The Hare & Hounds Hotel

Went to Hare & Hounds for lunch. Lovely venue! Hotel and gardens are beautiful. Had lunch in Jack Hares Bar, ordered the pan fried chicken. Chicken was pink and under cooked, I left it, barely touched. I told the waiter when he eventually came to collect our plates. His response to my feedback about under cooked chicken, was, ‘oh sorry about that. Would you like to order a dessert?’. Staff definitely need training in customer service, and chef could do with a cookery refresher course.

We chose this hotel due to its close proximity to The Gardens at Highgrove. We were staying in The Magnolia suite which was very large with a private garden and hot tub. The suite was clean, the bed was comfy and we were left a bottle of fizz and chocolates! We enjoyed a lovely evening meal in the restaurant and breakfast in the morning was good. All staff were very friendly and the two gents in the restaurant were very attentive. It was very expensive for a one night stay however as a treat we were happy with what we paid.

We visited for the Lazy Sunday lunch and overnight stay. The hotel and bedrooms do not disappoint, but there were a number of little things that did. Our lunch was booked for 2.30pm and we arrived just after midday. Understandably the rooms weren't ready, but we explained we need to change for lunch and would really appreciate them being prioritised. Our experience with the receptionists though, who could hardly look up from their screens and didn't seem to care less, got us off to a poor start. We were handed tags to put on our bags, which were then left in reception. Despite visiting twice to see if rooms were ready, or even just one, we lunched without being able to change/freshen up. Once our rooms were ready, the bags were still in reception and we carried them up, with said receptionists still stuck to their screens. The lunch itself was average (and neither did we receive the complimentary glass of wine each that was part of the offer), although it was better than the breakfast the next day which amounted to a really poor buffet offering and very slow service for anything ordered off the menu. I also think it's unacceptable to have breakfast finishing at 9.30am when people are holidaying. Another word of caution, there are NO taxis available in this part of the world on a Sunday ....... we were stranded in a village a few miles away and had to get a lift back off a kind bar staff member. On which note, and to finish on a positive, a shout out to Lee and Zak, who were very helpful and professional staff members. We had great fun, because we were in great company, but the experience could and should have been so much better.

Outstanding visit for 12 of us celebrating over 600 years of friendship. Room lovely, check in easy. With 6 couples, any little queries dealt with efficiently and tolerantly by front desk! We had the private dining room which was just perfect and our main waiter for the night , Ian was perfection. Setting is wonderful, lovely wooded countryside. The Arboretum, being next door was very convenient for a pre check in and lunch. Breakfast, again in our private dining room was well presented and speedily served. Only niggle was we asked for house red at dinner. Offered a Malbec or Merlot. Chose the Malbec. £46 for house red ( and we had had 2 so £92 ) thought was a bit steep. In all fairness, I did not check price when ordering! A memorable stay. Highly recommend.

I was so delighted to be back at the hotel where I have stayed for over 25 years. The welcome was as warm as ever, the staff were pleased to see me and I had meaningful discussions with a number of them. The management were there to greet me as always. I cannot think of a better place to stay in the beautiful Cotswolds.