I am a great believer in synchronicity and so it was that when I decided to use a Buyagift voucher I had won earlier last year, Stoke Rochford Hall was the only choice as it is dog friendly and in an area I wanted to visit. In fact it is the stuff dogs dreams are made of, Maya even received her own booking service,
Stoke Rochford is located just 2 minutes from the A1 (5 miles south of Grantham in Lincolnshire) but when you turn your car onto the long drive you might be forgiven for thinking you’ve ended up in Narnia! It is a majestic Victorian mansion that sits in 28 acres of landscaped gardens and superb parkland, Honestly, I have been round the block a few times and I tell you the grounds really are phenomenal.
We arrived at the hotel at 1pm and were pleasantly suprised to have access to our room straight away. Maya received her welcome pack consisting of treats, bowls to use during her stay and a towel as well as a welcome letter. And possibly because my partner had informed the hotel it was my birthday a complimentary bottle of prosecco for us! Unusually your dog is welcome to stay in any grade of room. (it is a standard charge of £15 per dog per stay) We were allocated one of the stable courtyard rooms which are clean, well equipped and convenient for your dogs early morning walkies..We have decided to visit again in the summer and will then go for a touch of luxury and book a mansion room.
..The hotel gave us a map of three recommended walks around the grounds. Walk 1 was 40 mins, walk 2 apparently takes an hour and walk 3 which we went for should only take two hours. Let me offer you the excuse now that my birthday present was a camera. It is going to be a real learning curve for me but hopefully over the course of the coming months you will see some better quality images and I will be able to do my gorgeous little dog justice, Anyway due to trying to figure things out the walk was more like four hours!
Maya was in her element being able to run free most of the time, I was delighted to see more signs of spring, snowdrops were abundant and although I know it is a weed, a glorious carpet of celandine.
There was even a river running through the grounds and a little waterfall as well as numerous beautiful trees. It really is a delight to walk around the parkland and gardens and we enjoyed it so much we walked round them on our own made up route the following day!
Arriving back at the hotel we sat in the lounge for a coffee. It is really quite grand with burgundy leather Chesterfields and a huge open fire, Of course Maya was allowed to join us, you can also partake in a bar snack with your faithful friend at your side and the hotel will set you up a breakfast table in a special area to dine with you dog in the mornings. Dogs are not, however allowed in the dining room of an evening,
It is a testament though, to how dog friendly Stoke Rochford actually is that your (well behaved) dog is welcome to be looked after at reception while you dine. The Buyagift deal that we had included dinner and we were actually really impressed with the quality of the food. There was a choice of 3 or 4 starters, main courses and desserts. We both chose the chicken liver pate, lamb and Eton Mess, all of which were delicious.We ate in the SRH restaurant which is really ornate and has a lovely ambience.
Breakfast was buffet style with a full range of hot sausages, bacon etc as well as pastries and a choice of good fruit juice, You can also order items such as kippers, eggs benedict or omelettes from the menu. The food was lovely, perhaps the quality of the coffee could be improved!
I have actually previously seen this hotel offer some very good deals on Groupon so it is well worth keeping an eye out if you fancy it and are on a budget, We will return here in the near future as Maya really did have the time of her life. We also visited the town of Grantham which is just 5 miles away and had a good selection of shops, pubs and restaurants.
Hope you are all making fabulous memories with your dogs. Go on, write a little comment and tell us where YOU are going.
Love & thanks for reading
Sal & Maya x
Comments
18 responses to “Stoke Rochford Hall”
Maya looks so happy. We are so going to treat Charlie to a break away this year, love reading your blog.
Maya had a ball there, I would love to hear about your break away with Charlie – how exciting xx
Sounds such a wonderful place to visit with a dog!Love the detailed account of your visit-from the booking to the walks and your dining experience.Would love to go there!x
Maya really loved it as she could be off lead all the time. Hope you and Fenty get to go sometime, Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. xxx
Beautiful pictures!! Maya is so beautiful!! Adore you’re blog, such a well written piece! Love it!
Thanks for your kind words Hattie. Thanks so much for stopping by xxx
Looks lovely! We don’t mind not going to the dining room with them, as long as there’s a nice bar or lounge area instead.
Gorgeous photos xx
Love From, Steph & The Spaniels
I know what you mean Steph, not eveyone likes to dine with dogs!! Think there is room for improvement with my photography but I do hope to improve! Thanks so much for reading and commenting. We love your blog. xxx
It seems a great place to visit with Joy, it’s a shame that we live so far…
In Spain it’s not easy to find places to travel with your pets, especially restaurants that admit dogs.
Love reading your blog and your photos are so beautiful!
(Sorry if my English are not very well 🙁 )
Such a shame that there are not so many dog friendly places in Spain, I hope that might change in the future,
Thanks so much for commenting Eva, your English is good. xxx
What a wonderful post!!! I’ve photographed a few weddings here and it really is a stunning venue!!! I’m now thinking I should go back with Roxy, I didn’t even know it was dog friendly!! Xx
Oh yes, Roxy would love it! I would love to see our photographs if you do! Thanks so much for reading and commenting xxx
Sounds perfect. I think it is a place we would love to stay. Jasmine would be in her element. Great photos of gorgeous Maya. Thanks for sharing the blog. Jane
Maya loved being off lead in the grounds, Jasmine would adore it. Thanks for popping by and reading Jane xxx
Wish we lived closer, sounds amazing for humans and pooches! Good luck with the new camera too xxx
We really enjoyed it there. Thanks for your good wishes with the camera xxx
Oh my goodness! It looks like something out of a film, a great read! I think Alfie and I need to take a trip up.
Emma & Alfie xox
The grounds are wonderful, I think you and Alfie would love it – Lord Alf would definitely require a Mansion room though! Thanks so much for stopping by Emma xxx