New Hall Hotel & Spa

The Hotel should inform residents at check-in if there is going to be a fire alarm test. (The alarm went off in the rom at 9.45am and was extremely startling and we rushed to get dressed to leave the room in case it was a fire and then it stopped. It spoilt a peaceful morning - one of the reasons we booked in for the night (we dont live so far away from the hotel) was to get away and rest and relax. This spoilt it a bit. We have been wrongly accused and unfairly charged for smoking in the room! We did not and would not smoke in the room - we dont smoke in our home and deliberately chose a non-smoking room. We did smoke outside when walking in the grounds and put out cigarette ends in the cigarette packet which we put in the bin in our room out of courtesy as we didnt want to just stub them out and leave them in the grounds. We can only think that someone must have gone through our bin and jumped to totaly the wrong conclusion. When we rang to challenge this (the charge was made after check out and we were informed in writing the next day) we were told that apart from the bin (!!) there was ash on the toilet seat and window sill - this simply is not true! Yet we are told thet the charge still stands (though we are taking it further). We are extremely upset and feel we have been unfairly singled out and in fact penalised for the fact that we went to the trouble to dispose of our own cigarette ends. We can only ask ourselves why we would be targeted in this way and why we would not be believed. And the fact that one of us is Black is one of the disturbing answers that comes to mind... We have never been treated like this before for this reason, although we liked the hotel in many ways, we could never recommend it to anyone. The seats of the dining chairs in the Terrace Restaurant were wooden - very uncomfortable to sit on for a period of time, especially for older people. Doesnt help a relaxed meal! We found it a bit much having to pay extra for the mashed potato or fries to accompany a fish meal. The restaurant and bar were lacking any atmosphere. It was all a little quiet and dull.