Isle Of Wight Hotel Name Sought

[Wrangler3]

Can an Isle of Wight expert help! About 10 years ago a group of us stayed in Shanklin I think (had picturesque old village) but you had to walk down a long way to the beach and seafront. I'm certain there was a chine there too. Our hotel was a lovely big Victorian house conversion with parking in front and a newly built pool and gym (I think) at the bottom of the garden. It was slightly out of town on a cliff top road with fairly posh flats and houses. I remember that the history of the house said it had been built for one of Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting when she retired. Can anyone tell me the name of the hotel!

[Zacs-Master]

Any of these jog your memory?
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotels-g190925-Shanklin_Isle_of_Wight_England-Hotels.html

[Prudie]

This one, Bourne Hall?
http://www.bournehallhotel.co.uk/

[Wrangler3]

Thanks guys. Bourne Hall it is!

[Zacs-Master]

Wow, prudie that was impressive.

[Prudie]

I can only be honest. It took under a minute on google with the lady in waiting tag. Thanks for BA anyway.

[New Judge]

I've stayed at the Bourne Hall a number of times, wrangler. The first time in 1999 and the last in 2008.

When I first stayed it was owned by the Shears brothers and it really was like a country house hotel. A year or two later they sold up (retired, I think) and its fortunes have been a bit mixed since then. In the early 2000s it was run by a couple who treated it more as their private house in which to entertain their mates. They made a right mess of it. On one of our trips there was a wedding on (one of their mates)and they had "forgotten" we were coming. They got a manager in who couldn't manage a whelk stall. He threw out all the sumptuous furniture that was once in the lounge and ripped up the carpet to make it more "modern". We stopped going there but when we learned it had changed hands we thought we'd give it another go. We made a booking on the basis that it was "adults only" (we avoid hotels that take children wherever possible). A week or two before our trip we received a call to tell us that the establishment now takes children. We were not offered a refund but it was too late to book anywhere else anyway. Big Mistake! The people who had taken it over had less idea of running a hotel than I have (which is close to zero) and the trip was a disaster. That was the last time we stayed there. I've had a look on TripAdvisor and they seem to be getting decent reviews now.

Following that we tried Luccombe Hall, just down the hill. That was OK for a couple of years but then the owners bought the hotel on the corner (Luccombe Manor, I think). That hotel was about twice the size of Luccombe Hall and they decided to share the facilities. This was particular bad as Luccombe Hall had the only indoor pool which was scarcely big enough for its own guests.

I've not been to the IoW for about six or seven years because the decent hotels there seem to have gone down the kharzi.