The Eastbury & Spa

Perfect for a chilled, post-Xmas weekend! We were warmly welcomed to this cosy, friendly B&B. It’s traditionally decorated, lounge areas are comfy. Breakfast was great, unhurried and plentiful. We were upgraded to a beautiful, four poster room with garden view. Sherborne restaurants/shops/Abbey are barely 10 min walk, lovely choice of restaurants and bars. An open bar/evening dining would be lovely, I understand this may happen in the future. I’m sure we’ll return!

Beautiful room, I think we were upgraded. One night stay. Had a four poster bed which was very comfortable. lots of space in the room, great view of the lovely garden. Staff were very helpful & friendly. Will definitely return. Pity we didn’t have time to book the spa.

We stayed for 3 nights over Christmas and had a really nice stay. The hotel is well positioned in Sherborne, plenty of parking at the rear of the hotel, really pleasant gardens and was clean throughout. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and has three nice lounges, one with a pool table. The breakfast was really fantastic, the buffet was really good and the cooked options were plentiful and covered everything you could possibly want. This establishment is operating as a luxury bead and breakfast and this was made very clear to us that as such, service would not continue into the evening. You are welcome to take your own drinks in, they'll give you glasses and you can pre-book and evening meal/snack hamper, otherwise Sherborne has some nice restaurants and pubs. The room was really clean and nicely appointed, it might've been nice to have a suitcase stand. The staff were exceptional, couldn't have been politer or more helpful. My daughter was ill with a vomiting bug on Christmas Day and they were really helpful with giving us plain bread, offering toast, etc. They gave us extra ginger tea and were very caring. I would stay again despite the rooms being a bit pricy.

Booked a special break to include afternoon tea with a friend and our small dogs. Standard of rooms and food was high. Staff couldn't do enough. Exquisite treats in the room to include local wine, chocolate, sloe wine, dogs beds and treats plus more . Sherbourne is a beautiful place but a little too sleepy on a Sunday and Monday, many places closed. Amazing walls. We shall visit again.

I was treated to a weekend away for my birthday and stayed in this hotel for two night. The room we had was adequate but it was described as a “superior luxury double room”, and there is nothing superior or luxury about it. The bed was comfortable but the bed had ill fitting sheet so when you got in bed the sheet became undone at the top of the bed, the sheet was basically not the right size. The carpet was dirty and overall cleanliness was not great either. There were cobwebs in windows. The toilet was very close to the shower and there was only a fixed shower head with a fair amount of lime scale. The spa is tiny, but I did have a lovely full body massage and also a facial. The spa uses lovely Gaia products. The sauna is a bit of a joke, it is a cupboard with glass front and it sits in the room as you enter the spa so there is no privacy. The “changing room” is the toilet of the spa. We were also asked by staff to change our booked time in the sauna for other guests that were delayed, we felt this rather imposing on us. Breakfast is good. Plenty of choice as well as good menu options for full English or other egg based options. The fresh berries for the yoghurt ran out both mornings we had breakfast. The coffee was served in cafetières and was sometimes great and sometimes stewed and bitter. The staff didn’t pay enough attention to refilling so had to ask for them to do so. The staff in the hotel are pleasant but lack customer service skills. We had a broken lightbulb in one of the bedside lamps, we made reception aware of this in the morning, and were told it would be fixed. We came back in the late afternoon to find it hadn’t been fixed and had to go and ask again. Overall the hotel is okay but not worth the money we paid, very overpriced.

We were staying in Sherborne to attend a family occasion and chose The Eastbury as the Luxury tag, Condé Nast and Travellers Choice endorsements all seemed to point to an exceptional hotel. All I can really say is these reviewers need to get out more! I feel it’s a question of expectation management and our expectations were way beyond the actual experience. The ownership of this establishment needs to invest to support the staff and guests so that the claims of 5* ratings and the endorsements can be met. Briefly - We were advised in advance that the hotel did not offer dinner, we assumed that this was probably a temporary situation, it doesn’t appear to be. The room we had if typical was spacious but the furnishings, decor and bathroom were tired. There were no members of staff available beyond 21.00. There was no bar operating after 21.00. There was no functioning restaurant except for breakfast. All these things need to be rectified if the above claims and endorsements are to be realistic and the glory days of this historic hotel are to be regained. Alternatively reduce the price to something lower than the £185.00 we paid for one night b&b and manage the guests expectations. On the positive side the setting is charming, the breakfast was good and the staff pleasant.