Although we only stayed one night it was a special occasion as my brother had just arrived from New Zealand. He was over for a 4 day conference and the organisers had booked him into the hotel for the duration of the conference. We picked him up at Heathrow and wanted to have a celebratory dinner with him before departing to work on the following morning.
I am a pilot and stay in many hotels around the World; this is the worst I have seen, for the price charged, for many years.
The entrance to the hotel is very tired, the reception area is dirty and the staff slovenly and slow. The room (no 1 premium) was reasonable with a good view. There was no hot water, only tepid, no reception for the television and the bathroom was desperately in need of refurbishment.
The dinner was thrown in front of us, although the food was reasonable.
This hotel is most certainly very very poor value for money and I would not recommend it to anyone.Avoid at all costs.

We also stayed here in August and it is such a shame about the facilities. The lift is indeed like a large dumb-waiter. And although they are child-friendly the facilities are inadequate to back-up this policy. The family rooms are in the new wing. Our room was on the top floor, along a long corridor and then worse...up about 6 more stairs. It's not ideal with 2 sleeping children under 5, bags and buggy. We had a family room which became cramped once the travel cot was up, all tied up with the smallest bathroom in the world - anyone sitting on the loo would be hit if the door were opened!

However, all is not doom and gloom! The staff were lovely and the food was indeed great. I had phoned around many, many New Forest hotels to find that their definition of 'child-friendly' did not really apply to under 5s. e.g no children in the restaurant or they could eat in there but not until it opened at 7.15 (bedtime for mine), or even no cots.

I would recommend it but with a pre-warning of not to expect it to be completely without hitches.

Definately in need of refurbishment.

Lift was completely inadequate, it was the size of a postage stamp. We could not fit our buggy in and we were all terrifed to get in therefore required a walk of 2 flights of stairs several times a day. The decor is in desperate need of updating, although our hotel room was pleasant. However, when running a bath we could smell a very distinctive smell of sewage which we did complain and requested to use an alternative room for bathroom which they willingly agreed.

Positive, Food equivalent to a 5 star restaurant, service hospitality also of the same level. Its just a shame about the presentation of the hotel.

Location, spot on, short walk to the village and right next door to the ponies really attributed to the feeling of being in the heart of the newforest.

This is a good location for exploring the forest, but it was a real shame to see what could be such a good hotel looking so shabby. Our room was quite dated, but did have a balcony overlooking the gardens at the back which was quite pretty. Otherwise though, for the money it was quite disappointing. The hotel rooms desperately need renovating (communal areas were in better shape), and the food was poor. Staff were helpful and friendly.