I live in Taunton, and recommended that a relation and his wife stay at the hotel, which they found very nice and relaxing. I had dinner with them in the restaurant, which has a very nice atmosphere, and the food is well cooked. The presentation of the meal was very well done except there were no potatoes or vegetables offered at any time. The Cheese trolley had no covering on it, and most of the hard cheeses were dried up on the outside.
The Hotel advertises an al a carte menu, but it was not offered.
I would have expected that a hotel of this reputation would have had silver service in its restaurant.

My first business trip to Taunton and stayed at the Castle. The ladies on reception were very welcoming and friendly and the room, on the top floor, was as expected, with a bottle of water provided - why don't all hotels do this?

Only one real negative was the thinness of the walls .. I was woken at 6:30 when the person in the next room plugged something in to a socket, just above my head! And then I had to listen through their errrrrrrrrr bathroom activity before I managed to doze off again.

I didnt eat in the hotel as this was the day of the Argentina v Holland game so spent the evening in the pleasant town, for which the hotel is ideally situated, drinking beer followed by an excellent chinese meal.

Would I stay at the Castle again? .. definately, as it was a good hotel, excellent location and friendly staff. Just hope that all the walls arent that thin!

My husband decided this hotel would be an excellent choice for my 40th Birthday. Unfortunately it was a real let-down. Firstly we arrived and could not book the famous restaurant. Then we found our room to be extremely shabby with the wallpaper coming off the walls. Finally, despite the snow outside, we had an absolutely terrible night with the heating out of control and steaming hot, and finally very noisy with the windows open. I believe there are many fabulous hotels to choose from in the South West - I would not recommend thi sone to anyone.

If you a 'foodie' and into a restaraunt that supports local food growers and you live in the UK, this is the place for you. I stayed here with my in-laws for an 'easter week special' that did not disappoint. For £125 a person, we recieved a 4 course meal including drinks, a night at the hotel, and breakfast the following morning. It was fantastic.

The staff was very accomodating. We had to change our reservation at the restaraunt becaue of traffic from from Bath but they handled it smoothly. When we came down for dinner, the placed us in a large, comfortable side room away from the bar with tasty treats like smoked salmon on toast, olives with almonds inside, and assorted nuts. We ordered drinks in there and comfortably chatted as we persued the menu and ultimately waited for the first course. The food itself was amazing. They procurred fresh scallops from Cornwall, smoked boar and quail egg salad, and a dynamite soup. For the main course they offered a beautifully cooked lamb as well as steak and sea bass. Dessert was decadent...that is the best way to describe it. The breakfast the following morning was an enormous buffet. I highly recommend the house Museli which is made daily from local growers.

The rooms were large and the service was everything you can expect from a four star hotel. The ground which they describe as 'extensive' are anything but. A slow walk around it took about 10 minutes. The castle is very stately and you can say you stayed in a castle!

As for the area surrounding it, it felt like an outdoor mall which many small English towns seem to be becoming because of market demand.

My advice: skip the stay in the hotel and go for the food!