Wychnor Park Country Club by Diamond Resorts

The resort is a bit off the beaten track but is very clean and generally well kept (with the exception of the “golf course”.)

The reception, cleaning and maintenance staff we encountered were always polite and helpful.

Our 2 bed, 2 bath apartment was located in the 500-year-old Coach House and had been renovated to a good standard although the floors were understandably a bit uneven and a bit creaky. The interior was clean and well decorated but the exterior could benefit from the removal of the abundance of spiders and webs outside the windows.

We had a lot of trouble with the key cards. We were unable to enter the apartment building on arrival and it took several different attempts by the front desk staff to resolve the issue. By the end of our stay, only one of our three cards was working.

The golf course is a joke. These are the worst greens I have ever seen in my life. Large areas of dead grass or bare patches.No attempt to fill or repair the numerous rabbit scrapings some of which were so old that the grass was growing in from the sides.

We dined in the restaurant 3 times and had issues on each occasion. The first night two of the five main courses were not available. The second occasion was on my wife’s birthday and we had booked the restaurant to be told on arrival that it would not be opening that evening and we would have to dine in the bar and eat off the bar menu.

Also one of the four main courses was wrong and I had to wait 15 minutes for the correct order to arrive.

On the third occasion, the service was so bad that we would have left the restaurant to eat elsewhere had we not already finished a whole bottle of wine (therefore could not drive anywhere) before the starters arrived. When they did arrive, after almost an hour, the vinaigrette was missing and we had to wait again while it was made. I had really enjoyed the lamb dish (with £3.50 supplement) on the first night so my wife ordered it and it was overcooked. We did not complain about that as we were not prepared to wait any longer for a replacement. Through all of this, our waitress was great and we felt so sorry for her having to constantly apologise to the customers for the delay. The problem was obviously in the kitchen and the complete lack of management.

I do sympathise to a degree as the restaurant relies mainly on the people staying at the resort due to its location. The apartments are self-catering so not that many people tend to eat there so it is very difficult to predict what food to prepare in advance and to provide the right level of staffing.

I tried to book a massage for my wife and sister but was told that there was no masseur/masseuse available for the next 2 weeks. Very disappointing. We ended up going to a health club in Burton-upon-Trent. By the way, there is no spa and any treatments would be carried out in your apartment.

Having said all that the pros did outnumber the cons and we did enjoy our visit to the resort and the local area, particularly, the cathedral city of Lichfield, Lichfield Golf and Country Club and Barton Marina.

Terse, rude and blunt older receptionist who took an instant dislike to our party was a bad start. Kept us waiting for two hours to book into our room claiming, “The room is not ready” whilst stating she did not know which room we had! We had to kill time by having lunch in the bar. The barmaid was pleasant and helpful, although the kitchen had not heeded the order fully and failed to give us what we had ordered. We then killed time by checking out the leisure facilities and walking around the accommodation blocks and gardens.

The room we were eventually given had no sign of anyone cleaning between 14:45 and 15:30 hours (the cleaners were on the opposite side of the block). We were suddenly given the room 2 minutes after my spouse had verbally complained to the obstructive receptionist about the unnecessary delays at 15:50 hours after she had to ask her colleague to use her computer, despite fobbing us off earlier with “I will keep checking.”

The two roomed apartment number 25, “Grouse”, was spacious and had very comfortable beds. The top shelf in the double bedroom wardrobe was not painted and dusty. The wardrobe automatic light would not go off , so we had to switch the strip light off in the cupboard. There is no extractor fan in that room’s en-suite. The patio was untidy with gravel / concrete mess by the doors. We had an ant infestation problem both in the kitchen and on the dining room table, despite making sure no foodstuffs were left out. We were booked in for three days, however, our key cards all stopped working after 10:00 hours on the second day. When we spoke to the same unhelpful receptionist we were fobbed off with, “mobile phones can cause these to stop working.” All three cards had not been near any mobile phones.

In the men’s toilets in the main building, there was a nasty musty smell.

Wychnor Park is in a lovely setting, quiet location and pleasantly dark at night. The facade is impressive, however, the interior feels rather bland. The younger staff were generally pleasant and helpful.

We would not stay here again and would not recommend this resort to anyone.

The experience was very disappointing.

The courtyard rooms are quite dated and the cleaning needs to be improved considerably (mould in shower, dirty sock left in wardrobe, the kitchen was really grubby, cigarette ends left on the table outside).

We had to pay extra to use the pool but it was full of children, making it far from a relaxing spa experience.

The accommodation felt more like a care home (which would have been a lot cheaper!)

On a positive note the location is lovely.

Stayed here on 26 July 2017 for one night, booked a two bedroom cottage.

Paid extra for wifi which never worked.

On arrival, I noticed that we had been allocated a 3 bedroom apartment but didn’t really think anything of it.

On checkout next morning I asked the lady on reception about the £100 retainer and she said that this would be put back in my account immediately as there were no extras to pay for. Imagine my horror when I checked my Bank account later that day 27 July) to see a further £193 had been debited from my account.

On phoning I was told it was because we had been upgraded to a 3 bedroom, something we never asked for nor needed.

Reception said she would sort this out as it was a mistake.

I had to phone every day to have this rectified, this money was not credited back into my account until 1st August, the day I returned home from holiday.

I find this totally unacceptable, if I did not do internet banking I would have been unaware of this until I came home.

I neither gave you permission or authority to debit this money from my account.

I have emailed you twice without even the courtesy of a reply.

BEWARE of this.