Aurelia had a sleepover at nanny's at the weekend and because its practically impossible to not work at home (since we work from home!) I always book something to get us away from the office.
It was all arranged fairly last minute and we didn't want to go far and driving past Crewe Hall I decided I would finally give myself a reason to visit, I drive past around 10-14 times a week and have always wanted to see it - It has a lovely long (very neat) drive that just makes you want to see whats at the end. So i rang up the Qhotel booking line and booked the basic spa break in a modern room (you have to pay a bit extra to stay in the old part of the hotel) with a 2 course lunch, spa treatment - I chose the 55 min back rituals, 3 course dinner and breakfast for £99 each. The lady I spoke to was very polite and helpful and most importantly efficient, it didn't take long to get the break sorted and paid for.
When we arrived we went straight to the spa as my booking confirmation noted that our room probably would not be ready until 3, staff were lovely and pointed us in the direction of the Brassier for our lunch and told us to check in and if our room wasn't ready reception would send our room keys down to the spa, as it happened it wasn't an issue as it was ready so we went to the room first to have a peak. The room was much bigger than I thought it would be (Our room at the Midland was tiny and more expensive!) and nicely decorated, It has a nice big bed (two singles pushed together), table with two chairs, desk, drawers and TV set and a big wardrobe with tea and coffee facilities...I was disappointed to see the fridge empty and no water available in the room, I've come to expect water in hotel rooms and not stayed anywhere recently with out but those are relatively small things and not enough to put a dampener on things. Bathroom was nice, separate shower bath which i love because it means I'd not have a problem going back with Aurelia.
After ditching our bags we headed for lunch, because it was part of a package I wasn't expecting too much but it was wonderful. We were offered the buffet which had soup, salads, pastas, cold cuts. A hot option, pork roast dinner and dessert or two courses of the menu. We went for the buffet and it was delicious, one salad with lettuce, green beans, olives and cheese will be something I recreate for Aurelia. The hot food was lovely and although I couldn't have the gravy (contained gluten) the chef offered to make me a jus for my food, we could manage dessert so all full and happy made our way back to the spa.
They provided robes, slippers and towels so you only really need swimming stuff and a £1 coin for the lockers, which is great and the facilities were nice and clean and enjoyable. We stayed for just over an hour..neither of us are much good at relaxing and then got ready for our treatments. The spa has a separate lounge, which was darken and had comfy chairs, the entire spa was nicely decorated and relaxing music playing throughout (I don't really go in for that but I can see why its done!), staff were nice and polite, Lisa did my treatment and Carol did my husbands and it was lush, I was quite sleepy and almost didn't remember my name by the end.
Our evening meal was amazing. We started with cocktails, and i had a Casanova which was a small champagne with apple and raspberry which was expensive at £9.50 and whilst it was nice I wouldn't pay for it again. Our package gave us an allowance of £26 each and anything over we had to pay for and if you went for a cheaper meal you could have three courses with it. The kitchen even had gluten free bread which means I could have bread with my soup...small thing but makes a big difference. I had rump steak which was a fabulous cut, soft and juicy just like steak should be and my husband has Sea bass with artichokes and that was very special, the fish was the best ever crispy skin and the meat was still cooked perfect and to be honest artichokes are always fab. Hubby had an eccles cake for pud which takes 20mins as they prepare it fresh and it look rich and by how fast he polished it off I'd say it tasted as good as it looked.
After dinner it was still quite early so we had a coffee which I think is well worth a mention because even in really good hotels I find the coffee bitter and mostly burnt but the coffee at Crewe was lovely and didn't require sugar to make it drinkable. We then had a wander around the hotel and I'm glad we did because it really is a sensational building.
We both slept well in the massive bed and I was surprised that we slept a full 9 hours although that's probably just as much to do with being toddler free as anything else so since it was a working day we went for breakfast quickly so we could get back to the office. Breakfast was a buffet with cereal, breads for toast, cold cuts and cheese and of course a full English. I always find breakfast limited at hotels so was again grateful for gluten free bread the only thing with breakfast was that the bacon had been standing and was tough but the rest was fine. Staff in the restaurant were again very polite and attentive.
Overall Crewe hall was fabulous and the staff were brilliant, the break was near perfect and I can't wait to go back to the restaurant and I'm really wanting to try the afternoon tea...not with hubby though as he has no appreciation of such things! xx
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