I had booked two twin rooms for one night to do some sight-seeing in Lincoln with some friends. The hotel is located a bit off, but this was no problem as we had hired a car for our stay, as well.

The hotel is located in a vast park and in a great building. The staff is very friendly though sometimes incapable of dealing with simple requests (the waiter returned twice to ask for my room number). Food in the bar is average, but reasonably priced.

My room (201) was a miniature sized shoe box and I feeled a bit cramped. But it was perfectly clean. The bed was comfy enough to have a good night´s sleep. In the other room (106), however, the window sill was full of mildew and the window itself had some spiderwebs on it. The view of my room was great - over the park at the rear of the building (see pictures). My mates in 106 proved not o be that lucky.

The "spa-facilities" include a jucuzzi, an 8m swimmingpool and a sauna. There is also a gym which I didn´t check out. The area was clean, as well, however, you have to get a key from the reception and have to sign that your health is all right and your stay in the pool will therefore do you no harm - a bit odd to say the least.

The breakfast consists of the regular cooked section (beans, mushrooms, scrambled eggs (fried egg on order), tomatoes, sausages and ham) and a cold section with some cereals, a small selection of fruits and juices. Toast is available, as well.

All over the stay was OK but not as memorable I had hoped it to be because of the nice setting of the hotel. I had expected more for the price!

My husband and I really looked forward to our stay at this hotel because of the great reviews on Tripadvisor and also because of the lovely hotel's website. But we were very unpleasantly surprised. Probably I should have been warned what to expect, when after giving my credit card details to guarantee the booking, I had to chase the hotel three times for a confirmation of the reservation. Our two night stay at the hotel was just one dissappointment after another:
- room was very small, with no character, with a very narrow (we are both slim and standar height, not sure how bigger people manage) and uncomfortable bed. There were spider webs on the inside on the window. The tap in the bathroom didn't mix hot and cold water at all and two separate streams of cold and extremely hot water poured out of it (quite dangerous and you had to be careful not to burn yourself).
- swimming pool was out of order and nothing was done about it during our stay.
- gym on the website is described as 'recently refurbished', but it is a dark and small room in the basement level with ancient machines. Really pathetic.
- the 3-course meal in the Lakeside restaurant is advertised at £21.50 pp, but we were unpleasantly surprised when we were presented with a menu @ £24.00 pp. Also most meals like fish and beef have an extra supplement, so you are forced to pay much more. My fish was nice, but my husband's pork was a small portion and our potatoes were overcooked.
- they almost refused to let my husband in the restaurant because he was wearing jeans. Yet the next day during breakfast another guest was walking around the restaurant and the whole hotel with only his rather short dressing gown on and with bare feet. No one from the staff seemed to care.
- our last morning, Monday bank holiday, we arrived for breakfast at 9.45 and found all food cleared off the tables and staff refused to serve us anything. This was despite the fact that breakfast is meant to be served until 10.00 am on Bank Holidays. I had to go to our room, take a framed information with breakfast times off the wall and take it downstairs to the restaurant to show them that they should serve breakfast until 10.00. Only then we received some food. ... after this we couldn't wait to leave the hotel, but the Branston Hall had another surprise for us waiting....
- on the checkout the charge for our dinner seemed too high to me, so I asked for a breakdown of the total figure and found out that they charged us twice for only one starter.
...after all this we wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone. It is a nice historical building in a quiet setting, but that's all that is nice about it.

We stayed at Branston Hall just for one night, for my birthday, on the basis of previous reviews. You get a real sense of anticipation driving up the long drive- and the beautiful, honey coloured hall does not disappoint: it was a real find.

Gorgeous scenery and views of the lake- you feel very remote, all is very peaceful. Lovely walks around. We had a lovely luxury 4 poster room with fantastic views and a corner bath: spotless, nice decor (not too frou-frou!) lovely big fluffy towels and high quality fabrics. A great thing about Branston Hall is all the little details: Molton Brown toiletries, shower mat tied with a bow-tied green ribbon- it all feels that a lot of care and attention has gone into everything. The whole place feels comfortable and rambling- a real old country hall- and a real tonic after all the modernist, minimalist boutique hotels, which can seem really soul-less. Branston Hall certainly has character, and some of the "rough around the edges" elements (mismatched or slightly worn carpet in the public areas, fake marble cherubs!) add to the charm. The staff were with our exception really friendly and fun, and the food was great, especially dinner: (Colin was very helpful and gave us good advice on the wine front!). Another nice touch was that if you pay for dinner with the room but don't fancy anything on the table d'hote menu, you can choose from the a la carte menu and pay the difference. Such flexibility means you really feel that as the guest, you are their highest priority.

Swimming pool area was very relaxing- we had it all to ourselves- but I never did manage to get into the fitness suite, which remained locked despite mentioning that I couldn't get in. Had I been staying longer I would have pressed this, but as it was the swimming and walking was exercise enough! The only point of criticism I could make was the modern extensions, which look a bit out of place on such a beautiful building.

All in all, a really lovely place to stay. A wedding was taking place whilst we were there, and I imagine this would be a wonderful place to get hitched!

the wedding went according to plan,the staff were excellent.the food was great,the bridal suite was huge.and so was the ensuite bathroom and corner bath.beautiful house.