Whitehall hotel, nr Stansted - Dunmow - England

We stayed at the 3 * Whitehall Hotel in Dunmow for an early flight from Stansted. It was booked through Holiday Extras at a cost of £96. 54 which included room, 15 days parking & transfers to & from the hotel to the airport.

Check in time was 15:00 & our room was ready when we arrived at 15:30. It was very comfortable, although a little on the warm side.  Parking is round the back of the hotel on grass so may be a trek for some people, although you drop your luggage at reception before parking. You leave your keys with hotel reception when you go to the airport.

The building is a restored Elizabethan Manor House, the dining room is stunning. We decided to have our evening meal there as there is not really anywhere else to eat within walking distance (and we wanted to have a bottle of wine to start the holiday off so didn’t want to drive). They have about half a dozen choices of main course, which seems to change on a daily basis. You can have one, two or three courses but we just had the mains at a cost of £15. 95 each.

I had lamb shank with mashed potato & red wine sauce which was very nice, while my other half had chicken breast which was supposed to come with new potatoes & a white wine sauce but was served with the same potatoes & sauce as my meal. We queried this but the waiter just confirmed that it had been served with the wrong potatoes & sauce but didn’t offer to change it. We didn’t take it further as we didn’t want to start our holiday off with a dispute.

We ordered a bottle of red wine but the waiter returned quite a while later to tell us that they didn’t have it in stock so we chose another (more expensive @ £23. 50) one. Then we had to remind the waiter to bring the wine when he brought our meals out. All things considered, the meal itself was a bit of a let down. We think it may have been because it was a Sunday & the regular chef may not have been there.

We booked our transfers with reception (which were included in the room price) for 5am & a local taxi company arrived early & took us the 5km to the airport. On our return, we rang the hotel who sent out a taxi to collect us. This turned up very quickly. On return to the hotel, we just collected the keys & drove off.

We’d definitely stay at the Whitehall hotel again if we had an early flight from Stansted.