The child-friendly suites are your best bet, as they have separate sitting rooms (Theodora has enough space for up to four extra beds or cots; Amelie and Louis both have great views). Children sharing parent's room stay free, paying only for meals.
Crèche
The Four Bear's Den is an Ofsted-registered supervised playroom, packed with toys, and open from around 7am until late, and supervised from 10am until 5pm (unsupervised during meal times). Parents need to sign children in, and can then leave the hotel and grounds if they take a mobile phone with them. Children should be left for a maximum of two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon.
Activities
Plenty of space is putting it mildly – there are 1,800 acres of garden and parkland to get lost in. Borrow bikes (and helmets) for free, bounce on the trampoline, chase around the nature trails or go horse riding (extra charge). Club/Blu is an unsupervised playroom for older children, with table tennis, table-top football and PlayStations; PS2 games are available at reception.
Swimming pool
The heated indoor pool is open year-round, with plenty of armbands, floats and inflatable toys to borrow.
Meals
Frederick's Restaurant is adults-only after 7pm. The Conservatory serves family dinners. A daily two-course children's lunch and high tea (£5) is provided in the Four Bear's Den, and Café Inferno serves a children's buffet (cottage pie, toad-in-the-hole and other nursery staples, puréed for younger children; £8.50) at 5pm. Both venues have plenty of high chairs, and are happy to provide packed lunches, supply full-fat cow's milk, and heat bottles. Room service is available 24 hours, although limited after 11pm. The night porter is often spotted heating pre-dawn bottles of milk.
Babysitting
This is available at a cost of £7 an hour for a minimum of two hours, paid directly to the babysitter; you'll need to give at least a week's notice.
Baby listening
A sophisticated baby-listening service goes direct to reception from in-room telephones.
No need to pack
Families with babies are provided with a changing mat and nappy bucket. Kettles, fridges, sterilisers and bottle warmers available on request.
Also
This child-friendly hotel is set on National Trust property, and guests at Ickworth House can explore the vast grounds for free – there's also a huge adventure playground. There are DVD players in all bedrooms, plus a library of DVDs geared towards children of all ages at reception.
