Norton House Hotel

This was our third stay at this hotel in as many years, and a year to the day since our last stay. Our room (No. 2) on this visit was the same room as we stayed in, on our last visit. Again we arrived in the early afternoon and we were able to use the capacious carpark before checking-in-time; we do however, as a courtesy, pop into the hotel reception to request this facility. The hotel is a pleasant place to stay and generally the condition of the décor in the public areas is and rooms is very pleasant. The addition (or possibly opening-up) of a patio area at the back of the hotel is good to see. This patio is along the back of the very impressive formal dining area. From the appearance of the latter the hotel is obviously promoting itself as a wedding venue. Our room was exactly the same in appearance and in facilities (i.e. nothing obvious had changed). Bedding and towels were all clean and fresh, and the room was clean and pleasant, and free of odours. The shower cabinet in the bathroom is still incompatible with guests with a medium (or larger) girth. As per my previous review I am not a particularly big person, but I had to turn sideways to step-up and into the shower cabinet. With the access aperture being only 32cms wide when fully opened, I was only just able to slide-through by slightly breathing in. The room service staff had left the shower head pointing at the back left-hand corner of the shower cabinet. As a result when the shower was turned on, water substantially leaked onto the bathroom floor, and an appreciable puddle of water had accumulated before I noticed. The smoke detector in the room still emitted red flashing lights which were very annoying; even with eyes closed we were both well-aware of these lights. I am making a note to ensure I buy sleep eye masks for any future visit to this hotel; and likely other hotel rooms; given that smoke detectors are now standard equipment in hotel rooms. Breakfasts were better than the previous visit, but the waiter taking the cooked breakfast orders had a ‘deaf spot’. This is very similar to a blind spot; in that, on both mornings he totally missed the “with bacon” in my order of “Two poached eggs on toast with bacon”. When the orders were fulfilled I pointed-out to our waiter that the bacon was missing and he duly went to the kitchen to get said bacon. The eggs were perfectly cooked, runny yolks and no excess water trapped in the albumen. The toast was buttered (strange, but I agree there was butter provided on the tables). The bacon was particularly good; being tasty and beautifully cooked. Tea was “Tea Jim” as we put it (an adulteration of a Star Trekkin’ song lyric “It’s life Jim, but not as we know it”) where “life” is replaced by “tea”. For us the only tea worth having is very strong Indian tea, and noting else works for us. All staff we encountered were very helpful and pleasant and no effort was spared to assure our comfort. It was a good stay here and we will certainly reserve a room here on any future visits to Mumbles.