Calheiros Manor — Hotel in Ponte de Lima

This is an isolated grand estate, owned by the same family for centuries, which undoubtedly enchants many people, especially those staying overnight. The Count is very enthusiastic and welcomes people into his home with a very relaxed atmosphere. |However, scratch beneath the surface, and there are numerous deficiencies that mean it falls well below the standards reflected on their website and, indeed, many reviews.|Firstly, there is no reception until 2pm and even after 2pm people were wandering around for ages trying to find someone to check in.||Secondly, the 'spa' is not in service and appears to have been so for a long time. It should be taken off the website. There are no pool towels, and the changing area is not clean. Indeed, the weekly rota for checking the pool's cleanliness was last signed weeks ago.||The rooms are very basic and very dark. Not even a kettle was provided. The taps dripped constantly, and broken bulbs had not been replaced. The linen was clean and the beds were comfortable. ||The common room was dirty and again no kettle was provided. |We were not provided with information regarding dinner times, which were inconsistent, and the food was poor, obviously rehashed.|Much potential here but, unfortunately, it seems, at the moment at least, to be...

Pluses||Spectacular views all around including Ponte De Lima and the Roman Bridge.|Beautiful grounds to explore.|The Count was present when we stayed, who was very informative about the history of his family and the local area.||Negatives||This place was restored about 40 years ago, there is not much evidence of upkeep since. |Our room was basic and small, this is not a place of luxury, no fridge or TV. |Lack of plug sockets-we had to unplug the bedside lamps to charge our phones. The ceiling lamp had a dead bulb, so the room was quite dark.|Cleanliness-the windowsill in the bathroom had a film of dust, complete with dead spider, so not sure the room had been prepared well.|The towel rail in the bathroom was loose. |The food is basic. We were here for 2 nights and desert on the 2nd night was what was left over from the 1st night. We had breakfast at 9am, however, the large group who ate earlier, had eaten most things including all of the toasting bread. This was not replenished for us or guests after us. |Of all the places we stayed at during our walking holiday, this was the most disappointing in terms of expectation...

The location, views and surroundings are spectacular, but that's it.

We were disappointed with the cleanliness - there were cobwebs all over our room, and a film of dust on furniture. Daily cleaning services were limited to making the bed.

Our room was furnished sparsely and, although the bed was comfortable, everything else was rudimentary. There was a kitchenette where the most basic things were missing and with very old or malfunctioning equipment, i.e. microwave and kettle. There is no Wi-fi.

There's no concierge or reception, so it's unclear how or whom to ask for information or activities mentioned at the time of booking. Equally, a spa is mentioned but apparently not in use.

Breakfast is quite basic, with some products from the farm - nice fruit - but everything else seems to be from Lidl.

On our last day, the venue hosted a wedding, which took over parts of the estate. Loud music went on well into the early hours, making it impossible to sleep at all.

On the whole, a place with potential, but in need of a lot of improvement, and quite...