I stayed one night and then left only to find my travel plans changed and I needed to book again for another night.

I therefore stayed in two different rooms (4 & 7) although they are almost the same there are two BIG differences. More on that later.

The hotel is in a great location, has good grounds and has a blend of character and facilities. I got a great price from a booking shop and for the money I paid it was great value, which is why I stayed twice and would consider staying again. For the normal room price I'm not so sure I would.

I guess it depends on what you want from your stay as there were a number of amenities that just had no value to me on this ocassion..table tennis, games room, cycles, big garden, etc.

Don't get me wrong room 4 was good... clean, just enough room, a bath, tea/coffee, pants press, flat screen TV, hairdryer, desk, nice bed, iron, safe, etc. Just about everything you could want and the curtains were really thick making it easy to sleep in!

Infact my only real niggle in room 4 was the TV remote was an absolute pain as the buttons just didn't respond.. let's put that down to batteries that will be changed.

In room 4 the floorboards creaked but as your door wasn't passed by many other guests the creaking seemed to just add to the character and feel of the place.

On the first night I made what I consider was a mistake. Being late and tired I decided to take the easy option of eating in the restaurant.. which a) wasn't so cheap b) wasn't so good. To be fair the food wasn't bad I just didn't think it was that special and could have got something similar from any number of pubs for much less. It didn't help the atmosphere that there was only one other couple eating at the same time.

The breakfast, however, was brilliant.. infact I'd say perfect because I couldn't find anything wrong with it! I don't give that sort of praise often or lightly.

On my second night I booked in again and this time got room 7 which although very similar to room 4 had two BIG issues....

1) The floorboard creaking was no longer a matter of character but rather a source of great irritation. Every person that walked past my room sounded like they were n my room and that's not great when you're trying to sleep - and the other guests were hardly being noisey. To quantify this further...In the morning I was sat at the small desk by the side of the door and some people walked by and I actually felt like my chair tipped a little as they stood on the floorboard outside my room! Sorry Howfield Manor you need to fix the floorboards - it's not that hard!

2) The shower in room 7.. oh no! Firstly the room height isn't great to begin with but when you lift the shower floor something like 8 inches head height is really affected. I'm just of 6ft and my head wasn't far of the ceiling in the shower. That made it difficult to wash my hair for a start. Matters weren't helped by the fact the shower is actually quite small which means when you add a shower curtain that sucks to your body like a limpet you're in for a let's say and eventful rather than a relaxing shower. Not sure how they fix this problem either!

Despite my focus on the negatives I don't want to give the impression this isn't a good place to stay especially if you get it for the right price. I did after all stay one night and then rebook for the second night and if I'm in Canterbury area again I will certainly consider staying again.

We arrived at this hotel and were greeted by the Receptionist, who, gave us all the information we needed including the location of the bar and where breakfast would be served. He then showed us to our room and carried our bags, something which does not happen much these days, once to our room he explained where everything was. Tea, coffee and hot chocolate supplied, in addition to biscuits, and a teapot. There is a fridge, safe, trouser press and hairdryer in the room. Our room was comfortable and had all the amenities including complimentary toiletries. Our room was at the back and overlooked the beautuful gardens. All the staff are friendly and helpful. For breakfast there is a very good selection and all cooked to order, delcious and ample, plenty of tea and toast. We did not eat in the resturant itself as the choices were not to our taste, however we did order sandwiches and they were again delicious and made to order.
We cannot recommend this hotel highly enough, and if we are ever visiting that part of Kent again yes we would definitely boom again - just a little tip given to us when we checked out was to book directly with the hotel as the rates are slightly better, which we will do. If you stay at this hotel you will have a peaceful stay, the only noise you will hear will be the dawn chorus beautiful. If you book enjoy!!!!!

we stayed for one night in a room (3) with four poster.
a great old building with character and creaking floors as you would expect.
we were well looked after by the evening staff and had an excellent meal the soup was ace! breakfast was cooked to order and didn't disappoint.
the short time we were here was great thank you.