the upgrade for our Anniversary with card and chocolates was a lovely surprise - reception team are fantastic happy and willing to help for anything.

The poor choice on the Menu - very boring nothing special for an up market hotel - and very expensive for the actual choices. Breakfast is extremely expensive @ £26.00 for a a nice but not exceptional choice. But I must say the Cooked Breakfast was delicious.

Our room was a deluxe King and was spacious and well equipped with storage, a huge, comfy bed, a good sized tv and coffee machine. The ensuite had both a bath and shower. The staff were friendly and helpful. The location of the Bear is excellent and close to shops, restaurants, pubs and a two minute walk to Blenheim Palace.

Parking is chargeable but secure. However, there isn't much of it and all on-street parking is either metered or requires a permit. The restaurant menu isn't cheap or especially inspiring so we chose to eat both dinner and breakfast in the town.

We have stayed at The Bear a number of times over years. Always comfortable and very convenient having a courtyard room as one of us has a walking limitation. We were a little disappointed to find one tiny bottle of still water in the fridge in a room booked for two people for two nights. There was no further water provided after we used the one tiny bottle on the first day. Also at breakfast, we were amused to see that ‘portion control’ meant we had 1/2 piece of black pudding with the full English breakfast. Seemed unnecessarily mean and a bit silly. Does restricting a guest to 1/2 a circle of black pudding really make a difference to hotel profits? Otherwise, we were happy to be at The Bear again and will return. Many thanks

We had 3 rooms, 1 in main building, 2 in courtyard area. Really loved size of 2 of them, the nespresso machine. The “dog” room was wonderful! (We came with our 2 dogs). The location is excellent! Very comfy beds, lovely toiletries.

It would have been nice for the third room to be close to the others. Furniture starting to be a bit dated and in room 7 one of the windows had no blind/curtain! Breakfast was very nice, but second and especially third day (Friday morning) some choices from continental breakfast a bit poor, no cheese, no pastries except for handful of mini muffins. Glad it was included in our room price, but was not worth the price that was on the menu.

Great Location. Nice restaurant, good food and wine selection. Bar had a fire place but didn't serve any dark alcohol which was strange. we ended up going accross the road to the Star pub

Hotel could do with some renovation. We first visited in 1992 and not much has changed. Looks liike the hotel uses an emersion heating system, while the room and hotel was warm in general the system was very loud and we didn't get much sleep. Were led to have the valentines meals but were not told of the the supplement for best main course on the menu. Tried to book an extra night, our room was available however receptionist quoted us £250 when it was £150 online. No sense of upselling, surely it would have been better to take £100 than zero occupation!!1

We loved the 'creaky' uneven floors of this 700 years old English guesthouse with its lovely oldie worldly atmosphere. It sends you back in time! Our room was up in the attic where the floors and stairs are uneven which we loved. We had snow on the night we stayed but our room was lovely and warm thanks to great heating that could be controlled. We had a superb bathroom and the shower was amazing with lots of hot water. Coffee machine also in the room with fresh milk available on request. Breakfast in the morning was freshly cooked English fayre with a selection of great choices. Some of which do carry a supplement charge if you want to upgrade your food choice. Also there was ample continental options. All the staff were friendly and helpful. Special shout out to Leena (spelling, apologise) covering reception for being very customer driven. The location is perfect to walk everywhere including into Blenheim Palace and for exploring Woodstock. Private car park at the rear with limited availability! Lovely inviting open fire burning in the hotel bar....

Only one minor negative - there was no soap in the bathrooms of both the rooms. We were told there was none available to supply the rooms so we purchased some in the local co-op supermarket.

Fantastic location, Blenheim palace was just around the corner at the end of the road. In centre, short walk to shops, restaurants, coffee shops but room was at the back - didn’t hear any noise from outside. Room much better than looks on photo’s, spacious & we had a separate bath & stand alone shower. Breakfast was great, 2 sausages & 2 slices of bacon on full English. Only negatives were the breakfast staff appeared miserable & we had to wait until 3.30 for room to be ready, not too much of a problem but had said we’d be arriving early (normal check-in is at 3) & there was no explanation why it was late, just expected to wear it (as though it was normal & ok) & we weren’t the only ones waiting for our room.

See above

We were meant to be visiting Blenheim Palace but it was unfortunately cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. The hotel was perfectly situated to visit Blenheim Palace and the village was lovely. We had a very good meal in the hotel restaurant, food was lovely, service good and the waiter was very friendly. Room was clean but a bit small.

The quickest way to our room was by walking outside along the front of the hotel which would have been ok had it not been pouring with rain and very windy. The room could also be accessed through the hotel but it was a bit of a long walk and the receptionist never really told us how to do this we found out from our friends who we were with. The room was very clean although on the small side. There was some black mould on the bathroom window but the shower was nice and powerful although because of the screen on the side of the bath the water did go on the floor.

Great location in central Woodstock, a very pretty village and worth a visit even if not interested in Blenheim. Our room was spacious with steps down to private bathroom. Lots of authentic features including the slightly uneven stairs but don’t let them put you off. Breakfast had many options and the black pudding was delicious. Just to address a comment about the half slice serving, that’s because it’s very crumbly so they give you an extra thick half slice. Hotel is really a gem with a nice cosy bar too with open fire.

Character and location

No food available after 8 PM. I have previously stayed here and had some lovely bar food late evening. This time around 2030 I arrived and asked about food and was told there was none. There were still people eating in the dining area however. Even an offer of a steak sandwich or similar would of been nice. When I asked a lad in the restaurant about it, he looked at me like I was asking to sleep with his girlfriend and walked away. Reminded me of Fawlty towers and the Americans, arriving late evening looking for food. Was a result in the end as we had a great curry and a beer up the road. Wont be my first choice of stay next time as I’m a regular visitor to Woodstock with work.