The Ardens and Studley Castle

 

We set off late morning for a drive into Warwickshire stopping at the attractive village of Henley in Arden to have lunch on the way. The village has a mile long high street of old buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants. As it is Monday the lunch choice is more limited but we parked in the North car park and walked down to the Black Swan where we were seated outside with some tables of (mainly) ladies who lunch. It was a nice warm sunny start to the week and we enjoyed their 2 course set lunch before taking a stroll down the high street for coffee before the short drive to Studley which is just outside Redditch.

The castle is the most recent addition to the Warner Hotels group and has been extensively modernised with 200 rooms, a spa suite and show lounge. The original building houses the reception and some small public rooms for afternoon tea and cosy cocktail bars. There are 20 bedrooms in the old castle and we had one of these on the 1st floor. The castle was built as a stately home and was never served any defensive purpose. But it is grade 1 listed and does not have any air conditioning or double glazing so climate control is challenging in cold winters and hot summers.

We settled in, powered up the two fans to cool the room down, then we had a quick wander before dinner. We took advantage of the 2 cocktail deal before dinner where we allocated prime position in the Vegas inspired show lounge on table 53. This was to be our table for the duration of the holiday for breakfast, dinner and the stage shows. The first night was all musical with the resident band and soloists churning out a Burt Bacherach inspired favourites which went down well with the older generation that Warner's attract. 

Dinner is served during the show and is a combination of waitress and self service, like the main restaurant in the other hotels in the group. The food is of a good standard and we enjoyed the house wine especially as they gave us a full bottle each night although we only ordered a half.