The Castle at Skylands Manor

"I have mixed feelings about this place. First, although it is generally open to the public for a hotel stay I have a feeling it is really utilized most by the people having events (eg, wedding) at this location. First, my biggest problem with our stay was the breakfast. It was extremely disappointing. First, when I made the reservation, I thought it was a full breakfast. It turned out to be a shabby continental breakfast that did not even include a piece of fresh fruit. Other than that, there are pros and cons to the place that depending on what is important to the person staying there may make it more or less appealing. First there was hot water however it takes some time to reach the room, at least the room we were staying in. When I say it takes some time I don't mean 10 - 20 seconds. I mean turn on the shower, go finish your cup of coffee and then see if maybe the water finally heated up. The room we stayed in was large. Definitely not a problem. I really liked the room. When they call it a castle the room definitely fits. So I really liked the room. The decoration was a through back to the early 20th century. However, if you like to look closely for any imperfection you will be disappointed. I also liked the interior of the Castle to look at. The rooms were definitely interesting. Don't know about the food however I think it would be a great place for a wedding. One of the things I didn't like, however it was not major for our stay, is that they lock the outside doors at a certain time and you are basically locked in for the night. My issue with this is that if you want to go star gazing in the big field your time may be limited. A couple more things. They did not have central air in our room; they had a portable air conditioner. They should have more curtains on the windows. I realize that the hotel is in the middle of a botanical garden (big plus for us) and I would not have been surprised to see one or two bugs in the room however there were an inordinate number of stink bugs in the room (dead and alive). It didn't freak me out (it would not stop me from going again), just weird."

Charming 4-bedroom country house 40 minutes from NYC