Gadds Town House, Durham Review

Gadds Town House is a boutique hotel in the building of an eighteenth century Georgian townhouse.  We stayed there last month and travelled by train.  It is possible to walk from the train station to the hotel if you don’t have heavy bags.  It took us about 15 minutes.  Alternatively, it’s easy to get a taxi from the station.

Gadds Town House is located on Old Elvet which is a street with plenty of character and mostly Georgian buildings within easy walking distance of the main shops, the castle and the cathedral.  We also walked from the hotel to the university campus during our stay and it’s conveniently placed for that too.

Opulently decorated throughout in a period style, Gadds Town House is very atmospheric.  We were greeted by friendly staff and taken to our room on the second floor.  We were staying in La Rouge which is towards the cheaper end of the tariff.  Our room was sumptuously decorated and felt very luxurious.  It was a fairly compact room though, so not one to pick if you intend to spend a lot of time in your room or you like a lot of space.  Built into the dividing wall between the en-suite and the bedroom is a generous rainfall shower.  When we arrived the curtains were drawn back, but we soon closed them as we aren’t the exhibitionist type.

There’s under floor heating, plus a stove in the fireplace, if you need an additional blast or simply want the cosy look. Provided with the room are complimentary bottled water, Molton Brown products in the bathroom and a good selection of teas (herbal, fruit, speciality and English Breakfast) plus coffee sachets and hot chocolate.  Milk is provided in UHT sachets or you can ask for fresh milk if you prefer.  We had a king-size bed which had a good view of the flat screen TV.  Generally, we were very happy with our room, but in the interests of honesty, we did find some hair grips on the floor, which suggested that the vacuuming hadn’t been completely thorough (although otherwise the room was clean).  I also found the sink tap a bit difficult to turn off properly and it was a bit tricky to stop it dripping.  My husband was impressed by the rainfall shower which provided plentiful hot water at a constant temperature (something he often moans about it if isn’t right).

Breakfast was served in the restaurant until 10am.  There’s a good range of choice from cereal and fruit to a mixed Durham grill or Eggs Benedict. You get fruit juice, toast and hot drinks too.  Order from the menu and it’s served to you at your table by the waitress.  I enjoyed my Durham grill each morning (pictured), while my husband experimented a little with menu.  It’s a good-sized breakfast, filling but not enormous.

During our stay we also sampled cocktails at the bar and had dinner one evening in the Gadds Town House restaurant.  We did try to eat there on our second night too, but it was pretty much booked up, so it would be wise to book in early.

I found it impossible to get the free wi-fi to work outside of the bar and the reception area (on my iPhone), even the restaurant area on the ground floor seemed out of range.  That said, my husband did manage to get wi-fi on our tablet in the room.  I couldn’t get much in the way of a mobile signal either with Vodaphone.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Gadds Town House.  It’s a small hotel with good, friendly service and I’d certainly consider it if I was visiting the city in the future.