Ashdown Park Sussex

This was my first time staying at one of these old estates that has been turned into a hotel. I suppose, I had a different idea of what would be offered as far as accommodation and food goes. This review is for both the hotel and the restaurant.
There’s no doubt, this is definitely old school. Burberry during the day, suit coat at night. The grounds and gardens are quite beautiful — we absolutely LOVED the secret garden and spent a good hour in there, by our selves, with our baby girl. The location was exactly what we wanted: relaxing, close proximity to the Six Sisters, country pubs and Gatwick, blah blah blah.
But it was expensive. For $ 350 a night, I expected first class and UPDATED accommodation. No. Not at all. We not in the main historic part of the hotel, which is kind of the point of staying here, isn’t it? But we were «upgraded» to a suite (read weird evergreen carpet, outdated furniture and bedding, large bathroom with outdated everything). I will say that they were very clean, turn down service was great with warm cookies and juice, and they even provided a pack & play for our baby which we hadn’t requested.
The complimentary breakfast was fantastic, with hot and cold offerings. But the service people are completely inexperienced. Dinner, which was darn expensive, was a total mess. We had the Chateaubriand for two, and it had clearly been precooked and heated up in the microwave — served with accompaniments that were cold. The only saving grace was the drinks we had before dinner — the barman was fantastic and the cocktail inventions were all fantastic. OH, and I can’t leave out the best part of this stay… we had arranged a babysitter through the hotel… JULIA, you are amazing. She was like Mary Poppins, but better.
The only other comment I’ll make is that the spa was lacking. They had sent me a confirmation of my booking, but then put the reservation in their system for the wrong time. So I obviously missed my appointment. Then the offered me a free 30 minute service, and told me the wrong time for that as well! Luckily, they have a very nice indoor pool that we were able to take the baby into, which was very nice on a cold summer day. (They did eventually get me a free 30 minute massage, which was marginal, but fine for the price).
Overall, the hotel is nice, but don’t bother eating here.