The Duke on the Test

Excellent one night stop over for a big family event happening nearby. Lovely room, good welcome and great breakfast. Flexible with some last minute changes to some of our plans. Wish we’d had more time to explore and enjoy the ambience. Would like to come back.

A wonderful short break at the Duke on the Test. A warm and genuine welcome, lively atmosphere in all areas and outstanding rooms. We took three rooms for two nights and everyone found the accommodation supremely comfortable and well appointed. The beds were particularly good. Rooms were spacious and very well furnished. Staff were professional, friendly and very accommodating. All worked with cheer and enthusiasm, engaging with guests in a genuine and warm manner. Special mention to Louie and to Nicky. A delightful experience and a shining example to everyone in hospitality. All of us enjoyed our breakfasts and dinners immensely. The menu is well balanced and on our stay daily specials added further variety. The Duke on the Test is an all round winner - well done and thank you.

Positives first. Lovely staff, very comfortable bed, very nice Sunday lunch and breakfast. We booked the disabled room. However the faulty light timer in the windowless bathroom plunged us into darkness every time used. Very dangerous for anyone disabled who can’t move around enough to re-activate. It was a very disrupted night and ruined our night away. The room should not be re-booked until this is fixed.

Fabulous, beautiful room, lovely comfortable bed & linen, great food & lovely staff, amazing location, especially if you enjoy a good hike, the forest is stunning, absolutely top notch! Highly recommend a stay here! Can’t wait to come back!

Very nice Pub style hotel. Great beds, nice room with a door to a private patio, and very pleasant overall. However, the TV did not work, no explanation on how to make it work, and it was too late so we just went to bed. Full english in the morning was good, but lacked flavor. If you need a place to stay in this area, it is the best place around, so go for it.

On the whole the experience was good. We asked for a room with a bathroom but were given a room for a disabled person with a very low basin, numerous safety handles and no bath. Although we are getting on a bit we did t need all that!! The patio was unusable as there was a strong odor of drains apparently due to the high water table which was not the fault of the hotel. However our room was changed with good humour and friendliness. Apart from that the room and bed were comfortable and quiet. The food was good although the service a bit slow. We think the breakfast would have benefitted from a buffet style arrangement.

We enjoyed three nights at this beautifully restored 16th century inn with a two-year old accommodation wing. The staff were helpful and friendly and the room was excellent. The breakfasts were nicely cooked and I was pleased to see that there was an EV charger but sadly this didn't work. We will recommend and possibly return to the Duke.

The duke on the test is everything you can wish for when staying away from home. Starting with parking which is excellent, the room is well laid out, comfortable and quite. The bar is very well managed and comfortable. The food is on another level which i have yet to come across again in the uk. I woukd give this little gem an 11 out of 10.

It was easy to find and park, plenty of parking spaces. We received a warm welcome from staff who offered to help us with our bags and showed us up to our room. Staff were amazing throughout - even when they were rushed off their feet in the restaurant we still got service with a smile - evidence of their well deserved popularity as a restaurant. The room was just stunning - we loved the decor - very warm and cozy and had everything we needed, loved the pictures. The bed was huge and very comfortable. The bathroom was gorgeous and the towels smelt divine. Bottled water each side of the bed was a lovely touch. It was nice to see Dorset teabags provided. We had 2 nights at the Duke and slept really well. We also ate dinner here twice - we were going to only eat on the first night but the food was so good we had to come back on the second night as well - everything had so much flavour and there was a wide choice of menu options, we loved everything we ordered. We hear they do a tasting menu occasionally - that would certainly be worth trying. On their website they say they buy local which is really good to hear - there was local trout on the menu which was delicious. We had breakfast once (almost missed it as we got the timings wrong by 10 minutes but the chef kindly accommodated us). Service was a little slow as others had mentioned but we were in no hurry and were grateful that they fitted us in, and it was absolutely delicious - worth the wait - don't have breakfast if you're in a hurry though! And, as always, it tasted amazing, my husband said even the baked beans tasted different to usual. A more powerful shower is the only thing I could have improved on, and speedier breakfast service, otherwise, perfect! We were sad to leave and we just have to come back!