Jill Williams visited this hotel as our guest blogger for August 2017.
We easily found The Feathers Hotel, our base for a 2-night stay in this lovely corner of Oxfordshire. Knowing there was no parking space at the hotel itself, we drove around for a short while hoping to find a parking space nearby. With spaces at a premium, we luckily found one just across the road from the hotel entrance.
From the outside, the hotel belied it’s quaint, yet modern interior. We walked into the reception and were warmly welcomed by the very attentive staff to check in. There was a lovely log fire giving the place a homely feel, and was I felt, or at least hoped, a taste of things to come.
A member of staff showed us upstairs, and carried our two very heavy bags, (no mean feat as there was no lift). This was service as you rarely get in some other hotels these days. Then, even more impressive was our suite! Much more than the twin room I was expecting. It was fantastic. As well as a huge room with twin beds and a massive headboard, there was also a sofa on which to relax and watch TV from.
A separate sitting room leading off from the bedroom came complete with writing desk, comfy chairs and another TV. In the bathroom was a lovely deep free-standing bath, with separate powerful shower, fluffy towels and bathrobes.
As someone who has never booked into a suite before, this was real luxury and it was almost too much to take in. A lovely hand written card was left by the management to welcome us and wish us an enjoyable stay. There was also super-speedy WiFi, great modern art on the walls and a plentiful supply of hot water.
We ordered tea to be brought up to our room-a complimentary service offered at The Feathers 24 hours a day. We didn’t need to wait long before a young man knocked on the door and brought in our drinks on a tray. I felt very pampered.
For breakfast we were spoilt for choice. A new menu was printed out every day with a helpful weather forecast for the area on it. Even if you didn’t want the full English, with eggs done whichever way you liked, there was plenty on offer; yoghurts, cereals, croissants, porridge, melons and pineapple.
I had the full English and my sister had eggs benedict which set us up nicely for the day.
On the second night of our stay, we ate at The Feathers, with the gin experience in the bar before- hand. Not being a gin drinker under normal circumstances, I decided to enter into the spirit of things. The bar man talked us through our preferred fruits and aromas, allowing us to look at and smell a few different gin’s before making our choice. Once we had chosen-we decided to have a different one each-our very own specially made gin-with lot of ice and tonic-was brought to our table. He has not quite converted me to becoming a gin drinker, but it was quite fun to be able to drink something specially mixed for me. As we finished off our gin, we chose our food from the menu and were called to the restaurant a little bit later.
We loved the food that we had. The menu choices great for foodies! Giving starters a miss, my sister and I both had the fish, followed by the dessert. The cheese board would have been enough for two people and they gave me a scoop of all the different ice-creams they had! There was a good choice of wine on offer, some rather more expensive than others and no-one questioned the fact that we had red wine with our fish. The atmosphere in the restaurant was nice and relaxed and you couldn’t fault the service-our waitress was brilliant.
Once we had finished our meal, we took the rest of our wine to a small sitting room adjacent to the bar and sat on one of the comfy sofas before heading up to bed.
The hotel is very old and rickety, which adds to its charm-the floor in our room was not even, giving a sense of its age. However, ancient and modern went well together. The room was lovely and warm, the beds comfy and the pillows were great.
It’s central location and proximity to Blenheim Palace makes it easy to access everything and the staff were friendly, making it a great place to stay.
About Signpost
Signpost has been recommending the UK’s top privately owned hotels since 1935. All Signpost members are visited every year, to make sure top standards are maintained. Most are near areas of outstanding beauty with plenty to do or see in the area; many are hidden gems, all have award winning cuisine. For more details and to receive news about great hotel offers visit www.signpost.co.uk .
Read about Woodstock and Blenheim Palace
