We enjoyed our stay for three nights in spring with my family. Okay value for a large family room for four, 2x king size beds. Plus a swimming pool. Arrived 4pm, reception staff were professional, helped with our bags. The reception area has style, with marble floors, large staircase etc. For me the best looking part of the hotel. The room was modern, clean and had good facilities. Beds were comfortable. A safe, drinking water, mini fridge, iron, kettle etc. Breakfast had a good cooked selection, plus some cold. Service was good, sometimes a bit slow. The menu for lunch and dinner was ok, but we mainly went local. There are a few good local restaurants, pubs, plus sainsbury's, gardening centre, etc. We also went to Colchester zoo nearby. Hotel has sufficient parking at £8/ night, priced high in my opinion. The bar was bright, clean, staff helpful. Some items to consider. 1.The view out of our room window had a large skip and some long standing rubish. The hotel must clear this up. 2.The swimming pool has time restrictions for kids and is shared with clubs etc. We can work around this, but i didn't see it in the brochure. Plus the pool changing rooms are in a poor condition. Pool etc. was only a 3 star rating. Item 3. Cleaning or refreshing of the rooms and drinking water is only carried out when you request from reception, no daily refesh. We got drinking water from the bar, a bit of a pain to do each day. 4. Our room telephone didn't work at all, we did report first day.