De Vere Tortworth Court — Hotel in Great Britain

The organisation from when we first came to visit tortworth court was amazing. We viewed a few other venues around the same time but none of them matched it. From the beginning we were shown around by Alex, and she continued to help us throughout the whole process.||Alex was absolutely amazing and was always willing to answer our questions and came back to us quickly each time. When we had some confusion around hotel rooms for other guests, Alex was quick to sort this for us and put us at ease. We really enjoyed any opportunity to visit the hotel, and had multiple in person meetings with Alex to discuss the wedding day. We knew the journey to the hotel each time would be worth it, both to see the lovely surroundings, and to have all of our questions answered efficiently.||Alex was very kind and we were able to have a laugh in our meetings, which really put us at ease and made us feel a lot less stressed in the run up.||Anytime we visited the hotel beforehand, we also wanted to say that all staff that we interacted with were kind and friendly and we really appreciated this.||When coming for our menu tasting, the restaurant staff were lovely and very knowledgable about the food and wine we were tasting. We also wanted to say the head chef that we spoke to was also very kind and again put us at ease when we spoke about some of our guests dietary requirements and allergies. They were also extremely generous and insistent that we tried an additional dish to make sure we were choosing the right option which wasn’t expected, and we really appreciated this extra touch to make sure our menu was perfect for our guests. ||The week ahead of the wedding, we were introduced to the lovely Elvis who was in charge on our wedding day. The handover meeting with Elvis and Alex went so smoothly and again really put us at ease ahead of the day. Elvis made sure to ask lots of questions and had some great suggestions to improve on what we had planned on the day (e.g with song choices/timings). Elvis and Alex gave us full confidence for us to give them creative freedom on the day as we already knew they’d do a great job.||Both Alex and Elvis were fast to respond to our emails/texts in the couple of days before the wedding which was amazing.|||Wedding day:||Wow! We had such an amazing day!||First of all we wanted to say a massive thank you to Elvis, Alex and all other team members who helped organise everything.||Whilst we were both a bit nervous on the morning, we felt so much better knowing that Elvis had everything under control for the day. His regular checks on us in the morning, and the ability to keep the bridesmaids, groomsmen and rest of the wedding party in check was amazing, and we had no concerns whatsoever about how the day was going to go.||The Kipling suite was absolutely beautiful and perfect for the bridal party to all get ready in with lots of space to spare. The breakfast brought to the room was lovely and the staff that brought it were also smiley and friendly.||The boys had a much more relaxed morning, taking a trip to the spa followed by some pictures and beers in the Library Bar - this was lovely to have a space to chill out and get ourselves ready for the day. Elvis and Dave checked in regularly to make sure we were all set and nothing was too much to ask of either of them.||When it was time to go to the ceremony, once again Elvis was amazing and made sure to brief everyone on where they needed to be and when. Elvis also saved the day by arranging Rosie’s dress at the end of the aisle when one of her bridesmaids couldn’t get to her - definitely a memory we have laughed about since the ceremony and shows how great Elvis is at noticing these details!||We also wanted to leave a note to thank lovely Dave the toastmaster. Dave had called us earlier in the week and again set us at ease. He is clearly very experienced and helped in keeping the day moving along nice and easily. Dave also came to check on Rosie in the morning as well as George, and his kindness and experience shone through. We also ended up needing to use Dave’s sewing kit for some groomsmen jackets, so his organisation with that saved the day! Lots of our guests commented on how great Dave was so we wanted to make sure this was added in!||Despite a couple of guests having to pull out on the day, this didn’t impact any of the plans that we could see, and the wedding breakfast went great! Elvis and Dave checked in on us regularly and when timings started to overrun slightly, Elvis already had plans on how to resolve this which took away any stress from our side. Throughout the rest of the afternoon the staff were all amazing and turned the room around so quickly, and they all seemed to be enjoying what they were doing (see attached photos that one of our guests took on the disposable camera). It all looked perfect and the guests all commented on how beautiful the venue was.||Every bit of the day was perfect and it clearly showed how experienced all the staff were. As we’ve mentioned, Elvis was absolutely amazing and had thought through every aspect of the day to make sure it ran smoothly (even when Rosie forgot to mention her outfit change - sorry Elvis!). Our friends and family loved Elvis and mentioned multiple times how he’d helped to make the day very special.||The evening staff who helped in clearing the room and moving guests to the atrium bar were great, so we wanted to thank Sam and the team for this! The only thing we wanted to feed back on was that in our meetings we were led to believe the Atrium Bar would stay open until 3am, however we moved over to this area and last orders were called at 12.30am. This didn’t impact our day as we were happy to go to bed, but just wanted to mention this as we wondered if it might impact...

Magnificent old building and a busy hotel but run well with good food, decor and drinks (our highlight was dinner with live music in the Atrium bistro). We stayed for one Saturday night in March. Only one or two small negatives mainly on restaurant access.

Room:

We payed extra to stay in the main building after reading other reviews and probably agree that it’s the nicest room type.

The room itself was a good size and had modern but contemporary furniture with lots of chesterfield style leather. Good bathroom including nice traditional style hardware and lots of different gels/soaps from Penhaligons. One of the beside bulbs was blown but no big deal. We slept well.

Food:

We ate dinner in the atrium bistro (the second of two restaurants) which is a converted internal courtyard and is walk-in only. We never ate in the main restaurant but I prefer the bistro atmosphere for dinner anyway with its exterior walls, fairy lights, olive trees and endless ceiling height. Feels quite different to most restaurants.

The Atrium manager on duty was very kind and attentive and even came to the library to notify us when they had a table free up. Live music guy was great and played good songs by older bands, none of the newer pop covers. He definitely read the room right!

Most mains are priced at a premium to what you’d eat in usual pubs/restaurants. The fish and chips was probably the best priced main and was fantastic - one of the best I’ve ever had. Flaky fish in a light crispy batter and crunchy chips that were probably triple cooked. I could also tell the tartare sauce was made in house. Other half had a curry which got a good report. We also had a flatbread starter, served with a good pairing of balsamic and olive oil. Cheese board and dessert was good.

If you want to have a drink and relax, the library bar has a great atmosphere and cocktails not bad. Come here while you wait for a dining table.

Breakfast has lots on offer including cooked, cereals, pastries, fruit & yoghurt, the latter of which we enjoyed. In addition to the coffee machine we would have liked to see filter coffee and some honey for the yoghurt/granola.

After breakfast we’d recommend to have a morning read on the outdoor tables to the south side of the house and gawp at the architecture.

Pool:

Pool is ok, it’s not like a ‘spa hotel’ - Tortworth Court is better sold as a hotel with a pool and hot tub, with spa treatments available on req. We didn’t care about this too much as we just see pools as things to swim and mess around in rather than relaxing. Water level is all chest height with no deep end.

Negatives:

Probably the only real negative is that we went to the 1893 (main) restaurant for breakfast as described online, but were told it was full and got directed the atrium, where we had already eaten dinner the night before. We offered to wait for a table in the main restaurant (hinting we’d rather wait) but they repeated the direction to the atrium. I didn’t want to raise a finger so conceded, it just meant we completely missed out on the interiors and atmosphere of the main restaurant during our stay.

My other half said the more senior staff on reception could have been nicer and clearer to her about restaurant options/availability at check in. A miscommunication caused a slight panic for us where we wrongly thought all hotel restaurants were booked out.

Overall:

With the above said this is a high turnover hotel with lots of guests and will be at capacity at weekends. Staff do a good job keeping large wedding groups etc fairly seperate and we found ourselves among lots of other couples having a nice weekend away. Plenty parking available. Overall really calm atmosphere and hardly any queuing etc like other reviews have said, and any time that this was slightly the case, staff looked after us well. The gent running the...

De Vere Tortworth Court - 30th Wedding Anniversary Stay

It was our 30th Wedding Anniversary and wanted to go away for the weekend. As we hadn't visited the Cotswold before, we thought it would be a nice place to explore for the weekend. Having looked online, we decided to go with a deal via 'Secret Escapes', staying at the claimed 4-star De Vere Tortworth Court, situated just under the Cotswolds, in Wotton-under-Edge, staying in a deluxe room.

The hotel and the grounds and magnificent. The hotel is a Grade II listed, gothic-style mansion house, approx. 175 years old, visually stunning with some unique features and you can see why is makes such a popular wedding venue.😍

However, we did have some issues during our stay. We checked in around 4pm on Friday we were allocated room No. 14, up on the 1st floor, and initial impressions were good, however a few issues with the room - one of the bedside lights was not working, door handle nearly coming off the wardrobe and a very dirty shower head......as you can't seem to call down to reception from your room, I headed back down to reception. 😠 They apologised, and offered me a couple of alternative rooms, room No. 15, opposite our 1st room, which was identical inside, but it had a terrible view of all the heating vents, so decided to check out the other option which was the 'Mikado' room - this looked a lot nicer, and had a view overlooking The Tipi. So we decided to swap rooms.

For a 4-star hotel, the cleanliness, and the maintenance of the rooms (we had paid more for a deluxe room) sadly let them down - as mentioned above, our initial room had some issues, and our new room also wasn't great from a cleanliness point of view. It had a very dirty kettle, cobwebs up at the windows, but probably the most disgusting part, which we didn't notice until Sunday morning when we checked out, was the blood-stained mattress protector. 🤢😡 The house-keeping staff must have seen this as they had put a fresh sheet over it, but decided to leave it, which in my view is not acceptable.

With regards to food, we ate in The Atrium bar on the Friday evening which was a bit chaotic. The staff didn't really know what was going on, and we got asked 3 times if we were ready to order, also the staff clearly don't know what a tiramisu should look like as I ordered one for dessert, and the waiter hands me something, which doesn’t look like a tiramisu at all, and I asked him "are you sure that this is a tiramisu"? "Yes, of course" was his reply and he wonders off, however they served me up a 'Millionaires tart' instead, so had to say to another Waiter that I was given the wrong order and got it swapped! 🤡

We then had dinner in the 1853 Restaurant on the Saturday evening (its also where you go for breakfast in the mornings). The restaurant is lovely, full of charm, with glorious views over the immaculate gardens. We both had starters, I had scallops, and my wife had the 'posh' prawn cocktail, and we then both had the special for mains which was roast rump of lamb, all washed down with a bottle Alta Bajo Merlot, pricey at £32 a bottle, but was pleasant and went well with the lamb. 🍷 We didn't have dessert, and for the 2 of us, the meal and wine came to just under £140.

So, when we went to check-out on Sunday morning, I asked the duty manager to come and see us in the room to show her the blood-stained sheet. She agreed it was unacceptable and said she would see if there was anything she could do in the way of a reduction on our final bill. I must admit that a 20% reduction of our final bill for extras (about £25 discount in total) was a bit stingy for all the inconvenience and the dirty room. 🤐🤑

Would we visit the Cotswold again - 100% yes, would we stay at the De Vere Tortworth Court again -...