful time there. 

Getting there/ Parking

We took a bit of an 'odd' route as we were picking my Mum up on the way but once we joined the A246 it was a very easy drive and Polesden Lacey was well-signed with the brown attraction signs. They advise that it is best to use the postcode KT23 4PZ for sat navs. There appeared to be plenty of parking and it was on hard-standing. This is free if you are an NT member or otherwise £2 for up to 2 hours or £5 for the whole day. 

There are toilets right at the entrance (including accessible ones and baby change) and also the pleasant Cowshed coffee shop with outside seating, which seemed to be a hit with many dog owners. In fact, we saw so many dogs at this NT site and it thrilled my daughters. Dogs on a lead are welcomed in the pleasure gardens and in the wider estate but not in the house or the cafes. 

Visiting Surrey with the family - 6 great days out

Until the age of 18 I lived in Surrey and 23 years later my parents still live there so I'm a frequent visitor. It is probably the county I feel fondest about, all my firsts happened there - steps, words, tooth, school, kiss and I even bought my first house with dh there.

Nowadays when I go back to see my family I am a visitor because we do not have a base there and my parents home is not big enough to house us all so I am always on the look out for a good quality hotel that does not cost the earth and can accommodate three or four of us in the same room, within a short travelling distance of Woking.

We tend to leave one or two of the children with my parents (and they think this is a wonderful treat) and the other comes with us to the hotel. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that we could get a room at the Holiday Inn, Farnborough for four of us to stay after Christmas for just £78 for the night. That kind of price is comparable to what we would pay for a budget hotel but this is no budget hotel, you only need to look at the photos on the site to see how luxurious the hotel it. I was highly impressed with the indoor pool, air conditioning in every bedroom and the kids stay and eat for free promise, we will definitely be checking in to the Holiday Inn, Farnborough in the near future,  it is only about a 15 minute drive from my parents front door.

International Thrill Seekers head to Thorpe Park

Earlier this week I lost my husband for the day.... I lost him to taxiing duty for twelve 18 to 24 year olds on a day out to Thorpe Park and you know what? I think it was the best thing, he came back in the cheeriest of moods despite the M25 traffic.

Regular readers will know that I live in the grounds of a very large Christian conference centre and at any one time we have around fifty young adults from all different countries living and working here. It can be quite isolated for them without a car and the bus does not even stop for us so the chance of a trip to somewhere like Thorpe Park was eagerly grabbed. Twelve went this week and another sixteen thrill seekers are going next week.

I know that in recent years Thorpe Park has been remodelled into the ultimate theme park for those who like the big scary rides - it is a thrill seekers paradise. The kids and I like a more serene day at somewhere like Chessington or Legoland but I know that my dh sometimes misses the chance to 'feel the fear and do it anyway!' so it was perfect for him to have some more adventurous companions.

Review Macdonald Frimley Hall Hotel, Surrey

Last night my husband and I were super excited to stay at the Frimley Hall Hotel in Surrey, we dropped our three children off to my Mum and Dad's, who live just 8 miles away and we checked in for a restful and romantic stay away (Valentines has come late to us!).

Let me start by saying we had a fabulous time and we would definitely stay again. Frimley Hall Hotel is easily accessible, comfortable, very beautiful and the staff in general were exemplary.  I'm happy to be able to share with you my full review of our stay -

Arrival at the hotel -
We found the hotel easily, there was lots of signage pointing us there, which is good as it is in the middle of a residential area. The first impression is really good as the hotel fascia is very beautiful, as we arrived there was a massive wedding party spilling across the front drive so we headed the wrong way into the car park and took the very last parking space, considering it was only about 3pm in the afternoon I did wonder what any later arriving guests might do.

We were greeted in reception by Amy and she was very friendly and welcoming. She explained about our stay and checked our details and confirmed our dinner reservation. We were offered help with our luggage and wished a pleasant stay. As we only had an overnight bag we saw ourselves to our room heading up the grand wooden staircase.

The bedrooms -
We were super excited to see that we had been upgraded to a suite and this means we had one of the rooms in the original part of the house. The room literally took my breath away, it was stunning with an enormous mullioned window that had views out to the front over the lawns. I can honestly say that every part of the room was comfortable - the sofa, the 6ft bed, the enormous bath and the double shower. We were very spoilt.

In the room was an iron and board, tea and coffee making facilities, complimentary water, paper and pen, hairdryer, flat screen TV and air conditioning. Of course in the bathroom there was also complimentary premium toiletries from Arran Aromatics.

As we were at the front of the hotel there was a little noise from the wedding party going out on the terrace area in the evening but not enough that we were unhappy.

I asked to see one of their classic (standard) rooms, as we had been upgraded I wanted to be sure that if I recommended this hotel that the regular offering was good too and I was very pleased. The standard rooms in this Macdonald hotel are far better than many of the chain hotel rooms I have seen in my time (and that's quite a few as I used to be a hotel manager). Obviously there is a lot less space than in the suite but the quality of the décor, beds and extras being offered was exactly the same, take a look -

Vital Spa -
I was invited to have a massage whilst I stayed at the hotel so I headed over to the Vital health and wellbeing centre. I had a really relaxing swim in the 17 metre pool and whilst there were a few children there (it was half-term after all) I was pleased to swim in the roped off lane. I also made use of the steam room and relaxed on one of the poolside recliners for a while before my treatment.

Towels and robes are provided for your use and there is no charge for the locker. I didn't try out the spilt-level Techno gym but it looked well equipped. The treatment area is very tranquil and my masseuse was pleasant and professional. I then took advantage of having a herbal tea in the low-lit relaxation room afterwards and fully took advantage of the chill-out time. My massage would normally cost £65 for one hour and I think this price is comparable to others I have had before.

Image Credit - Frimley Hall Hotel

Linden Restaurant - 
As part of our package we had been booked in for evening meal and breakfast as an inclusive rate. This meant we could eat from the set three course menu in the AA 2 rosette awarded Linden restaurant. The restaurant is very nice and well presented, you get real silver cutlery, quality linen napkins and extremely attentive service. I think I honestly have to say this is the best service I have received in a restaurant for a very long time. The F&B Manager, Gareth was exceptional - very friendly, efficient and not at a stuffy.

The three course menu is normally £32.50 per head, or I see it is £25 if you book at the time of making your room booking. This is more than we would normally pay but you do get to try out some menu items that might be new to you and are very good quality. Probably my favourite part of the meal was the corn fed chicken on a bed of vanilla risotto with vegetable ribbons and a sweet chilli sauce. My husband adored his fig roly poly with szechuan custard and bramble jelly. We had a very nice bottle of Merlot and this cost us £25.00 for the bottle, which was one of the cheaper bottles of wine.

As well as being aware of our own meal I also watched the service in the restaurant in general and I can confirm that every customer had the same kind of attentive service that we did, there really is an air of professionalism and pride in this restaurant.

The next morning we headed down for breakfast about 9.45am and we expected the restaurant to be heaving with all the wedding guests that had stayed over. I was very pleased to see they had set up a dining room in their function suite and they were all eating together there so we enjoyed a tranquil breakfast with the most amazing buffet. The buffet contained every item you could possibly want from a continental breakfast - cereals, nuts, croissants, fresh fruit, fruit compotes, dried fruit, yoghurt, danish pastries, doughnuts, muffins, bread, juices, cheese, vegetables and sliced meats.

As well as helping yourself to as much of the buffet as you fancy you could also order porridge and cooked breakfast and they were happy to offer seconds or bigger portions of the cooked items if you so wish too. The buffet costs £10.00 per person or it is £13.50 to have the hot meal included as well. I can not recommend breakfast here highly enough.

Gold room lounge -
After dinner my husband and I decided to sit  in the lounge by the roaring fire and enjoy a liqueur, it was a great end to a fabulous evening. The sofas and chairs were big and comfy and it was not too busy at all. I did find the service in the Sandhurst bar a bit brash, the Assistant Bar Manager seemed quiet flustered about the wedding and had to keep running off to get things but once we had our drinks we were happy. It seemed odd that he would not let me charge the drinks to my room yet the restaurant had just got me to sign for dinner. I had to go to reception to give a credit card swipe, which was fine but I would have preferred to have been asked for that at check-in.

As you can tell we had a lovely break at the Frimley Hall Hotel and I'll be very happy to visit a Macdonald hotel again in the future.

Thanks so much to Macdonald hotels for allowing us to undertake this impartial review and big thanks to my fabulous parents for having our vivacious kids for the night!

Disclosure: I was provided with one nights DBB for my husband and myself. I also received a complimentary massage for the purpose of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

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