I spent four nights here with my fiancé at the end of summer and an important point to make early on is that Hawkwell House isn't really in Oxford. It's actually in a suburb, a village called Iffley. Nice, quiet and easy enough to access Oxford from as there are frequent buses shuttling to and from the city of Oxford and a couple of walking options. One can stroll along the river Thames or take the more direct route, such as the buses do, this takes about 25 minutes or so. Or you could drive. Therefore, if you want to stay in town for convenience sake then this hotel may not be for you, otherwise, Hawkwell House Hotel is a perfectly lovely place to stay.
As for the hotel, it's in very peaceful surroundings with plenty of private garden space within it's grounds - a lovely looking wedding was taking place outside in the sun as we were checking out. And on that, from check in to check out all of the staff were entirely pleasant, attentive, friendly and helpful - with a special mention for the reception staff, they were great for us during our stay. The only blemish on their record were the bar staff. It's not that they weren't all of the superlatives above but more that the service was a little slow. From service to preparing our drinks the process took longer than it probably should have.
The only other aspect that I felt wasn't quite up to scratch was the restaurant. This, however, was only true of the one evening we ate in there though, all of our breakfasts - every morning - were great. Again the staff were very accommodating and there were no delays in the service, it's just that the food wasn't particularly good. Not bad, just ordinary.
I believe our room was a standard double and was very nice - no complaints to be found here. Numerous services are also available and I felt that the reception staff were always willing to make everything as convenient as possible for us. One such service we made use of was the spa treatments, there's no spa on site but they'll arrange for a therapist (of desired description) to come to your room and carry out their service there - in our case, a masseuse.
All in all I would stay here again and, as I am doing to you, would be happy to recommend Hawkwell House to others.
TTFN,
Ian read more