Lainston House — Hotel in Winchester

I stayed here completely by accident and LOVED it. We were making a port visit to the Queen Mary 2 in Southampton and had planned to just drive down on the morning of the visit but in late September the weather was atrocious so on the afternoon before we made a last minute decision to stay in a hotel near Southampton. In a hotel search engine we simply looked for hotels with a 9.0+ score in the region of Southampton and up popped Lainstone House hotel. The pictures alone showed this was a "stand out" property and a discount offering a deluxe room for £162 clinched the deal.

We weren't sure what to expect as we drove down and Google Maps took us up some really remote back road to get there after leaving the M3 but even the half mile driveway up to the stately home is really impressive.

The car park is a little way from the house which is not great when it's raining but you can use the curved driveway to drop wife and suitcases near the door before parking.

As soon as you enter the central double doors into the reception area it's quite clear how luxurious this hotel is.

Because of our last minute decision to drive down we didn't get there until about 11pm but (we checked first) there's no problem arriving at any time and the staff offer a warm welcome at any time.

We were led all the way to our room (Holly) and it did seem a bit of a trek (and interesting trying to unwind our route the following morning) but when we got there ut was worth it. It was a lovely room with a huge, comfortable bed and the following morning showed it had a good view of the central courtyard.

As we were late arriving down and arriving we hadn't had the chance to eat (nearby motorway services were closed). The fancy iPad like ordering system in the room did allow us to order room service but after 22:30 only cold sandwiches are available, nothing hot. I guess £15 each for sandwiches was possibly a bit pricey but they were lovely and fresh.

Perhaps the highlight of "Holly" is, in fact, the bathroom which is immense and not only has a large walkin shower but a massive whirlpool bath that would almost hold two people (but not middle-aged porkers ;-)

We slept really well, the bed is nicely firm and while we thought the pillows were perhaps a little soft there is an extensive "pillow menu" though we didn't really have time to explore what was on offer.

As we had an early start we availed of the room service breakfast. There's a two person tick list to choose everything you want. The food was great though we thought it could have arrived a bit hotter (but our room was some distance from the central facilities).

Checkout was helpful, quick and efficient.

Our one regret is that we didn't have more time to stay and explore this lovely property. Given time (and better weather) we would have loved to walk in the grounds. Even just walking to the car park there were loads of bird and animal life to be seen. This deserves more time to explore more fully.

Next time we're down to Southampton for a cruise we'll almost certainly extended our break to stay in this...

Stayed for 2 nights in the "Hornbeam" 4-poster suite on the ground floor for 2 nights in August 2024. The hotel and grounds are absolutely beautiful. The extensive grounds (I believe the receptionist said 63 acres) are especially well-maintainted down to every last detail.

The room was beautiful, spacious and traditionally decorated and furnished with a huge four poster bed which was extremely comfortable.

The bathroom was also spacious, two sinks, a jacuzzi bath and a large wet room shower with a "rain bar". The bathtub also had a TV built in to the wall.

Everything in the room was exceptionally clean and luxurious to 5* standard.

A few facilities were missing from the room which would improve the experience:

there was no mini-fridge in the room to keep food, snacks and drinks cold. the WiFi was very poor in the room, constantly disconnected, everything was buffering, basic web pages took 60+ seconds to load and there was no mobile 5G/4G data reception in this rural location so WiFi really should be improved. It is nice to "disconnect" from the outside world but even checking the weather or listening to Spotify was virtually impossible from our room. It was OK in the main lobby areas. the TV in the room was extremely basic, just standard broadcast TV. There was no way to watch streaming services, Netflix, YouTube, etc like other hotel TVs have. the room is only cooled by a ceiling fan, although we did stay during a heatwave, the fan was not especially effective above a four poster bed and it was quite noisy.

Even so, it was still a luxurious 5 star stay due to the service, comfort and presentation of the room and surroundings

Breakfast was wonderful, and the restaurant "The Avenue" does a 7-course tasting menu for £125 with wine paired for an extra £85 which was absolutely spectacular.

There is a vegetarian menu as well as a meat/fish menu. The staff were so knowledgeable about the food and wine. There is a kitchen garden and cookery school on-site and I am by no means a foodie expert but it's clear that the catering staff, waiters, and chefs really know their stuff and know how to provide a fantastic experience. The food was delicious and we had a very memorable evening.

Highly recommended, would love to stay and dine...

We were somewhat disappointed by this hotel, given the price point. Check in was smooth and staff kindly helped us with our cases up the narrow stairs to our room. We had booked a heritage junior suite (Yew), a large room with lots of eaves and views of rooftops. Some beautiful furniture but also some that was broken (the cross bars on both armchairs kept coming away) and the TV was very poor quality. We stayed here as part of our honeymoon and there was a card congratulating us. Lots of snacks in the room along with a good coffee machine.

Bar prices seemed high, more like London prices. We used the in room tablet to order dinner. It arrived an hour and a quarter after ordering and was barely warm. Plates were cold and no metal covers. Food itself was good though.

I had an accident on the first morning of our 2 night stay. The bathroom was large but had lots of eaves and steps into the main area. I ducked around the eaves but forgot the steps and tumbled down them which resulted in a sprained ankle. Later, we felt an ice pack was needed as my ankle had swollen. A first aider arrived, examined my foot and provided an ice pack and some bandages. He was very helpful. Restaurant were very good and brought me some food each morning so I didn't hobble up and down the stairs. The hotel offered to waive tray charges for room service. A week later, my foot is now some very interesting colours. Unfortunately this injury impacted our sightseeing plans for the last week of our honeymoon.

If you stay in Yew, be careful of the well camouflaged steps in the bathroom! Service was generally high but the room and the dinner didn't live up to expectations.

Edited to add: A few people have asked if we were given a discount on our bill or anything else etc due to the accident. We did not; the hotel waived the tray charge on any meals taken in the room and made up a breakfast for my husband to bring to me...