Retreat East

Stayed in the farmhouse as a group of six girls in October as a long weekend together and whilst we enjoyed our weekend together we were a little bit disappointed with the accommodation. The farmhouse is lovely and understand it’s a very old building but several aspects of the house are completely filthy and need a clean. I emailed customer care when I got home over a month ago and haven’t heard anything back. Horrible cobwebs everywhere (which I understand could happen in an old building but this just clearly hasn’t been cleaned properly in a long time), cigarette bits outside the patio door, filthy remote control, water marks over all walls in the bathrooms and mould in the freezer. Sofas are also quite marked which doesn’t really scream the luxury retreat this is meant to be. There is a window smashed in one of the bedrooms as well and a huge crack in the floor in one of the bedrooms/ ceiling of the kitchen so you can hear everything in one room from below. I would say six adults is probably the max you can fit comfortably without being too cramped. We paid £15 each for breakfast each night of our stay which is not worth it for the continental option!!! The plates aren’t even big enough to fit a slice of toast on and there are very limited options and doesn’t even include a ‘proper coffee’ from the menu. Asked the staff several time to replenish the yogurts and everything was so slow. Some of the group ordered hot food for an additional cost which took 45 minutes to come and it wasn’t busy. Also ordered smoothies which took 30 mins to come as the bar staff had ‘lost the ticket’. So after already paying £15 for breakfast + £4 + £5 smoothie + hot food I noticed on check out they added 13.5% service charge when we received less than average service. I’m not surprised I didn’t hear back via email as when anything was raised to staff it didn’t seem urgent or looking to provide good customer service unfortunately. I would also advise not to come just for a spa day especially in colder months. There is no where to sit and wait apart from the restaurant when a group is in the sauna and steam room area you have to be quiet due to being right next to the treatment rooms.

Wonderful place for a mid-week girls' get away in the beautiful Suffolk countryside. Very cosy evenings by the fire in our cottage, The Farmhouse, although the quirky angles and low ceilings may not be for all - watch your head! Great location for autumnal country walks followed by fantastic spa treatments to rest and recover. Good food in the Great Barn for both dinner and breakfast. Extremely friendly and helpful staff. Just a few housekeeping issues detracted a little - for example the sauna was out of action and the coffee machine in the restaurant was broken at breakfast.

A two night stay in The Burrow with two friends. It was fabulous. The Burrow is really cute! Has a fully functional kitchen, a seating area and a gorgeous little breakfast snug. Two bedrooms with en-suite either side and a decking area with a table and chairs. Impeccably clean. Dinner in the restaurant was superb. Healthy, decent portions and great service. Continental breakfast the next day was deliciously fresh, with cereal, fruit, croissant, toast and cold meat. We weren't rushed at all and could have whiled away our day over breakfast alone. Had the mini retreat spa treatment which was divine. I cannot fault this place and want to return as soon as possible.

We had a lovely stay at Retreat East. Pros: Spa treatment was 10/10 Food was delicious Reception very helpful and pleasant Comfortable bed Evening meal couldn’t be faulted including time of service and waitering staff. Lovely walks Cons: Very slow food service (breakfast & lunch). At lunch it took 45mins to get a club sandwich & poached eggs on toast… which made it then very close to using the complimentary spa facilities. When we sat down for lunch it felt that staff avoided coming over to take our order. Outside tables were left with dirty plates, cups, and glasses outside. I was excited to see the allotment garden but it looked very neglected - many weeds. Complimentary spa was nice, but it was odd having to walk outside past people eating in your towels to get to the hot tub.

Lovingly converted barns & outbuildings, make for a private & secluded retreat. Extensive walking trails, bikes on hand & even a small spa space, make staying on the grounds easy but near enough to good golf & the Ipswich towns nightlife & restaurants, to make this an ideal base for a holiday, mini break or event. The restaurant, The Great Barn is outstanding. We went back for a second dinner after a phenomenal first. The vegetable consume was the best i’ve ever had. Nice piece of Hake for my main & duck for my partner, perfectly matching sides, with the potato hey (which we had as a starter) standing out. Everyone very friendly.

I booked the Farmhouse for my sisters Hen party, there were 5 of us so needed the biggest accommodation on offer Accommodation The Farmhouse is very quaint with lots of original features but there are a few things that made it disappointing for us. First of all three of the bedrooms are decorated really nicely but the fourth bedroom, which has two single beds is in the smallest room and painted the most horrible dark green, this makes it really oppressive especially as one of the beds is right in front of the window. Because of this my daughter and my niece wouldn't stay in it so ended up sharing with me and my sister. this isn't really acceptable especially as my daughter had paid the same as everyone else for the house. Secondly the house is fall of spiders and spider webs. No one expects there not to be the odd spider in an old house but they have obviously been there a long time and never cleaned up Finally, whilst we were blessed to have lovely warm weather it also meant the bedrooms were very hot. Only one bedroom had a window that opened whilst ours had three broken window panes that was clearly too costly to replace so covered it over with a sheet of perspex rendering the window permanently sealed shut Restaurant The food was really nice, especially afternoon tea but the service was soooooo slow, even though it was fairly empty it was always a wait time of around 30 plus minutes, for every meal, whatever we asked for. Seemed to be very short on staff as was quite difficult to find anyone. Spa /Yoga We had booked the Spa day package which was really lovely. especially the treatments, the ladies were knowledgable in the service they provided and we all throughly enjoyed the day. On the Sunday we had booked Yoga in the meadow, this was heavenly and the instructor was excellent, even adapting the moves to help my daughter who had hurt her foot Overall we had a fantastic time we just felt it was let down by the conditions of the house and restaurant service