Sarah G
June 21, 2024
We have just stayed in the Lodge at Ickworth for two nights (7th and 8th June) to celebrate my husband’s 70th birthday. Five of us stayed at the Lodge in rooms Rowan and Abele and the rest of our family stayed in the National Trust Keepers Cottage. I was very disappointed with the both the standard of decor and cleanliness at the Lodge, in particular in Rowan. I am attaching photos that show a large area of blown plaster due to damp on one wall, blackened mildewed sash windows (on the INSIDE) which clearly have not been cleaned for some time, an area of spotted carpet damage by the side of the bed in the master bedroom. I wiped the window frame with a bit of damp tissue, you can clearly see how with just a tiny bit of effort, this could have been remedied. The bathroom door has no lock and doesn’t close fully, it pops open. The carpets are very worn. On our day of arrival (at 3pm) there were grass cuttings everywhere in the communal areas of the Lodge and up the stair cases. On the plus side, the beds and pillows were very comfortable indeed and I liked having a fridge and fresh milk in our room. Breakfast at the hotel was of a good standard and all the staff we encountered during our stay were helpful and pleasant. In contrast the National Trust Keepers cottage was vastly superior and far less expensive. It is a five minute walk from the Lodge. It was much cleaner and furnished to a higher standard. Unfortunately this just served to highlight the shortcomings of the Lodge. We know Horringer very well as my mother-in-law lived there from 1984 until her death last year. We greatly appreciate the beautiful surroundings that Ickworth offers but feel that a lack of maintenance and poor housekeeping let the hotel down. I would not recommend the Lodge at Ickworth Hotel to anyone visiting the area, especially as there is the option of staying in one of the National Trust cottages which in my opinion are of a far higher standard. I contacted the hotel manager about the shortcomings encountered during our stay. This is part of his response: ‘Your photos have been sent to the Housekeeping Manager to urgently address the cleanliness issues of the bedroom and the blown plaster is being addressed by maintenance tomorrow’. He also said: ‘The Hotel bedrooms as well as the public areas we know are in need of some major investment’. Anyone thinking of booking the Ickworth might want to wait until the improvements have been made.