Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve

The hotel, grounds and views are absolutely stunning. Our room (Rex Whistler) was beautiful, with a view over the hippo pond. The hotel staff were very friendly and helpful, as were the team working with the animals. Everyone was happy to chat and provide information about the animals. The hotel left a birthday card in our room for my husband, which was a really lovely touch. The golf buggies are a great idea and we really enjoyed using them to get around the site. It was amazing to have access to see the animals out of usual opening hours and we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. The animals are incredibly well looked after and their enclosures are clean, spacious and well maintained. The breakfast in the Garden Room restaurant was lovely but they didn't have any gluten free sausages available. They did however have gluten free toast. The lion experience was excellent! Disliked · I contacted the hotel in advance of our stay for advice on where was best to have dinner on my husband's birthday, as he has coeliac. I was advised to book the Baby Doll restaurant and told that they have the best selection of gluten free food. They said they make both gluten free pasta and pizza dishes. On this advice I booked a table at the Baby Doll and we were really looking forward to a gluten free pizza but we were informed on arrival that there were none available. There was also no gluten free bread available to have with our meat platter starter, so we ended up with just a board of meats. Considering I had informed them in advance and they knew they had gluten free diners that evening, I think they should have ensured they had these items available. Our meal was incredibly expensive for what it was. A sharing meat platter (with no bread), 2 bowls of pasta, 2 desserts and a bottle of screw top rose was £116. I was very disappointed, as it was supposed to be a special birthday meal. Such a shame seeing as the rest of our stay was so lovely.

Would have given this a 5 star review, however, my wife had an accident and broke her foot. We were unable to change the dates of our booking, my wife was unable to cope with the stairs in the hotel. We had to pay for an upgrade to our accommodation to ensure no steps. Very disappointed they wouldn’t move the date of our stay. Staff we accommodating when we arrived. We had a buggy to get around the grounds. Would like to say a special thank you to Helen on Concierge, who was incredible nothing was too much trouble and was very helpful and regularly asked how my wife was coping every time we met. Claire who assisted with alternative accommodation at the last minute to save us from loosing our booking. We ended up staying in the Wig wam. Faith in the Garden Room restaurant who re arranged tables and furniture so my wife didn’t have to walk very far. Finally the ladies in the shop who found a wheel chair and allowed us to park close to where we needed to be