Castle Hill Resort and Spa — Hotel in Cavendish

We arrived here in the late afternoon on a Monday. The property is about 3.5 miles southwest of the town of Ludlow on Hwy 103. You pull in at a motel that fronts the highway - the sign reads "The Pointe at Castle Hill". Regardless of which property you stay at, you check in there. Afterwards, you proceed up the hill to the inn. You park either just in front of the building or, if the spaces are full, there is a bit more space to the side of another building close by (probably their spa). We never heard any traffic noise during our entire stay.||The building itself is about 120 years old, built by a former Vermont governor from this area. It still has the feel of a mansion, with lots of dark wood finishes inside. They have a small desk in the large foyer when you enter who can assist as needed. There is also a lounge with couches and chairs (for reading, mostly). The restaurant is also located on this level. The wide staircase to the upper floors is to the left off the foyer. ||The 2nd floor had at least 9 rooms. Down the hallway there was another smaller staircase up to the 3rd level, which I think had fewer rooms (I did not go up there). Our room was nice, with a queen sized 4-poster bed (you might enquire if they have a room with a king-sized bed). There was plenty of additional floor space, with a small table and chairs near the front windows. There are a number of relatively subtle upgrade touches like the phone line and water pipes for the adjoining bathrooms. ||A few things we noted about our room:|* It had limited electrical outlets, which was addressed via power strips for each of the main plugs.|* There is no central air conditioning, which is probably fine for this latitude (barring some heat wave). You can open the windows for a breeze, as needed.|* The heating is central and is not turned on until some point in the season when it turns sufficiently cold. They do offer a space heater in the room (if needed), there is a fireplace (we didn't use ours), and the comforter was quite warm. |* The amount of counter and table space available was limited (due to the small antique table). This wasn't a huge issue, but you have to be mindful of where to leave things like a wallet, glasses, phone, etc. ||You can book a massage at the spa, but we did not make use of that service. ||The hotel's fine dining restaurant is a great option for a special occasion meal. You should book this in advance (I'm not what is a safe time - at least a month or two, I'd guess). On the night we ate there, we had a formal oval dining room for the home to ourselves for half of our meal, as the larger dining room across the hall was full from a tour bus. The food was very good! They also apparently serve a modest breakfast here in the mornings starting at 8 a.m., but we were trying to get an early start each day and ended up getting breakfast in Ludlow instead. ||Given the somewhat isolated location, your dining options outside the hotel are a bit limited. There is at least one restaurant in Proctorsville (within 0.5 miles). There are a few restaurants in Ludlow, but many have varying days on which they're closed during weekdays. It may be easier on weekend, and is almost certainly easier in the winter, as there is a ski resort adjacent to the town. Also, Ludlow apparently suffered flooding in July of 2023, so that appeared to have impacted the number of businesses / restaurants that were open downtown (at least temporarily). ||Another observation about location - on the two full days we had in the area, we drove 45+ minutes to the north both days to check out a variety of places near Windsor and Lebanon. That wasn't a problem, but if I had the same itinerary again, I might have stayed one night at Castle Hill (and dined at their restaurant) and then moved on to lodging closer to other things we were touring. ||If you are going for a cozy / romantic country inn vibe, this is a great place to stay. There are just some trade offs vs. the location. Overall, we enjoyed...

I really wanted to love the Castle Hill Spa because it is local to me and there are seemingly many things to love - the location, atmosphere, and the treatments. My treatments were excellent and done by professionals, which is why I'm keeping it at 3 stars. I was excited to have the gift of a day of pampering at the spa and really looked forward to it! However, I was very disappointed because there are some major flaws with this spa and I hope my review can help!

I've been to a few different spas and every time there is a regard for privacy as people walk around in robes. Oftentimes there is a men's area, a women's area, and then communal spaces clearly marked for any spa guests but no access for non-spa guests (such as guests of the resort). This is not the case here, so BE WARNED! Anyone and everyone can go into any space other than the bathroom/locker rooms (which don't have changing rooms, so I had to change in the bathroom stall, by the way).

Additionally, they have you change into a very thin robe and walk out into the public lobby area barefoot to go upstairs where the waiting area for spa treatments is. This wasn't a huge deal in theory, EXCEPT every time I had to pass through the lobby, there were at least 3 - 5 random men and women employees standing around chit-chatting. I literally had to walk through a group in my thin robe with nothing under it at one point... and I had to say excuse me, to get them to move! It was quite appalling and is the reason I will never go back here and would not recommend to a friend.

Then, once my treatments were done, I knew I had access to the facilities (outdoor heated pool and hot tub) so I asked at the front desk and they said go ahead out, there's only one family. No longer did I get out there when many people started showing up - people who were not in a bathing suit, but were instead part of a wedding party for that night. Those who were swimming let their children hog the hot tub - literally never got out for the 45 minutes I was in a lounge chair waiting. Meanwhile all their friends and family gathered around the pool just hanging out like they owned the place! No employee ever came out to check on things. This should not be allowed! If you aren't a spa guest, there should be enforced rules about loitering in spa areas!

Everything outside of when I was in the treatment rooms, felt uncomfortable and confusing at this spa. The staff really need some training and the facilities need better signage and...

From a venue-only perspective, the Castle is beautiful. Such a great place to stay if you are in the area. Great food and rooms! From a wedding perspective, it doesn't get any better. I would recommend Castle Hill to anyone who asked me about wedding venues. Lisa Cormier was amazing throughout the entire process -- they have a phenomenal system that makes for a perfect day. Lisa and her team were willing to help us out with whatever we needed. Whether it was changes to chairs, tweaks to the ceremony setup, flower adjustments -- they were amazing. We did both our ceremony and reception at Castle Hill and they nailed both of them. So organized, efficient and well done. Lisa has an answer to every question you may have and knows the venue like the back of her hand. Leading up to the wedding, she was also amazing, helping us work through food questions and changes, room assignments, and really any logistical matter. She and her staff know the area and its vendors extremely well. Her recommendations and help with others we were working with made our lives all the more easier. If there was a question or topic we were forgetting, Lisa made sure we didn't. Thanks to her we never felt overwhelmed or nervous. Most importantly, the area took on historic flooding less than one week before our wedding -- Lisa was communicative and helpful through it all. She never made a rash decision or jumped to any conclusions during the process. We took it one day at a time together and we will be forever grateful for the way she handled our event in the midst of a serious weather event taking place. When they expected rain just a day or two before the wedding once again, the Castle Hill team hand dug a trench around the reception tent to drain water in case they experienced further flooding!!! I'm not sure how many venues would have worked with us to make the event run as planned, let alone dig a trench to help the tent stay dry, but Castle Hill did so without us even requesting it. They truly went above and beyond for us in every regard. Lisa and her team are absolutely amazing and I am so thankful that we had both our wedding ceremony and reception here. If you are looking to get married at a beautiful venue with incredible people helping you every step of the way, Castle Hill should be at the top of your list. There is no one better as far as we...