This was the most unique property of this trip and actually, of all my travels. Staying in a manor yay! It also was a bonus that this property joined the Tribute Portfolio family in 2024. The official pictures looked really nice and we were suitably excited to experience an English countryside stay.

Address – Billesley, Alcester, Nr Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom, B49 6NF. Website.

Contact –Tel: +44 1789-279955. Email: reception@billesleymanor.com.

Location – located kind of in the middle of nothingness, it is located in a town in England called Stratford-upon-Avon (birthplace of Shakespear if you are the artsy type) which didn’t mean much to me except that is near enough to Cotswold (official tourism website here) which is where we wanted to explore.

Price – GBP220 per night booked directly on the Marriott app for a Grand Deluxe, Larger Guest room which looked pretty decent on the website.

Pre-arrival – there was no pre-arrival email other than the generic invite to upgrade (screenshots shown is for bookings made under a Plat account)

Driving in from the main road to get to the Manor gave us this lovely view – looking super charming in daylight (but a little creepy at night hence no pics).

Check In – we arrived at 11:30pm at night and the front desk staff saw us and asked the bell staff to help with our luggage which was a plus as the property has no lifts (so please request for a ground floor room if that matters).

We were informed that we had been upgraded to a Four Poster (website), housed in the main building, and a room which was apparently where Shakespear himself stayed in since this is a 1599 building which went through multiple hands and restorations since. We were also asked for our choice of breakfast or points

The lobby is so charming and set a great mood to the start of our stay! (pics were taken the next day in day light).

Room – This room 04 was only accessible via staircase from the lobby and while the concept of it sounds really charming, the reality is that the room turned out to have this really old……..vibe which was not my cup of tea. Would have much preferred the more modern room originally booked but we decided to stick out the experience, because, Manor, correct?

And because we arrived so late at night, I just wanted to unpack and rest so didn’t remember to capture a proper pic of the room in general so here is a reference from its official site as reference:

While the above is quite an accurate reflection of the space itself, the pictures are touched up to not show its old-ish vibe. Perhaps my pics were taken so late at night too but that couldn’t have made that much of a difference.

The above four poster bed is romantic in theory but the dark wooden panelling (and in fact, all around) made the room feel rather depressing. The bedside tables were also painfully small.

There is plenty of velvets everywhere mixed with the same dark wooden interiors alongside lighter woody furniture, and had the smallest TV for a room of this size. The old-school wardrobe felt gloomy but had all the function items but was lacking bedroom slipper which we had to go to the front desk to ask as the in-room phone was not working.

The bathroom was thankfully modern and new in every way, including double sinks, a separate shower space, and even a bathtub. Toiletries were Molten Brown (I loved the built in design of the pumps at the sink and shower~) which I haven’t seen for a long time.

The room also had a garden view which looked out to a very manicured lawn spot.

Breakfast – served from 6:30am-10:00am at Stuart Restaurant, the very colonial-vibe restaurant space is cut out into different dining areas and offered mostly comfy looking seats with some facing the landscape outside

The spread was a little disappointing as I was expecting a grander experience from a manor but then again, perhaps it was supposed to be a typical English breakfast spread? And it was summer time, so food were covered due to issues with wasps.

And I’m sad to say coffee here is no good, weak and watered down as like in Glasgow.

Facilities – popped by the indoor pool for a quick look and it actually looked very inviting especially with its warm water temp. Perhaps next time!

The spa also seemed to be a draw of the property and attracts many locals for a spa-cation

Other than that, the public areas of this property made for really nice shots, both indoors..

and outdoors.

Service – largely disinterested, especially at front desk. The only hospitality I felt was from a nice lady at Stuart Restaurant who remembered us from the first morning, as well as from the bell staff during departure. Other than that, I thought it was a shame that such a pretty property displayed no character whatsoever on its soft product.

Check Out – painlessly completed in 10mins.

In Summary,

certainly a very unique experience from my usual hotel escapades but would have loved to try any other more modern room types. Earmark for next if I ever come back to this area again!