Orsett Hall Hotel & Spa Review

Last week as a little escape (but wanting to stay local) we booked an overnight stay & spa package at Orsett Hall Hotel & Spa. We normally only review hotels where you can earn & burn points but we thought its proximity to London and its Spa might make it a useful option to those in the East of London/Essex.

Location

The hotel is located in the quiet village of Orsett located near the M25 & within a short drive of the Thames Gateway, Port of Tilbury, Tilbury Cruise Terminal, Intu Lakeside Shopping Centre, and Retail Parks in Thurrock. Central London is only 40 minutes away by car. If you are arriving by train and don’t live locally your best option would be to catch a train to Grays or Stanford-le-hope (the hotel is sort of in the middle of both) & then get a taxi, alternatively, you can catch the 200 bus from Grays/Stanford-le-hope which will take you nearby. If you are catching the bus it’s perhaps better to go to Stanford-le-hope as the 11 bus will take you closer.

Outside of the complex, you are limited to things to do or see unless you are driving or willing to spend money on taxis. There is a local pub called the Whitemore Arms if you are willing to walk 10 minutes down some country lanes. Overall we’d say this hotel is best suited for those who purposely want to have a sense of isolation & stay on the hotel grounds.

Orsett Hall Hotel

The hotel is probably known for catering to weddings and events but alongside this, they do offer hotel rooms, spa treatments & packages. Whilst the hotel has 12 acres of landscaped gardens a lot of the space is reserved for the various event spaces. This means if you attend whilst a wedding or another event is happening you will be limited as to the outside space you use, if this is the case 12 acres will virtually seem non-existent…as a word of warning!

Check-in

As you enter the main building there is a small reception on the right-hand side. There was no wait to be served and the member of staff was polite with nothing particular to note. We were told about the check-out & breakfast times (included in our rate) as well as being asked to pay a £50 guarantee on our card for any incidentals.

We were then given the directions to our room in the Sartoria outbuilding which involved walking out of the main building and around heading around the back of it. It was a little confusing at first as the building is just called Sartoria Cafe and isn’t any clear signage to say there are any rooms in the building too. If you are downstairs you just need to walk straight through the bar area of the cafe to the corridor opposite, here you’ll find the rooms. If you are upstairs take the lift on the left as you enter the cafe.

The Room

As you enter the room you have the bathroom located on the right-hand side, opposite this is a large full-length mirror. As you move into the space more, you have a chest of drawers on the left, beyond this is a wardrobe with an ironing board, iron, safe & extra pillows. At the left rear of the room, there are two doors that open out onto the Sartoria car park (apparently we were given a garden view room.

On the right-hand side of the room is the main bedroom space, you have a double bed with bedside cabinets on either side. On the left-hand side, you also have an armchair positioned to watch the TV. Opposite the bed is a small TV, desk with chair and tea making facilities.

There were a few marks on the walls but overall the room was clean and comfortable. We also weren’t disturbed by any noise from the cafe. In the evening we rang and asked regarding late check-out, an hour was offered for £20 which we declined for poor value.

The Bathroom

The bathroom is small but functional for one person. On the right-hand side is a toilet, sink, and large mirror, opposite this, is a towel rack with your towels. Directly ahead as you enter is the bath/shower combo with a glass screen. Non-removable ESPA toiletries were provided. We didn’t rate these as unfortunately, they brought my partner’s skin up badly. (normally we don’t get any issues)

Dinner

Dinner is served in the Garden Brasserie which is located on the left-hand side of the main building. The decor is described as having stylish, floral-inspired décor and dazzling views of the hotel grounds. My partner described the décor as like something from her Nans house… As we were on a package deal we were given a supplement menu. Service in this regard was a little messy as we were given the regular menu initially. After querying we were given the correct menu with supplement pricing. As you might expect (but still annoys me) the vast majority of options require an additional supplement to be paid.

You can view the current menu here – https://www.orsetthall.co.uk/dining-in-essex.html

To be fair they were very good at catering to a gluten-free diet but my vegetarian partner was a lot more limited as to her options. Unfortunately, what she had she didn’t particularly like except for the spotted dick pudding (which she said was far too small!)

I had the soup of the day to start with a hot gluten-free roll, this was tasty and included on the supplement menu.

For my main course, I had the pork fillet (minus the black pudding) this was really tasty and cooked well but did require I believe a £7/£8 supplement. In addition to this, I had a side of mash at £4.50 because…well the ‘fancier’ the food tries to be the smaller the portions!

For dessert, I had the Glazed Chocolate Mousse (included on the supplement menu) which although small was tasty and just the right size after having three courses.

Breakfast

Whilst we did have breakfast included in our room rate as my partner didn’t like the dinner we decided to skip Breakfast. It is served in the same location as Dinner, the Garden Brasserie.

Orsett Hall Spa

The spa is actually located underground in the Sartoria outbuilding (the same place as our room.) You can either get the lift from the cafe or head straight down the stairs as you enter the Sartoria outbuilding.

You are given a bag with a robe, towel & flip-flops and shown to the changing rooms where you can get changed. These are quite small with no private changing facilities and if there are multiple people in them they could get very crowded! There are also shower facilities here for you to use. Once you are ready you either return the way you’ve come if you have any spa treatments or the opposite way for the pool/sauna/steam room & hot tub.

The waiting area for treatments is a small area opposite reception with drinking water & a few chairs.

I had a (very good) back and neck massage in a very red (light) room, my partner (whose room wasn’t red) said her back and neck massage was equally as good. Orsett Hall doesn’t offer partner massages, I’d imagine this is because their treatment rooms are very small.

After our massages, we headed into the spa facilities, as you enter the main space you have the pool with chairs around it. On the right, you have water you can help yourself to, and on the left-hand side a shower to use. Towards the end of the pool is a hot tub and to the left of this is a small steam room and sauna. The pool was unfortunately rather cold (and not particularly big enough to swim in) so we stuck to the hot tun, sauna & steam room. We enjoyed our time here particularly as it was so quiet, I’d imagine it would quickly seem very busy with a few extra people with how small it is.

As we were staying on-site the spa let us wear our robes to return to our rooms to shower and then return them the next day. This was a welcome touch as the changing rooms aren’t particularly big or private as mentioned earlier.

Conclusion

Whilst there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with our stay it’s not somewhere we would return to as the experience wasn’t particularly special for the price. The onsite food wasn’t really to my partner’s preference & she took issues with them trying to nickel-and-dime her for a very short late checkout. If you are local(ish) the spa treatments were good and worth the treatment costs. Plus if it isn’t busy it’s almost as if the spa is your own private one. Spa, Dinner & Stay Packages start at around £250 a night based on two people sharing. You can read more about the hotel, spa & book on the Orsett Hall website here – https://www.orsetthall.co.uk/