"This is a former Victorian mansion build in 1892 and extended to form a good sized hotel in pleasant grounds. Like so many of these hotels, it specialises in Weddings and similar large events or conferences meetings. From the reviews it obviously does this very well. Inside, panelling is much in evidence and there are some lovely details such as the rather grand fireplace in the bar. The restaurant is light and pleasant with views out to the gardens. There is plenty of parking and good access nearby from the M3. Basingstoke centre is barely 10 minutes away. We stayed at Audleys Wood Hotel for three nights in one of their older bedrooms with an adjoining sitting room and bathroom. You could call it a small suite. The room, called Jane Austen, was a little dated but comfortable with all that we needed for our stay. The adjoining sitting room was quite large with two settees, a coffee table and a slightly random assortment of other furniture. It had a large, modern smart TV. The rooms were rather overheated for our taste but that was soon adjusted. The bathroom was modern and very much as you'd expect in a 4-star hotel. Over the three days the service and staff attitude was excellent. Everyone without exception gave the very best of service. I want to emphasise this as it was a feature of our stay. Meal wise, breakfast was really good and our favourite meal here. We did have a sandwich lunch one day and this was very well done with the offer of a pot of tea. Dinner we were less impressed by. The a la carte menu was as expensive as you'd expect but, for us, didn't seem particularly enticing with less choice than we would have expected. A little disappointed, we went for the bar lounge menu but weren't bowled over by that either. Our choices were a bit underwhelming, frankly. We didn't eat dinner in the hotel again, as a result. All in all, a nice relaxing break in this hotel, part of the Hand Picked Hotel group. Our slight disappointment warranted the 4-stars I've given, whereas the service alone would be a certain 5-stars otherwise. Don't get me wrong, we liked the hotel and it wouldn't stop us staying with Hand Picked Hotels again. All this has been fed back to the hotel directly and I've just had a good personal and positive email response. They ask you to complete a pretty detailed survey after staying which is a plus point."
