The Speech House (Best

Comfortably appointed en suite hotel bedrooms, several furnished with four poster beds, have been tastefully refurbished and offer all the modern facilities whilst retaining their original charm. A new ground floor courtyard including a room with disabled facilities, 3 family rooms with twin and double beds and a health spa opened in mid 1999. Within the grounds are 2 cottages offering self catered accommodation for up to 6 adults per cottage. Within the new Aquaspa is the spa bedroom, which benefits from the sole and private use of all the spa facilities when let. The public areas of the hotel and much of the beamed Verderer's Court clearly reflect the former use of The Speech House as a court house to the Foresters of Dean. Meeting four times per year the Verderer's Court with a raised dais and bench remains Britain's oldest functioning court room and provides the hotel with a most fascinating judicial and royal history.