Afternoon Tea at Down Hall in Uttlesford

Gorgeous wedding venue with fantastic service too.We attended a wedding here recently and received excellent service from our server Harriet. She ensured the drinks didn’t stop flowing. Nothing was too much trouble including grabbing mustard to go with the lovely beef dinner. Always had a smile.Imran was also busy buzzing around ensuring it all went smoothly with a great personality. There were others however I don’t remember the names. Apologies. The team worked hard and well together.All aspects were lovely in a gorgeous and beautifully decorated venue and I can highly recommend.

Stayed here on my birthday, and we wish we booked for longer. The hotel is very beautiful and classic. The spa treatments were lovely, and Cheryl is fantastic and so bubbly.Breakfast was included in the booking and it was fresh, loads of options to choose from. Dinner was good but wish they had sides for picky eaters like me, but I pushed my comfort zone and got the Duck which was 10/10, tired the oyster which were beautiful presented just not for my pallet.The vibe is relaxed and slow paced, definitely great for Londoners to destress from the city. We had a Classic room and it was comfy, cozy and all round just right for one night stay. Will return again!

Could not have asked for more. Came for an overnight Spa break and loved it. Vegan options on the menu are great. Real thought put into it. Service was excellent from front desk to spa to the restaurant. Can't wait to come back. The place feels special.

Was expecting a first class room and service- very disappointed. Booked a Eat, Love, Stay deal which cost £450 for effectively an overnight stay of 20- hours; to include a ‘feature’ room, evening dinner and breakfast.We were hoping for a luxury room, it was tired and basic- It did overlook a fountain and lawn but nothing special. It had a tiny bathroom and basic shower.We decided to go to the bar before dinner and had my husband had to wait a long time at the unattended bar whilst various staff came and went without offering any service.I understood when I booked that dinner was included- however we were then advised that we are only allocated £40.00 each towards dinner, the remainder we had to pay ourselves- which doesn’t go far when just the filter steak is £49.00. I ordered a glass of wine, my husband complained about the time it was taking to arrive. Who we presume was the manager eventually arrived with my wine ( didn’t catch his name, a bald headed man) and delivered it with a very sarky comment of ‘ sorry you had to wait 5-minutes for the wine!’ - shocking.The food was good, but nothing special.Breakfast was better.The cost of the breakfast was £16.00 each, so allowing £40 for breakfast and £80 for dinner this means that the room was £320.00; it certainly was not worth even half that amount.If the service we had received had not been so appalling bad we may not have felt so aggrieved- but to be frank we feel totally and utterly ripped off financially and very disappointed in the quality of the room, service and experience.Show lessDate of stay: April 2022This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor

We had the best time here. My husband 60th and they couldn't do enough for me . Everyone was helpful, all staff members put themselves out to accommodate us.The management team were professional. The restaurant is good. Nothing was to much trouble. The staff in the spa were amazing. The receptionist in the spa was courteous,friendly, and professional. The manageress of the spa had extensive knowledge and gave excellent advice.We loved it here

My friend and I had a wonderful and very relaxing stay there. The facilities are beautiful and spotless; the staff are super friendly and attentive; and the food was most yummy. Great cocktails too!Totally loved the dog-friendly rooms (I was provided with a bowl and a comfy bed). There are "dog bins" in the park.There are nice walks to do, a giant chess set, badminton and tennis courts, and a decent gym. There are also outdoors games for children.My sole regret: not booking a 2nd treatment in the spa!Would definitely go back. Total recommend.Pictures: roast halibut; breakfast tray; and fish pie.

My husband and I went here in March. We were lucky enough to get a complimentary upgrade so that was great.The HotelThe grounds are beautiful, we didn't get a chance to take a walk around unfortunately, but what we did see was beautiful.Everything about the hotel is wonderful. The ambience, the decor, it's really a lovely place for couples.Checking in and outVery fast service, the reception staff were lovely and friendly. Incredibly helpful too.HygieneWe stayed in room 110 and it was all great...apart from the contact lens I found on top of the face towels in the bathroom. That was gross. I don't know how it ended up there but assumed the previous occupants had left it there and it hadn't been cleaned out, so that was disappointing. At breakfast there was an open continental breakfast buffet. So if you are still covid weary, you might want to skip this or get a breakfast served to your table. There are hand sanitisers placed around the hotel though which is great.FoodMy husband and I are both vegan and this obviously posed a challenge to the hotel. The bar menu had no vegan dishes at all, the restaurant did have a few, but nothing appetising. There was a celeriac dish or a beetroot ravioli. Neither seemed appealing so we ended up using a food delivery service.The breakfast menu had one vegan dish, a tofu scramble, so we ordered that with toast. It wasn't nice I'm afraid to say. It felt like the staff didn't know how to make it, there was no taste to the scramble, other than the load of salt that had been thrown in. Both my husband and I left ours. The presentation of it was fantastic but it just wasn't edible for either of usServiceI'd say the worst service was at breakfast. We sat down and waited for 10 minutes before I got fed up and went to find someone to order hot food from.When we got into our room the safe didn't work, so we had to call reception to send someone up. That didn't take long to be fixed and they were apologetic about this. I thought they were able to get in and resolve the issue quickly. And, as I've already said, the reception staff were greatThe spaFantastic! The best thing is the pool, sadly you only get a 2 hour slot, but I can see why, it's so nice in there it would be full all the time if not controlled. As it was, my husband and I had a nice quiet and relaxing session in there with 2 other couples that came in.We both had a 30min massage. Really lovely and I left the spa feeling incredibly relaxed.Value for MoneyWe paid just over half a grand for a one night stay. Do I think it was worth it? Sadly, not. We've received far better service and quality of food from cheaper places. Finding a contact lens in the bathroom was incredibly off putting and not something I'd expect after paying over £500.00. That was a real "urgh, gross!" moment for me. I'd go there again, but only if they had an offer/deal on.

My partner and I had lunch here. We also used Down Hall’s spa facility. Tasty lunch, lovely architecture and ample grounds for a post lunch walk. The service was fantastic from start to finish. Every staff member was friendly. The lady at the spa’s reception ensured our treatments and spa access ran smoothly - what an awesome human being! We can’t wait to return.

Arrived at the hotel for a 3 day stay, was met by the lovely Imran who showed us to the lounge where we enjoyed a drink abs some lovely food. The lovely Hilary then showed us to our room and from there on the whole three days was a lovely experience. Sarah in the spa was very friendly and my massage was very relaxing .We had our dig with us and the hotel Amis 100% dog friendly he had his own welcome treats and a lovely big dog bed. The grounds are lovely for a walk , the room was lovely abs very clean. Really can’t wait to go back in the summer. Thank you Down Hall staff x

Been here twice now for our office party, beautiful old Manor house, well maintained, rooms are a bit pricey, but if you don't have your partner as a taxi, I would have stayed.I am always fashionably late, so on arrival at reception I was given directions to our function room, which when I approached the door was empty, I was going around like a little lost sheep, asked another member of staff, they told me our function was upstairs, turn left and the name of function room, took the stairs he pointed out, got to the top, no function room there either, came back down, did another loop the loop, ended back near reception, bumped into another lovely staff member, I explained my conundrum, he then took me to the door of correct room 😀 I tell you I was pretty thirsty at this point, so managed to guzzle a lovely glass of red. Room was set up beautifully, nice dance floor area complete with DJ. Food came out on time, lovely 3 course meal, don't know what happened to the coffee 😋 all in all I would highly recommend, also great for you golf addicts. Can't comment on the spa as didn't use it.Just make sure at the point of reception to ask for a map, this place is huge. Only selected 4 stars due to the giddiness of finding the correct room 😉