Bailbrook House

4.5(1044)

Thank you Bailbrook House for an amazing weekend away. I cannot fault this establishment for their assistance. Being disabled, weekend retreats can be a mixed bag in terms of accommodating my needs, but Bailbrook House Hotel was first class. I was given an accessible room with an amazing disabled bathroom. The bed was so comfortable and there were creature comforts like shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, and even a mini fridge with complementary chilled bottled water. I was loaned a wheelchair during my stay which made getting around the hotel much easier. Breakfast in the dining suite was delicious. Lots of different options were provided to cater for all tastes. The only reason 5 ⭐ hasn't been given is due to the food at other times during our stay. We ordered an expensive burger and fries via room service which wasn't hot when it arrived. Furthermore, we paid £30 a head for a pizza and chips buffet in the evening but it took 40 minutes for the chips to arrive, by which time the pizzas were cold and dried out. It took an age for coffee to be served too. Such a let down when everything else was of a very high standard. Overall, we had a fantastic visit and would recommend. Thank you once again 😊

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I booked this hotel at very short notice in the morning after having a difficult experience at another nearby hotel the previous night, and the team here could not have been kinder or more helpful. The manager, Gem, heard what had happened and went above and beyond to help. She upgraded my room, made sure I could check in early so I could finally rest, and even helped with my laundry, which was incredibly thoughtful. Another member of staff, Elena, was also very friendly and welcoming, and offered me drinks and snacks while I waited in the lounge. The service was genuinely exceptional and made a stressful situation feel much easier. On top of that, the hotel itself is absolutely stunning. Beautiful building, lovely atmosphere, and a team who clearly care about their guests. I’m very grateful to Gem, Elena, and the rest of the staff. A fantastic experience, especially given the circumstances.

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I was one of a group of 6 family members having afternoon tea on Sunday 24 May. I arrived before everyone else and before our 1.30pm time slot. The female member of staff on duty in the lounge was so kind and thoughtful. It was very hot and she brought me a cold drink and prepared the lounge with such care so that we could be as comfortable as possible. The afternoon tea was delicious. A gorgeous selection of savoury bites and lovely cakes and scones. The service was exceptional and the surroundings were beautiful

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We stayed at Bailbrook House Hotel as part of our 15 year anniversary trip to Bath, and it was a brilliant experience. From the moment we arrived, the welcome at reception set the tone perfectly. Friendly, genuinely helpful, and staffed by someone with excellent local knowledge who offered tips that actually made a difference to our stay. It's a small thing, but it's exactly what makes a hotel feel like more than just a place to sleep. Our room was spacious and beautifully presented, with everything you'd need and a bed that made it very easy to stay in the following morning. Breakfast was outstanding. The team were attentive and warm without being intrusive, and nothing felt like too much trouble. My wife's veggie breakfast was prepared without any fuss, and we noticed a good selection of vegetarian hot options on the buffet too, which is worth knowing if that matters to you. Also, a highly recommended giving the energy boost smoothies a try! There's plenty of parking, and if you want to avoid driving into the centre and incurring the costs of using your car in the city, there is a bus stop close by. Overall, a genuinely lovely stay in a beautiful hotel. If you're visiting Bath for a special occasion, Bailbrook House is absolutely worth it.

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4 starts is probably a bit harsh as we had a very nice time. However, I don't think I can go above 4 stars purely because of the difference between this and our previous experiences at another Handpicked Hotels location, Fawsley House. Sadly, even though we had a really nice time we felt so disappointed the whole time we were here. We booked a table for afternoon tea in both locations, both for birthday's, both times we told them ahead of time that it was for a birthday. (We did arrive a little early for Bailbrook, however the main difference you would account for from a birthday was right at the end before we left, so I don't think that was impacted by our slightly early arrival) I'll get the stuff that couldn't be changed out of the way first, the building wasn't as nice, the room we were in wasn't as nice, still a very nice building. It's not poorly maintained or anything, it's still very well cared for but you would go to Fawsley house just to visit and stay in the house and the grounds, whereas you would go to bailbrook house because you were going to visit bath, and it's a nice hotel nearby. As for the things that are well within their control though, it was all in the little touches that build up. We had two tables at Fawsley, one where we sat and a second smaller table for the afternoon tea stand to be placed on so we had more space on our main table, here we felt really cramped and barely had space for everything. The plates, both the ones we ate from and the ones on the stand were nicer at Fawsley, each type of tea we had in Fawsley came in a different teapot, all china, whereas the teapots here were all matching basic metal ones, and the initial strainers used over the cups were less effective, although the ones we got with our second pots of tea were the same ones we had at Fawsley, I don't know why they kept the better ones in reserve instead of just having them there to begin with but I ended up with bits of the loose tea falling through the holes in the first strainers because they were just too big. The scones were dusted with sugar and we're generally nicer looking at Fawsley, & we had more jam & clotted cream, it felt like we just didn't have enough of each to serve 4 scones, although the lemon curd was a nice touch. The chairs were more comfortable for eating from at Fawsley, the ones at Bailbrook house are the sort of chairs you can melt into, incredibly comfortable if you want to read a book or take a nap, but just weirdly awkward to eat from, any time I tried to sit upright, to serve a cake for myself of my girlfriend from the stand, I felt like I was going to slip off the front of the chair. Fawsley also brought out a little extra cake with an edible happy birthday sign on it, which we didn't get here. It's all really small nitpicky stuff, but it adds up into a noticeably lesser experience, which is a massive shame. It's a really good afternoon tea experience and I would never advise anyone against going, as with Fawsley, the selection of teas is brilliant and the food was really nice, but once you experience the level that the handpicked hotels can meet, any less than that becomes disappointing. The level of care just wasn't there as much, and the sad thing is it's not the kind of stuff that adds massive running cost or really any real extra effort, and it's not on the serving staff either, they were helpful and seemed cheerful and in good spirits, it's just that there wasn't as much care from the managers and owners of this hotel as there was from those at Fawsley, which is a shame because that small drop in effort produces a very noticeable difference. If your intention is to visit bath and you want a nice hotel to stay, definitely bailbrook house is the place to go, and while you're there, definitely try the afternoon tea, it's incredibly tasty. But if you're looking for the experience of a wonderful afternoon tea, in a really nice house, with lots of care and attention put into the experience beyond just the food, bailbrook house sadly doesn't deliver even close to it's potential.

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