The Castle - Villa by the Sea

I love staying at this beautiful and quiet place. Always clean and private, a perfect place to rebalance and relax. This was my second stay here ❤️

i liked the location and outside garden, proximity to shops. didnt know sharing the itchen but didnt matter. the place was old and need upgrades. also carpet needs cleaning and airing. there was a smell when entering upstairs. was looking for a bottle opener, simple thing to provide. cold water taps needs tightening.

Superb, friendly hotel. Rooms a bit basic, but very clean. Very friendly host, booked in no problem. Great location, close to everything. Super value for money, great for a quick break away from hustle and bustle of City life. Highly recommend.

Unfortunately, it was not the relaxing getaway my fiancée and I thought it would be. We're not very hard to please and are happy to stay mostly anywhere as long as there's a comfy bed and quiet. We stayed two nights in the garden villa which was the most premium and expensive room on offer, expecting a secluded and private area to ourselves, which for the most part is what we got. Visually, the garden surrounding the villa is stunning with a delightful view of greenery and nature, and there is no one else who stays in that area behind the main building. The room itself was eclectic in decor which was a welcome change to stay somewhere with unique tastes as opposed to the usual and generic designs of modern accommodation. The spa in the room was great and worked very well, it was warm and the jets were functioning fine. However, we had the horrible luck of staying on two nights where there was a family, with children, staying directly above us. The ceiling feels like it's paper thin and you can hear every footstep that people are taking above, specifically when they walk down the hallway to use the bathroom (yes you can tell their movements due to the 10 - 12 steps they take followed soon after by the sound of a toilet flushing and then another 10 - 12 steps and someone going down stairs). This would usually be semi-bearable, as the occasional sound of someone walking back and forth is still annoying, but fine. But as mentioned earlier, there were children staying up there and they insisted on running back and forth down that hallway so many times throughout the day, and especially the early morning, that it became extremely frustrating to hear. I tried to take an afternoon nap when we arrived after being so exhausted from the travel and was woken up by the sound of thumping footsteps running back and forth. As these two nights were supposed to be our little getaway from our own kids, and a chance for us to have a relaxing sleep in, we wanted to nip this problem in the bud immediately. We reported the noise to the proprietor Jenni on the first night, Jenni was very friendly and assured us that she would speak to the family about the kids' running around. We later spoke over the phone again to the other proprietor, Harley who was also very friendly (and characteristically humourous) about the situation, reassuring us that the family had been spoken to. Harley also mentioned that the family was in fact, their own family visiting from the UK (as this site also appears to be the actual residence of the two proprietors). I am unsure of the logistics of this situation, but personally, I believe that having your own family members stay at the location, but cause disruption to the paying customers, is an unfair and detrimental business decision. The next morning I was woken up at approximately 7:00am to the sound of children's feet running back and forth and thumping above me again. Not just to the bathroom but just constant back and forth through a