Thatched Cottage Hotel — Restaurant in New Forest

We have just returned from a wonderful three night stay at the Thatched Cottage Hotel and feel it certainly deserves a glowing review. On the spur of the moment, my wife and I decided to take a short break and chose the New Forest as our target destination. After some research, we opted for Brockenhurst as our base and searcehed for a dog friendly Hotel in the area. How lucky we where to find such a dog friendly gem.|| From the moment I spoke to the loveley Helen on the phone, I knew we would enjoy our stay. She was bubbly and friendly on the phone and took time to make us aware that they only had one dog friendly room left, which was up some steep stairs. Luckily (Pip) our Pooch is pretty light and didn't mind a helping hand, but it was nice to be forewarned. ||We arrived to the hotel and thanks to the wonders of Waze, we navigated straight to the door, with a detour to Lymington, as we where running early. Check in was a breeze and our room was the ultimate in "Cottageyness" with esposed beams, comfy bed and everything we needed. Coffee/Tea and biscuits on the cabinet and fresh milk and bottled water in the small fridge. With the benefit of ESME'S Tea Room downstairs, which was where breakfast was served. ||We decided to take Pip for a stroll around the village, to check out venues for evening grub. Plenty of choice, 3 Pubs, 2 Italians, A Thai Restaurent and an American Style Diner and a good old English Chippy. I'm a motorcycle fan, so I was also pleased to find a top notch BMW and Royal Enfield Dealer, ideal for some "Blokey" window shopping. ||We ate early (ish) at The Foresters. Not the best out of the choice, but staff friendly and the prices reasonable, at what seemed to be the villages "Sports Bar type Pub". A couple of decent pints and we where ready for bed.||Next morning It was "Breakfast Heaven" at the Hotel. The wonderful Esme's Tea Room, doubles up as their Breakfast venue, and boy oh boy, what a breakfast. Wonderful Bacon, Tasty Sausage, Eggs, poached to perfection and stunning coffee. Toast, Juice and more, a real full English. Her ladyship, had the healthy Granola with fruit and yoghurt, which she said was outstanding, and coming from a woman who makes her own, was high praise indeed. Followed by eggs Benedict and a pot of Tea.||We left the Hotel and headed for Keyhaven and the ferry to Hurst Castle, quite breezy and choppy, but dog friendly and the castle was so interesting, I thoroughly recommend it. After Hurst, a trip to Burley, for some window shopping, a Cider Farm and tea and cake. The back to the Hotel for more cake and coffee.||The second night we ate at the Snakecatcher Pub, again, nice food, and some decent ales. Then back for a wonderful nights sleep. Excellent breakfast the next morning and a drive out through the New Forest to Lyndhurst and then|Fordingbridge. (Fordingbridge was sadly looking a little run down, lots of empty shops, but nice coffee in the Bridge Cafe and a very pretty bridge). Lyndhurst was more interesting with a bigger selection of shops and a nice Museum of The Forest and the biggest Ferrari dealership I have ever seen!||After Lyndhurst, we wended our way around and ended up in Christchurch. We seemed to drive into the "Grotty End" of town and we nearly decided to give it a miss, but luckily we persevered and parked down by the Priory and the river. Excellent walk and the Priory and grounds where very interesting.||Back to Brockenhurst ready to leave on Friday morning, we chose the Huntsman Pub for tea. Very nice. Outstanding Haddock and Chips, cooked to perfection and her ladyships chicken ceasar salad likewise, plus a couple more good ales. ||Up on Friday morning for final breakfast, to the same exacting standards as previous, with wonderful service. Said our goodbyes and hit the road after a five star stay in a wonderful place.||We both agreed that one of the nicest things about the Thatched Cottege, was the staff. Quite a few youngsters as well as some older staff, but all of them where a credit to the Hotel. All working hard, polite and friendly, so many venues could do with visiting this cosy Hotel, to learn how it should be done. ||We will definately recomend you and hopefully come back for another stay.||Ian and Rosemary....

Update to my review after hotel's reply

The breakfast menu given included a few options, but for example, one item I saw in the main menu (browsing out of curiosity), was not in the guest's breakfast menu. The option to have examples like this would be good, if possible. In addition, nobody at all told us we could have as much as we want - communication is key.

The standard of cleanliness and hygiene in the room was very poor. Please don't tell me you have professional cleaners, as when we arrived (around 1 pm), the room was ready. It had just been cleaned by a very nice lady, however her equipment seemed little more than that suitable for a small flat. I believe that with an 11 am check-out time (12 pm is standard) and a 3 pm check-out time, there would be room for improvement.

Based on the fact there were several power cuts throughout the first day and night we were there, along with all the noise (as mentioned by other guests), we were just beyond drained due to lack of sleep. The bed also made us feel antsy.

I have attached some photos to make the hotel understand reality, as it seems they do not wish to accept and improve on feedback, just use adjectives to show how they or their staff feel. Hospitality is a service/experience, not a competition to see how many compliments you get. At the rate charged, I do not expect issues like cleanliness to occur. All it seems the owner says on reviews is, "You should have mentioned it." - no, I disagree. This is hospitality 101, and at that price I expect better standards.

Original review

Great location by train station, nice base for exploring.

Food good, nice breakfast, but selection limited when compared to full menu. Would be good to be able to choose a cheaper dish from the full menu if you wanted to.

Building is very, very old, which is nice for aesthetics, but in reality there is noise everywhere - doors, talking, banging, creaking - impossible to sleep properly.

Room was not clean at all - cobwebs, stains on furniture, fan full of dust. Again, as building is old, need to beware of low ceiling - in the middle of the night I got out of bed and cut my head on a beam. I'm sure there must be a better way of reducing these kinds of incidents.

Staff are nice enough, that's all. I felt like they just wanted us in and out as quickly...

Dear fellow Travellers,

We did stay at the Thatched Cottage Hotel for 2 Nights in May 2023. The booking process is easy and friendly. We were allowed to bring our two terrier dogs and it was all going smoothly. We were looking forward to our stay in the heart of the new forest. When we arrived - the first (outer) impression was also good. It is a cute little thatched house indeed. However, once we entered the place - we noticed that it is a bit run down and more like a place for elderly people.. the style is VERY oldfashioned (to that extent, that it was not cosy anymore for us). We had booked the "superior" room upstairs, "The Earl Grey" room. The way to the room was already a bit spooky - as the lighting in the corridor was hospital-like. Also there was construction work going on in the corridor (wooden patches on the wall) and there was a smell of mould. Entering the room was the next shock - it was not very inviting unfortunately. It is VERY small. Due to the age of the building it is more like a dungeon than like a room. The Bathroom (with shower in the bath tube) you cannot really use. It is with Carpet - and you cannot use the shower, as it is under the roof (no space there!). The main part of the room is not furnished nicely at all. A strange feeling overcame us - we did not feel safe and not cosy at all. There was a VERY old water heater (did not even look nice) and it all appeared a bit dirty to us. As we did travel with my girlfriends older father, who was staying in the more "modern" part of the hotel - we also got the impression of his room. It was very basic and very small. After one night we moved also to the more "modern" part. Our room there was ok. However, there was black mould in the shower. And some tiles under the washing basin were broken.

The only real upside about this Hotel is its location and above all the friendliness of the staff!! That I really want to highlight - besides all, the staff is superfriendly and helpful. They saved our stay. But I have little respect for the overall owners of this place.

Best...