Family Suites in Chelmsford: Your Ideal Family Stay

A family suite helps when it comes with a setting that works for children. Here that means either the convenience of the city centre, with the train station three minutes away, or grounds and a swimming pool in the countryside. The four hotels cover both, and the ratings differ more than the suites do, so I compare them on setting and on the facilities each listing names.

County Hotel is the only city-centre option, a four-star in Chelmsford city centre and a 3-minute walk from the train station. It has family suites, an award-winning restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, and a south-facing terrace. Rooms have a flat-screen TV and free Wi-Fi. It rates 7.7 from 1,517 reviews, the lowest of the four and the most reviewed. I would choose it for a family arriving by train that wants to walk to the shops, the cathedral and dinner, and accepts a lower rating for that convenience.

Channels Hotel is the best rated of the four at 9.3, from 637 reviews. Its four-star setting is a 15th-century Tudor house and a converted stable block in the grounds of Channels Estate, with individually designed rooms and suites that keep original features, and family suites. Guests get free access to a nearby health centre with a swimming pool, and the Channels Bar & Brasserie is renowned for its food. It is the one I would pick for a family that wants character and a pool without staying in a chain hotel.

Pontlands Park Hotel is a three-star built in 1879, with Victorian architecture, in the countryside 15 minutes from the M25. It offers family suites, a restaurant and access to a neighbouring leisure centre with a swimming pool and spa, and it rates 9.0 from 749 reviews. Stansted Airport is 30 minutes away, and Chelmsford train station has direct links to London. That makes it a sensible base for a family flying into Stansted or travelling on to London, with a pool for the children and a spa for the parents.

Ivy Hill Hotel, BW Signature Collection, is a three-star Victorian country house set in 9 acres of garden and parkland in Margaretting, close to the A12 between Chelmsford and Brentwood. It has family suites, modern bedrooms with Freeview TV and free Wi-Fi, the Bartellas Restaurant, a lounge and a bar serving coffees, afternoon teas, sandwiches and snacks. It rates 8.0 from 551 reviews. There is no pool in the listing, but nine acres give children space to run, which suits a family that arrives by car. Its listing stresses the grounds more than any other facility.