White Hart by Marston's Inns — Hotel in Test Valley

On the good side this hotel boasts an excellent location with good free parking. Breakfast was included in our price so that was a real treat. The welcome we received was sincere and they gave us local information about where to eat. The bad side overwhelmed the good points about this location. There had abeen a storm so water had damaged their roof. This was being dealt with quickly and the only downside was that the pub was closed. The staff were apologetic and had offered to takeaway breakfast if they couldn't serve it.

The bedroom was large as was the bathroom. Its age shows with cracks int he walls and run down furniture. The window frames were rotting and the bathroom ceiling was showing the signs of water damamge from the roof. The room was clean though and everything worked. The bathroom was dirty and didn't feel clean or a particularly nice place to wash.

We slept very well. The bed was comfortable. The breakfast was a real let down. I can't complain too much as it was included in the price. The staff on duty did not greet us as we arrived to eat. No direction was given as to where to get food, tea or coffee. No direction to the small menu was given. No offer of making a cup of tea was given. There was no interest in how we slept or how we were. The food came out almost as soon as we ordered which indicates it was not made fresh but standing by under a heat lamp I presume. The food was average with little to no flavour. The hot water machine was tepid and dirty. The coffee machine was also dirty and did not make nice coffee. Bread was left out ina dusty corner to make toast. The lady serving was coughing all the way through breakfast which concerned us regarding hygeine. The ambience of the room in which we ate was awful. It was so deadly quiet and with no one smiling or chatting it just felt miserable. Kind of like the tea I tried to make with the tepid water.

These are all solved with simple changes but I think they were having a bad weekend with the storm. It is my hope that this review will be able to draw attention to some simple changes that can be made to make the...

As a hotel, the rooms are generally clean, with a free bottle of water on arrival. However, the window was covered in mould, and there was an iron mark on the carpet (which we had been warned about). The main downside is you can hear everything that is happening downstairs in the bar through the floor, and room 12 appears to be above the toilets so you have a banging door and the hand driers going off very frequently.

As a pub, the beer selection is a few poor draught and bottled lagers, two ales and some bottles cider; the spirits selection is reasonable, but spirit mixers are served in tiny glasses, often with little to no ice so your drink is either warm or quickly diluted. I asked the barmaid for a larger glass and a reasonable amount of ice and then overheard her saying to her colleague that I was "needy". I understand they have a way of doing things, but you should accommodate customer requests. Food was similarly disappointing. I ordered fish and chips, only to be told a few minutes later that there was no "fish", only breaded plaice. This was fine with me, until it arrived and had the consistency of wood. The chips were decent, but the garden peas tasted of cardboard. There was also a fairly long wait despite not many other people eating.

All in all, not a place to recommend. I suspect the Wetherspoons is better for drinking, and you'd be better off in a premier inn, at least you'd be able to have some...

Check in was ok, the room, 27 i recall, was comfortably furnished, but a floor fan was running on arrival to counter that the room was unbearably hot. Whilst the fan made a lot of noise it was ineffective to provide a comfortable nights sleep. Being a top floor room, i can only assume that the roof over is lacking insulation to prevent overheating.

on the saturday night i dined with another resident; I ordered a steak rare but requested a swap of chips for a side salad. Your app did not allow for this simple request, so i ordered at the bar and all seemed well; however when the food arrived the request had been interpreted as your "lighter" steak option, the one I didn't want from the app! I asked the waitress to provide what was ordered, which she did, but not without tooing and froing between kitchen and bar. when the meal as ordered arrived, the steak was nearer well done, certainly not rare. so in short, to avoid even more delay when dining with someone else i ate the staek as presented, dry and overcooked.

in summary, the rooms need cooling or a solution to the overheating, staff noted that is a problem every summer. The dining experience was poor, to the point I would'nt dine again.

the pub/hotel is conveniently located in Andover with parking, but the overall experience left a lot to be desired; I would'nt book this location again for my annual visit to Thruxton...