Nottingham Belfry is the perfect place for short break
I’VE spent a week gliding down the mountains in Austria on a snow board and a few days trekking up hill and down dale in the Lake District. But doing absolutely nothing for the weekend is totally underrated.
Well doing nothing is a little bit of a lie ... I spent most of my short stay at the Nottingham Belfry snuggled up in a fluffy white robe drinking wine and lounging around the pool reading.
The Nottingham Belfry is one of 21 four-star luxury hotels in the country which comes under the QHotels banner. It is a mere stone’s throw from the Ikea Retail Park, near Ilkeston, and perfectly placed if you fancy a day out – or night out – in neighbouring Nottingham, which is just five miles away or just £11 in a taxi straight from the hotel.
There are 120 bedrooms at the Nottingham Belfry and the 250-space car park is free.
Orders taken over £2000 , will receive £100 off and the option to take 2 years interest free credit
Terms: £100 off only on orders over £2000 with the option to take 2 years interest free credit , this offer ends bank holiday Monday 27th may 4 pm , this voucher must be printed and presented on ordering .
Contact: 01332 419898
Valid until: Monday, May 27 2013
In the ultra-modern hotel foyer – very polite staff made checking in smooth and stress-free. My husband, Nick, and I had a twin superior room on the first floor. It was immaculately clean.
But there wasn’t much of a view. The Nottingham Belfry is on a business park on the outskirts of the city but the LCD television made up for that. There was a separate shower and bath in the en-suite bathroom with a well-lit mirror for perfecting my pout before dinner downstairs in the hotel’s fine dining restaurant, the Laurence.
Once we had changed into the fluffy robes kindly left by staff on our bed, we made our way downstairs and towards the Reflections leisure area, which consists of a well-equipped gym, a pool, whirlpool, sauna and steam room.
There is a beauty salon, too, which has reasonably-priced treatments with everything from luxury pedicures to mud treatments on offer.
However, if you are staying at the hotel and are not on a specialised spa break, then you will have to book your treatment direct with the spa rather than the hotel.
I chose the Refresh and Revitalise package, a 50-minute luxury treatment in which your feet are gently soaked and then exfoliated before nourishing mud is applied to the feet and warm boots popped on. This is followed by a head and scalp massage on the heated couch, which was total bliss.
I floated back down to the pool on a cloud and Nick and I spent a little more time chilling out. Nick felt a little outnumbered in the leisure area, which was predominantly women, and so to earn myself extra brownie points, we decided to head to the hotel’s bar area afterwards to watch the football.
The bar also serves C light snacks but, with dinner at the Laurence booked for that evening, we didn’t want to ruin our appetite.
It proved a wise decision. The hotel’s restaurant is large yet retains a sense of intimacy and the food cooked by head chef Chris Morrall is mostly sourced locally.
As well as fancy dishes that look pretty, the menu also includes things to suit even the most simple of palates.
I chose a butternut squash risotto for starters while Nick went for the soup. For the main course, I opted for the mushroom stew with Nick settling for a steak.
The side order of extra veggies and hand-cut chips were needed.
The pudding was delicious. I chose a lemon tart with Nick preferring to share mine.
After a hearty dinner, we headed back to our room for a lie down on the soft, bouncy bed with its crisp white sheets. And, before we knew it, it was 8am and time for breakfast, which was again served in the Laurence.
Breakfast is buffet-style, although you can upgrade to something a bit more special – like smoked salmon and cream cheese, washed down with a glass of Bucks Fizz.
However, with a wide range of cereal, fresh fruit and pastries and both cooked and continental breakfasts on offer, it was hard not to opt for the buffet.
It’s a good job, then, that the Nottingham Belfry gym was available afterwards to work off all those calories.
FACTFILE
The Nottingham Belfry Hotel, Mellor’s Way, off Woodhouse Way, Nottingham NG8 6PY. Telephone 0115 9739393. Website: www.qhotels.co.uk/hotels/the-nottingham-belfry.
A double guest room for two adults, with breakfast, costs £105 per night. Family rooms and suites are also available at an extra cost.
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