Spring Vale Beach

It's such a shame! The building of the old Mercure hotel holds ok. The double room was spacious, clean, comfortable and with an amazing close view of the Winchester cathedral (practically over its grounds). But there was no milk for the tea in the room and the television did not show a single BBC channel (not even radio stations), had no access to satelite, internet or cable. When I called reception to ask if perhaps there was something I was not doing properly with the remote control, I was asked if the TV was showing other channels. When I said that only commercial channels seemed to be available, I was told that this was what was on offer and that's it. In some way, I'm grateful for the experience because it opened my eyes to how miserable life would be without the BBC service. I'll certainly pay the BBC licence with gusto now!

The only issue we had was when we finished our meal in the bar the plates and cutlery were not cleared from our table and were still on the table when we left the bar at the end of the evening

. Great staff. Breakfast was excellent.