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Double sea view room with balcony. Spacious bedroom with nice seating area. Clean and in good decorative order. Comfy bed, quality linen. Wonderful, original metal-framed window and French door opening out onto huge balcony. Unfortunately, the sea view tuned out to be when looking left from the end of the balcony and not from the actual bedroom. Kettle needed descaling. Bathroom well appointed, nice towels and quality Elemis toiletries, but would benefit from a really thorough deep clean and a lick of paint. Absolutely fabulous public rooms, not ‘dated’, as some reviews suggest, but furniture and fixtures appropriately in keeping with the style and period of the building. Wonderful! Beautiful outdoor pool area and indoor spa. Lots of outdoor seating areas. Extensive woodland to the rear of the hotel. Just a few minutes walk to Knoll Beach, through the hotel’s extensive grounds (which includes tennis courts and a golf course) just over the road. Absolutely no information provided about any of these brilliant amenities, or indeed anything at all, in our bedroom. Also, no information about Wi-Fi, no information about breakfast times, no information about how to even contact Reception on the telephone provided in the room … The food at the evening meal was exceptional but was let down by the very slow service as staff focused on setting tables for the following day’s breakfast - which turned out to be so disappointing that it was hard to believe that both meals had originated from the same kitchen.

I must congratulate every member of staff for the wonderful experience that guests enjoy at the Grand. My husband and me spent three nights there to celebrate our wedding anniversary on 21st July. From our arrival around 4pm on Friday until our departure on Monday morning, we enjoyed a relaxed and peaceful weekend. The hotel's location couldn't be bettered, and the service and dining were excellent. I can't find enough superlatives to describe how well we were served by everyone (including the room attendant) and how fabulous the food was, including the full English breakfast, which was perfect every time and the best we have eaten anywhere. As for the dinners we enjoyed, they were spectacular. We were both impressed that the menu was limited to a small variety of interesting and imaginative main courses, which meant that we knew whatever we chose would be excellent. And the mango tart dessert was exquisite. The conservatory dining room was a lovely place to enjoy a wonderful dinner, then sit back with a glass of your favourite tipple or a coffee and watch the sun go down over the sea - stunning! The ease of accessing the clean, sand beach was also great and made it easy to give in to temptation and go for a swim. And now for the (tiny) complaint - the tea made with the Dorset teabags was awful, not helped by the semi-skimmed milk. Perhaps the hotel could consider providing the choice of skimmed milk as well - a lot of people drink it these days! And my husband was disappointed that there was not a fridge in the room 😊 Notwithstanding the fridge, we are looking forward to returning to the Grand next year. This is very much a hotel for couples looking for a chilled and peaceful break, a perfect base from where to do as much or as little as you want.

Just had a short overnight stay, but long enough to judge this as one of the most comfortable and friendly places we have stayed in for for a long time. All the staff were a credit to the hotel. The room was superb, from a view of the castle, lovely decor, comfortable bed, excellent bathroom, you get the picture, it was memorable. The breakfast was well presented and well up to the standard of the rest of the place. All in all highly recommended. A rare gem.