Walton Hall hotel & spa
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of staying in the 16th century Walton Hall in Warwickshire - this is one of those venues where I knew there was the original hall with additional accommodation onsite 'a short walk away' - whenever I hear that I'm always slightly sceptical and imagine a beautiful, historic hall with an ugly block of rooms attached to the side which the photographer always craftily crops out of website images! However, with Walton Hall I was pleasantly wrong....
On arrival the hotel was clearly marked to the left of the drive, as I was staying in the hall itself I followed the road round to an impressive tree lined drive to the car park directly in front of the hall entrance with the lake and grounds surrounding.
Walton Hall is a stunning venue, the reception staff were friendly and offered a relaxed check in. I was kindly allocated a suite which was amazing, opening the door I was greeted by a spacious lounge which led onto the bedroom itself which had a fireplace, queen size bed, grand wardrobe and huge window and desk overlooking the grounds and views beyond, the bathroom was equally as impressive with a roll top bath, walk in rain-shower and an out of view toilet - very cleverly designed.
I met with my Hotel Collection account manager, Jenny (who is lovely!), she showed me around the hall & hotel - I was surprised that the hall itself had a large meeting room which can seat up to 180 theatre layout with a separate entrance and doors opening onto the large lawns at the back, there are also a number of breakout rooms all located on one corridor less than a minutes’ walk from the main meeting room.
We walked outside the hall, passed the courtyard / stables bedrooms (which I didn't get to see as they were all fully booked but Jenny advised they are all similar to the main bedrooms with a taller ceiling height), the hotel part of Walton Hall is self contained with its own reception, bar, restaurant and additional 140 bedrooms. The hotel is literally a 2 minute walk from the hall passing by the leisure complex and a stunning grade listed walled garden. The hotel has a number of meeting rooms located on the first floor (just up the stairs from the reception), the largest room seating up to 60 theatre layout. The bedrooms in the hotel were all spacious, clean and each offered their own balcony (perfect for any smokers!).
In the evening we dined in the Moncrieffe Restaurant in the Hall which has 2 AA rosettes and rightly so - the food was absolutely delicious, the staff were attentive and friendly, nothing was too much trouble. We finished the evening with a large glass of red sat in front of the fire in the grand entrance hall before retiring to bed.
Walton Hall and Hotel can be used as two separate venues or combined to offer the best of both worlds with an impressive dinner in the hall and day meeting in the hotel, shared bedrooms over the two venues or you can take the hall exclusively with all 37 bedrooms – there are so many options!
This is one of those venues which you need to experience and view yourself. I am delighted to be co hosting a client trip with Walton Hall in January where 8 lucky clients from Bell Events & their partners will be able to experience the hotel on an educational stay - look out for January's blog to see how the trip goes!
To find out more information and capacities of all of the meeting rooms please visit Walton Hall's website: http://www.thehotelcollection.co.uk/hotels/walton-hall-warwickshire/
