A pleasant mini-break. – Two English friends of mine recently had the pleasure of a two night mini-break here and both were disappointed with the establishment after having read some favourable reviews. I collected them after their stay and was given a warm welcome at Reception. The location was beautiful and the building quite ?Grand?, but both expected more of a ?fun atmosphere?, instead they felt that the public rooms were almost ?institutional?. Meal times in the rather noisy restaurant were not flexible enough and appeared designed to suit the staff rather than the guests. Some of the staff were a little unfriendly and sullen. The ?Spa? area had no treatments or services on offer. Management ensured they were given rooms close to each other, which were clean and comfortable although sparsely decorated, almost in the style of modern minimalism. The beds were lumpy and there were no hospitality trays. The decor throughout was felt to be a little ?cold and tasteless? and perhaps somewhat anonymous. Room service at night was non-existent, so if one wanted a pot of tea and sandwiches or even biscuits during the night, one would have to go hungry. Neither room was equipped with a Corby trouser press, WIFI or Aircon. With typical British stoicism neither of my friends complained, not wishing to be seen as overly-critical. An interesting point raised by one of my friends indicated that the noisy dining room experiences would be helped by a little back-ground music, perhaps a Jazz pianist or better yet a string quartet playing a little Bach or Beethoven. Overall it is felt that there is room for improvement. Finally, how about some Indian cuisine on the menu?