Caledon Homestays

We arrived at the Caledon Spa Hotel on a Sunday afternoon just after 14H10 for a 3 night get away with friends. Check-in, according to all our paperwork, was available as of 14H00 but this was unfortunately not the case (as the rooms were still being cleaned) and we were finally only allocated our rooms at 15H20 which was an irritation as we had to sit in the lounge with all our luggage up to that point (this while we were also told that the hotel was not full). I must point out that the staff in question were very polite and apologised profusely for the delay in the availability of the room but still, if you advertise a check in time then stick to it as we planned our timetable accordingly. The hotel lounge in which we sat has a bar attached which was open but only for drinks ordered by patrons eating Sunday lunch in the hotel restaurant. As such, we had to walk through to the ****** to purchase a couple of bottled waters which we found rather annoying. We were advise later that the bar in question is only open on Thursday through to Saturday so at no time during our stay (Sunday afternoon to Wednesday morning) could we relax in the hotel lounge or sit on the outside veranda and order a drink from the bar! It seems that the only full time bar is in the ****** area but it is located in the main entrance into the ****** and basically in the middle of nowhere with no lounge chairs etc on which to sit, only a handful of barstools placed around the counter itself, the staff however were very friendly indeed. We were allocated room 106 which was a ground floor room close to reception. The room was acceptable but a bit tired in that there were scuff marks on the furniture, some of the curtain rail clips were broken and the one lampshade was literally falling apart, basically the room was in need of some TLC. There is some maintenance ongoing on the outside of the hotel so hopefully it will also extend indoors shortly. I must point out that the room and bedding was spotlessly clean and the queen size bed and pillows one of the most comfortable I have ever slept on in any hotel. There was also a bar fridge, coffee / tea station with kettle and a large safe in the room which proved very handy indeed. Bizarrely there was no information sheet in the room advising of even the number to press for the hotel reception and nor was there any explanation as to which channels were available on the included satellite TV package so it was all a bit hit and miss. The bathroom has a shower over the bath arrangement with a narrowish bath so showering even for a lean person cannot be undertaken without care. A plastic antislip mat is, however, provided for you to stand on in the bath whilst showering which did help. For some reason the hotel only provides a small bottle of shower gel and also a small soap in each bathroom which does not see you through if there are two people who shower twice per day. As such, we had to request additional soap from the gentleman w