Lifestyle, food and drink, and our family life and travel adventures.
Just before Christmas we spent a lovely night at Whittlebury Park Hotel and Spa and got to experience Christmastime at the Northamptonshire resort with a festive afternoon tea complete with Christmas tree macarons!
Whittlebury Park is a hotel, golf, and camping resort located in Whittlebury in the peaceful south Northamptonshire countryside, in hundreds of acres of ancient parkland which once formed part of the royal Whittlewood forest.
It is just a 10-minute drive from junction 15a of the M1 and 20 minutes from central Milton Keynes and in a perfect location for Silverstone, making the camping area home to 15,000 to 20,000 campers during the British Grand Prix!
The grounds of the four-star Whittlebury Park Hotel includes a 36-hole Championship golf course, with a driving range, simulators, PGA professional coaches, Callaway fitting centre and award-winning Atrium Clubhouse.
We arrived just in time for our Afternoon Tea and the friendly staff sat us down and offered us champagne whilst we chose our tea and waited for our delicious food.
The food all looked amazing and very Christmassy and we all enjoyed indulging in the sandwiches, sausage rolls, cakes and scones with jam and clotted cream! There was so much for the three of us so we were very happy that they had boxes available to take it all with us to enjoy later!
Afternoon tea was in Bentley’s Lounge which was lovely and Christmassy, with a festive scene with Olaf, Eeyore and more which Ava enjoyed looking at. It’s a really nice, large room with comfy sofas and chairs so it was nice to have our own area to relax, chat, and enjoy our food.
After that it was time to check in to our room – check-in isn’t until 4pm which is a bit late for my liking and it also means you have less time to use the spa facilities during your stay which is a shame.
We were very excited to see our room and have a bit of time to chill out before a quick swim before even more food! We were so happy with our lovely room – a Club Double with an extra bed. It was huge and nice and modern, with a coffee machine, large bathroom with a double sink, great shower and a bidet (Ava was very excited by this!!), a fridge which was very much appreciated and a complimentary tray of snacks, water and a half bottle of wine! It made it feel extra special to be away for a night and a real treat. There is also complimentary Wi-fi throughout the hotel.
Unfortunately, Paul and I were not feeling very well at all and mostly just wanted to sleep, but we couldn’t have asked for a nicer room to lounge in whilst feeling rough!
After a little chill out we got into our swim stuff and put on the robes and slippers in our room and headed down to the spa area.
We absolutely loved this bit and we really wanted more time to relax and enjoy it – we could have easily spent a few hours there, relaxing on the loungers with a book. The 19m swimming pool is great, with areas to enjoy bubble jets, raised areas so you can sit comfortably and enjoy the water, as well as plenty of space to swim. There’s also a heat and ice experience area so you can move through heated steam rooms and end with a freezing cold experience which is so good for us! We didn’t get chance to experience this, but I would love to try it next time!
Surprisingly, children are allowed in the pool area which was great for us as we could all be there together. I can imagine some people would prefer that children aren’t allowed, but for families it’s brilliant. I’m not sure I would feel comfortable taking younger or particularly loud children though, unless I saw others there – Ava was the only child whilst we were there but it was later on in the day.
Around the pool, there are two jacuzzis, a steam room and a sauna. We both particularly loved the sauna – I felt like the heat was bearable but still nice and hot and there was a wooden seat that was shaped so you could lie back and relax. It was lovely.
During your stay at Whittlebury Park, you can book spa treatments and join in with fitness classes and use the gym, so it’s a great place to go for a treat; it would be so lovely to go for a couple of nights as a couple – you can really relax and get away from it all. And with the golf course, there’s something for all tastes!
After quick showers, we got dressed for dinner; thankfully it wasn’t too formal as we felt too poorly to get very dressed up! There was a total mix in the restaurant of people looking dressy and people wearing jeans and trainers so it felt very relaxed.
Dinner was at Aston’s Restaurant and it was the only part of our stay that we were slightly disappointed about. The dining room was boiling which I struggle with particularly when I’m eating, and the food, although nice, varied quite a bit.
Paul chose the beetroot and mackerel starter which was tiny but really tasty. I chose the sticky halloumi which was just a bit meh and came with new potatoes which didn’t really work with it for me and I found a bit heavy for a starter, especially as our other starter was so small in comparison.
Ava chose cheesy garlic bread to start, and even though she is usually a garlic bread fiend, this was way too big for her and would have been enough for four people to share!
For mains, Paul and I both chose the duck, which was also disappointing, unfortunately – it was quite chewy and the fat wasn’t rendered and I just couldn’t eat it all which is unusual for me. The rosti it came with tasted a bit strange and had a strange consistency, but the flavours were nice overall.
Ava chose sausage and mash for her main which was really tasty with high-quality sausages which you don’t often get for kids’ meals but again it was massive! She has a big appetite but she couldn’t manage half of this.
Of course, we had indulged in the afternoon tea not too many hours before, but even so, some of the dishes were way too big and others tiny.
Ava and I didn’t even manage a pudding which is incredibly unusual for us so we headed back to our room before the meal was properly over. Paul chose a crumble for dessert which he said was also massive. It just sort of felt like they weren’t quite sure what they should be – a traditional restaurant with classic dishes, or a modern À la carte with small portions and snazzy ingredients and so they were trying to be everything all at once.
A buffet-style breakfast including a full English was included with our stay, which is great and it was a good breakfast so I’m told. Unfortunately, I felt too ill to make it down – especially when we realised they stopped serving it at 9.30am, which felt pretty early compared to other hotels. We all wanted a bit of a lie-in but that meant we couldn’t use the spa again that morning as there just wasn’t time (you can use it until 11am on the day you’re checking out).
The slightly disappointing meal at Aston’s Restaurant didn’t stop us from having a really good time at Whittlebury Hall Hotel and Spa and we would still love to go back again. The spa area is beautiful and it’s a real treat to be able to use it during a night away, although I think it would be great if you were allowed to use it before you can check in at 4pm as it doesn’t give you much time if you are only there for one night.
Our room was brilliant and one of the best we’ve ever stayed in as a family and the complimentary wine and snacks made me very happy! It is so rare that you get a fridge in a hotel room and it’s a big bonus for us so that we can have cold white wine and beer whilst having a night away!
The staff were all really lovely and friendly and made us feel really welcome.
I’d be very happy to be treated to a night or two here for my birthday or a special occasion, to really get away from it all and have time to relax and enjoy the spa facilities.
We’d all love to stay at Whittlebury Hall again – so that we could make the most of it, have more time in the spa and enjoy the spacious and lovely room. Despite feeling like death warmed up we had a great time and didn’t want to leave!
We were gifted a night’s stay and food and drink at Whittlebury Hall but all words and opinions are our own. See my full disclosure policy here.
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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