Bailiffscourt Hotel and Spa, West Sussex, Hotel Review

By Lorraine Crighton-Smith on March 1st 2011

When was the last time you sat down and played a game of Ludo? Or Cribbage? It was during the Christmas period at home when I last pulled out a dusty, ten-year-old game of Trivial Pursuit. The previous time it was perhaps Cluedo, or Monopoly, about 365 days before. In a world of iPads and PS3s, it’s easy to forget just how much fun board games can be.

Enter Bailiffscourt Hotel and Spa, which has teamed up with Jacques of London, and launched a rather smart new package called The Indoor Games Break. Joe Jacques, whose family has been making games for six generations, has been called in to train the hotel staff, transforming them into Games Concierges, who can teach guests how to play.

The hotel – in Climping, West Sussex – was built in the 1920s by the Guinness family, using only medieval timber and stone collected from derelict 13^th Century buildings nearby. Today it still feels like a private home, with games – and game lessons – taking place in the original Card Room.

At Bailiffscourt I rediscovered my competitive streak over a (lengthy) game of Snakes and Ladders, but accidentally played a game of off-piste Happy Families with a Snap set (we had strayed away from our Games Concierge – an affable, and unforgettable, Frenchman called Frank, dressed in a kilt).

As if an afternoon of Snakes and Ladders, Shove Halfpenny, Bagatelle and Crokinole wasn’t enough, my guest and I still entered into a slightly more relaxed game of Scrabble back in the room (atop the four-poster bed).

Aside from the scheduled games, we discovered a pool table, a darts board, several peacocks (not to be played with), a spectacular spa complete with outdoor pool and enticing hot-tub, and a bracing Climping Beach about a ten minutes’ walk from the hotel. While I lost the game of Snakes and Ladders – despite reaching the final stretch a good ten minutes before the others – a good time was had by all making the Indoor Games Break at Bailiffscourt a win-win situation.

The Indoor Games Break includes

* Dinner for two

*Overnight accommodation, with breakfast in the morning

*A lesson from the Bailiffscourt Games Concierge

*A choice of either a Jaques’ Luxury Snakes & Ladders or a Luxury Ludo set

*A pack of Jaques playing cards and a set of 5 poker dice

*A pack of Happy Families and a pack of Snap playing cards.

The Indoor Games Break is priced at £280 per room from Sunday to Thursday, and at £340 per room on Friday or Saturdays, and is running until Easter Weekend. Call 01903 723 511 to book. www.hshotels.co.uk

Members Comments

• Comment by: krishnibiru 30 January 2012 - 06:18

  Thank you for this informative post.
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