On reaching the hotel the first thing that struck an unfortunate chord was the lack of parking. Having been told parking for 12 cars (with over 20 rooms) we knew it would be a lottery but as it happened
the car park was full with just 7 cars and several skip/bins in a corner. On check in we were disappointed to find due to the age of the building I assume, there was no lift and having a 15 month old it
was a struggle to the room with buggy and all. As this was a one day trip to visit friends nothing could upset us, especially on seeing the room from the landing... wow! huge, lovely furniture, high ceilings etc etc... on entering we were hit by the kind of heat you might expect in a sauna (the person from the front desk mentioned he realised it was warm so had already opened windows prior to our arrival) and considering it was 17 degrees outside we wondered why? The radiator was huge and stuck on full blast!! We contacted the desk, a man came up after half an hour and being chased with a spanner, scratched his head and said maintenence would be up to sort it. As we were out for 6 hours this would be fine. On returning we were told all sorted but on reaching the room with our boy asleep found it was still unbearable. Due to the heat our sons allergies sky
rocketed and we didnt sleep a wink. In the morning we woke sweaty
to find the shower so scaled up only 3 holes had water coming out and the back-pressure had burst a hole in the side of the pipe leading to the head...the front desk said we would have to pay as no managers were in but we could expect a call to oraganise a discount/
refund. We have now chased the manager for calls back 4 times, spoken
to a local manager who insinuated we were lying as nobody else had complained (without checking herself) and offered no help as we had got the room at such a cheap price originally (it is the principle not the money as it ruined our weekend away,our first break for months). We are still awaiting a call from the area manager.

Just like to say that the hill house hotel was a brilliant hotel to stay in, the staff was very friendly and so helpful. The room we had was perfect, very clean and spotless, the room was really big and spacious, and the shower bathroom was excellent.
The only thing we can say about was the breakfast, but the waitress was brilliant and polite at all times.

The Hill House has just opened so the decor was brand new and fantastic - a stylish refit of a 17th century house.

The main thing I liked was the friendliness and helpful attitude of the staff. A few small things weren't right yet (no saucer with my breakfast cup of coffee, no instructions on how to connect to the internet) but they really wanted to help and nothing was too much trouble.

I had to go up some stairs to my room (no lift) and they carried my heavy bags. I noticed some elderly guests with walking difficulties so I guess some rooms are more accessible than mine.

Room comfortable, shower brand new, bed kingsize and brilliantly comfortable. Parking for guests.

Dereham itself has plenty of pubs and was pleasant to walk round.

I didn't eat at the Hill House though - it only had a carvery and limited food choices. But there were other optins in the town, less than 100 yards away.