Travel review: Luxury living at Roseate Hotel in Reading

Think of the best room you've ever stayed in, times it by five and it's still highly unlikely to match the room we were treated to at Roseate Hotel in Reading.

And that's not trying to brag, it's more I've never seen anything like it in my life.

I semi-joked with my wife, Kelly, we could probably have lived in that one room.

As we own a two-bed terrace in Netherton, the size difference between the room we enjoyed for our luxurious one-stay and our actually home was pretty minimal.

After making the two-hour drive down the M40 we arrived a little earlier for our 3pm check-in so decided to try one of the many pubs around the city centre, or just outside as parking was a little tricky, before returning to get settled.

There was a lovely park directly across the road and also the Reading Abbey ruins, which only opened to the public last year following a huge fundraising campaign.

As it was the rain decided to make another appearance so we saved the mini-tour until the Sunday.

Luckily for us, we soon realised there was no need to go outside before our evening meal because the room had everything you could ever want.

Having enjoyed the odd press trip here and there over the years, we have discovered an overnight stay – or maybe two at the most – with our five-year-old daughter works really well.

But never in our lives have we been treated to the luxury that came with the The Roseate Suite. It was simply mind blowing.

The suite comes with a king-size four-poster bed, free Wi-Fi, and a state of the art Bang & Olufsen audio visual system – with a selection of CDs and DVDs – as well as a Nespresso coffee machine.

The decor for the the entire hotel was also stunning. It had that traditional feel and look about it but all with a modern twist.

For instance, our room included some original artwork and a hand-painted floral wall design. Another really nice touch.

After enjoying a few drinks, and after Annabelle had spent a good half hour rearranging her own drawer, we got changed and headed down for dinner at 7pm.

And if we thought the rooms and hotel was stylish, the restaurant was arguably even better.

We had about three different waiters serving us throughout and every single one of them was attentive, polite and really good at their job.

Nothing was too much and they were great with our daughter too.

If you were eating there it's not cheap but the quality cannot be questioned.

It's stylish food, cooked beautifully and not too much of it either.

But because it's so rich and tasty you don't need to have huge portions. At the Cerise Restaurant, the food is classed as modern European with a strong emphasis on British ingredients.

The menu changes regularly with head chef Rajesh Maharajan and the rest of his team creating something new for every season.

As well as the seasonal à la carte menu, there is also tasting menu, set lunch menus and wine dinners.

For starters, Kelly had the pork terrine, which was a beautiful piece of meat cooked to perfection. It had a great taste and very little fat.

I opted for the goat cheese fondant, which came with black olives, moscatel jelly and candied beetroot, which was a tasty, light meal that really hit the spot.

For mains it was the Himalayan salt dried sirloin of beef, with puy lentils, heritage carrots, grelot onion and jus for me.

The meat was cooked perfectly, medium rare, the way I like, and it had a powerful whack of garlic.

Kelly could not resist the cod loin. She was a great fan of the sauce, which she thought was a lobster bisque, as it really brought out some flavours.

All washed down with a lovely bottle of merlot, despite the portions being pretty small, we didn't even manage a dessert.

Although there was no child's menu is was easy to create something for Annabelle, so we went for the beefburger sliders – three of them, in fact, so she certainly didn't go hungry either, and a portion of chips.

She rounded off her own meal with some strawberry ice cream, which meant we were all headed back to our room extremely content and satisfied customers.

Ending the evening with a night cap as Annabelle drifted off, we slept so soundly in the four-poster bed before rising for breakfast.

Again, it was quality over quantity as I had the full English with two poached eggs, Kelly had the eggs Benedict and Annabelle kept it simple with some eggs, beans and sausages.

We could help ourselves to the usual fruit, cereals, cheeses and meats, so we also went slightly Continental too.

After checking out and with the weather looking a lot more favourable, we had a nice walk around Forbury Gardens and the Abbey ruins, picking up some of the fascinating local history along the way.

A truly wonderful stay. Not a bad way to spend my birthday weekend at all. In fact, I'll remember it as one of the best in a long while.

The hotel also caters for meetings and events, weddings and Christmas bookings.

The Aheli Spa boasts a bespoke menu of treatments. Signature services are designed to detox, cleanse, nourish, nurture, heal and rejuvenate.

These include body rituals, scrubs, wraps, facials and skin.

The spa also has three treatment rooms, a sauna, state of the art gym and steam room.

Fact box

The House Room:

• Comes with one Queen bed and can sleep a maximum of two guests.
• Costs £144 per night, or £168 with breakfast.
• The Roseate Suite:
• Come with one King four-poster bed, dining table, fireplace, Bang & Olufsen audio visual system, Molton Brown toiletries and Nespresso machine.
• Costs £384 per night, or £408 including breakfast.

The hotel caters for all types of meetings, events and conferences.

The facilities are flexible, feature the latest technology.

There is a boardroom meeting for 10 delegates, cinema, 30-seat private screening room and 150-guest reception.

Breakfast meals can be paid for by guests not staying, or enjoying a stay on a ‘room only’ basis.

Costs are £15 per person for the buffet, £20 per person for both our kitchen and buffet menus.

À La Carte menu: Starters range from £10-£13, mains £15-£28 and desserts £9-£11.

Classic Room and Aheli experience package, with breakfast included, costs £225.