Hellidon Lakes Hotel

Good friendly helpful staff, hotel is dated and could do with some upgrades in places but food was good quality. Definitely value for money.

The hotel itself was great, plenty of space and rooms were perfectly adequate for our us a group of golfers. The food and service from the staff was great made all the better by a few staff members having a good rapport with us. The senior staff however were a bit distant and uninterested in a couple of golfing issues we had, deferred us to the so called Golf Manager, which I felt was a deflection and came across as them and us, not joined up with each other.

Nice rooms but staff not very welcoming or engaging

Disappointed the pool was not available as part of the package or payable at a sensible price

We went for a golf trip and to watch the Masters - a golf resort with no Sky Sports due to costs! Many golf parties headed over to Staverton Park, as they accommodated no residence to watch it. I did take my laptop and a projector so we could watch on the Saturday, then on the Sunday we got approached by the conference manager (Craig I believe) to say the GM had seen what we were doing and informed his staff to tell us that we could not project live images in a public area, which I understand and to be fair, they were great and allowed us to rent a conference room with a better projector for a £1 hire fee. Allowed us to have our dinner in that room and watch the golf - the staff on duty were really great in helping us get over this obstacle! Also allowed others that were disappointed to come in and at least watch the golf. Dinner was ok, breakfast really nice - and Vicky who was looking after us was brilliant (worth a mention). Josh the pro or just the guy in charge of the pro shop did his best (though if no buggies allowed out, why have the "Buggies Hire Agreement" out on display! The rooms were fine, but again like the course, the hotel looked tired and a few staff could do with a little customer service training. Not the best experience, though were some people noted that did everything they could to help! Just got the feeling that the hotel was struggling financially - it may not be, but that was the impression.

We had an excellent stay, helpful staff, great food and comfy beds.

Room was really comfortable, staff were really friendly and helpful, there are good facilities - although you do have to pay extra for most things, and the food was fine. (Although there was a LOT of salt in the breakfast) it was just that the main bar and dining area was so beige! Just one big area with unpleasant yellow lighting and no character. With the dreary lift music on repeat, it definitely made the experience less enjoyable.

No sports bar open or spikes bar . Sports bar not manned or open on a Sunday afternoon at 3pm. Doesn’t feel like a golf resort at all , pro shop poor with hardly anything inside it .Hotel feels way too corporate,disappointing and would not return to stay at resort

Course is very picturesque, and a challenge. Only disappointment was the greens, they are too long and hadn’t been cut, when challenged the pro sho where as helpful as a chocolate tea pot!

The course itself was great to play, very interesting holes throughout, not the toughest test for lower handicappers off the yellows but the greens were not necessarily fast but they did move a lot which made it a great course to play. A tough walk with the hilly nature but perfectly possible just wouldn't advise 2 rounds on the same day! Downside were a lack of directions coming off the a few of the greens as there tended to be some gapping between them and next tees. What signs there were were easily missed. Bunkers although consistent were very thin of sand and a good few areas of GUR but to be expected. Tees were mostly good with only a couple of slopy bumpy ones. BIGGEST downside was the severe lack of interaction from the again so called Pro Shop which I would say is not even Semi-Pro, definitely amateur. There was no welcoming attendance to us a society, we might as well have just rocked up without a prior booking such was the interest in us. I would have thought they would be trying to look after us to get us to return which as a group of plus 20 I would have expected them to try to make us feel welcome. There was just 1 person managing all things golf wise and they were not up to the task. A key issue to be careful of is buggy hire, we needed just one for our group, but this proved to be a major headache and there was very little empathy or effort just excuses and shrugged shoulders. It seems to me that maybe members book them up months in advance so its pot luck if one becomes available for visitors. Between the Golf Manager and YGT they seriously let us down so be warned and careful if you 100% need one. And don't expect YGT to help you out either because even with numerous phone calls to them with no return phone calls they basically did nothing to help resolve the matter, just deferred the issue back to us to resolve with the so called golf manager. Took our money and ran springs to mind!

An interesting challenge with some very interesting holes. Played in good weather. Would be concerned about playing in wet conditions as feel it could be very slippy in places. It is a physically demanding course and electric trolleys are highly recommended

The course was in a reasonable condition but the greens need a lot of attention, look very tired and worn. Pace of play was incredibly slow, just over 3hrs for nine holes and nobody out on the course monitoring the pace of play. Didn't see any grounds team all weekend. Pro shop was a joke with no refreshments unless you wanted to carry a litre bottle of lemonade! No buggies available as they were due to be serviced on the 23rd April, but have been out of action since October/November last year, so why take so long and leave it till the weather gets better. We asked even if 1 of our party could have one based on medical grounds due to a recent operation, but given a straight "no". He ended up just doing 2 nine holes over the 2 days. Another golf party who we met, were allowed to book buggies in advance, again due age and having a knee replacement or hip replacement - then told when they arrived, they couldn't have buggies so ended up not playing. Poorly managed and would consider having it as one of your venues. Staverton Park would have been a better option. Disappointing experience. Cost savings were a term commonly used.

A challenging course but great fun and great views

Really nice course. Fairly hilly, so quite hard work getting around, but no long straight boring holes which was nice. - it wasn’t easy, but it was interesting and a nice place to play. The greens were a bit poor in places but it was October so may have been down to the weather. Our legs definitely knew about it after 2 rounds.

Great courses , greens difficult to read but in great condition .Shame the hotel is not as good as the courses