Nestled in the Bristol South Cadbury Hill Nature Reserve on six acres of beautiful landscaped gardens is Cadbury House Hotel and Spa, part of the Hilton group.
Originally built in 1790, this four-star hotel is ideally situated in North Somerset just four miles from Bristol Airport where 28.4% of Welsh holiday makers choose to fly from. This makes it ideal for those travelling from South or West Wales, allowing you to take a short break before continuing on your journey.
Cadbury House boasts a wide range of amenities including dance and spin studios, indoor pool, sauna, a spa with over 80 treatments, and a salon, there’s something to suit all the family. So whether it’s part of onward travel plans or you simply want a weekend getaway then look no further.
From a weekend away with the girls, a family break, or a place to rest your head when your flight is delayed, there are rooms and suites to fit your needs, including connected rooms. The grounds also offer the perfect backdrop if you did decide to have your wedding there, but there are also plenty of meeting rooms if business is more your thing.
There are 132 rooms to choose from, all offering the same high quality following a major refurbishment in recent years. If you book, we’d recommend requesting one of the front facing rooms, as they offer unobstructed views of the grounds and fountain display, as well as distant views of the Severn Estuary. The room decor also plays homage to the local Bristol city skyline, which is tastefully done to maintain its appearance.
Staying in a four-star hotel comes with high expectations and the Standard Double that we stayed in didn’t disappoint. The room came with all of the amenities that a traveller would need, including plenty of storage for luggage – important for those flying, but also the usual teas, coffees, hairdryer and ironing board. We were quite surprised to find a fully stocked mini fridge with water and other soft drinks, which was a nice touch and not something you often see anymore.
If you’ve looked up or stayed at Cadbury House before then you may have spotted one major difference to the rooms compared to other hotels. The rooms are open plan, meaning your shower and bath are in the same room as your bed. Modern, cool? Weird? Perhaps all three, and it certainly raised an eyebrow or two for us. That said, it didn’t put us off and we were quite intrigued by the setup and very happy with the room. In case you are wondering, the toilet is indeed separated with a door.
The furnishings in the room are all at a very good standard. The furniture is solid and we were impressed with the end of bed sofa arrangement and room chair. Lighting was plentiful, with room lamps, a floor ramp and hidden reading lights.
The bed itself offered a decent night’s sleep for our one night stay. The mattress and duvet is again of the same high quality that you’d get at any other Hilton, which is the perfect balance of comfort and firmness. The room is complete with air conditioning (hot and cold) depending on the time of year that you stay. Even though it’s only early spring, we did find that we had to turn the A/C to cold or open the window as the room was rather warm.
If like us you’re a bit of a foodie then you’ll be delighted to know Cadbury House has three restaurants to choose from on site, as well as offering 24 hour room service with hot food available between 10am – 10pm.
Bardolino’s is an ‘ultra-casual’ Italian restaurant where diners can pick from a variety of homemade pasta dishes or an authentic stone-baked pizza, all made with some of Italy’s finest ingredients. This is located a short walk from the hotel’s main building at the club along with the spa and salon.
The spa consists of a pool with whirlpool corner, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room inside, there is also an outdoor area boosting additional amenities. It’s important to note you do need flip flops/ open toe sandals and a towel to use the outdoor area. Unfortunately, we were unable to see what was on offer as we hadn’t been made aware of this.
If you fancy keeping on top of your fitness during your stay, a gym is available fully equipped with spin studio, treadmills and weights.
If you fancy something a bit more casual, then Thelivingroom offers a wide variety of dining options with the added bonus of beautiful countryside views on the terrace, for that warmer weather we Brits wait for all year round. From a morning coffee, to afternoon tea and some expertly mixed cocktails later in the evening be sure to add this eatery to your itinerary.
Our favourite restaurant of the three was Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, it has everything that you would expect from a Marco Pierre restaurant. The fresh locally sourced ingredients, seasonal produce and a wide variety of cocktails, champagne and wines as well as local ales and guest ciders.
From family dining to a more private booth seating, what a way to experience Marco Pierre’s menu, surrounded by breathtaking countryside views.
For those of you who have had the pleasure of visiting a Marco Pierre restaurant before, you’ll recognise the modern chic decor with Marco’s signature monochromatic styling. This goes hand in hand with the impressive exterior of the building and goes together very well.
We opted for three courses from the set menu available, although the A La Carte is also available if you fancy more options. We were however surprised to see there was an £8 supplemental charge for the sirloin steak, giving the limited options of the set menu.
For starters we had something light, the Warm Baked Sourdough (v) with Salted English butter and Finest Quality Smoked Salmon, properly garnished, served with brown bread and butter.
We’ve always found that Sourdough bread is far lighter and less filling than regular bread, there’s nothing quite like spreading butter on warm bread and watching it melt.
The smoked salmon was divine, one of the highlights of the meal. It just fell apart in your mouth with the additional flavours of the garnishing, it’s a dish we’ll be picking again on our next visit.
For mains, how can you not have a steak? The 8oz sirloin was served with roasted tomatoes and Koffmann chips and your choice of sauce. If you’ve had these chips before, you’ll know, they are the daddy of all chips and we kept finding room until they were all gone. To accompany the steak, we opted for the Béarnaise and Peppercorn sauces and again these were delicious. There was a decent portion to fill you, and still leave space for dessert.
Despite the steaks being cooked how we like them, we were quite disappointed with the chewiness of the steak and couldn’t finish all of it, though the Béarnaise sauce in particular really enhanced the flavours of the steak and made it slightly easier to eat. The tomatoes we felt could have been cooked for longer as they were crunchier than expected, the Koffmann chips didn’t fail to deliver as always full of flavour with a fluffy centre.
We left a little space for dessert and had Mr White’s Classic Cheesecake (v) accompanied by Fresh blueberry sauce and the Apple & Almond Crumble (v) with Vanilla ice cream.
The portions were perfect, with the right balance of cheesecake to blueberry sauce the sweetness wasn’t overwhelmingly tart as can often happen.
When the crumble arrived it was still warm, with the sweet smells filling the air. I always love the mix of temperature and texture of this dessert, especially with its subtle crunch of the hot Apple & Almond crumble.
Hot drinks are on offer to end your meal or you can choose to carry on your evening in the bar area with more cocktails.
In the morning, we were surprised to find breakfast being served in the Marco Pierre White restaurant. It’s a completely different atmosphere first thing in the morning, especially when we were here 12 hours earlier eating and drinking.
Once we got over that, we were delighted with what was on offer. There is a very simple but quintessentially British breakfast menu on offer. There is the Full English breakfast, Continental breakfast or our favourite Eggs Benedict/ Royale. There is a small supplement for those, just to warn you, but they are a worthwhile treat. With a selection of teas and coffees available, along with help yourself juices, you’ll be set for the day.
If you like what you see then you should definitely consider Cadbury House Hotel & Spa by DoubleTree Hilton for your next break away. However, make sure you book in advance as it’s a popular location.
Visit cadburyhotelbristol.co.uk for more information and to book your stay.
