First the positives: this place is in a beautiful location, dead quiet, gorgeous building, just as we expected from an old country farmhouse. This was the first time we have ever really stayed in a small family run business like this, as we normally stay in much larger establishments. Room seemed very clean, nice clean bathroom too, which was large. Lovely shower with constant hot water. I did think long and hard about writing this review, as I really don't like offending people, which is probably why I tend to stay in bigger places, as it's much easier to complain and you don't feel bad.
Now for the not so positives: room was really quite small, not much room for moving around in (we did have an extra bed in the room tho), I wouldn't call it a suite, this implies a separate sitting area really, which it did not have. The extra bed wasn't massively comforatable, very squidgy mattress, which my daughter had to spend 5 nights on.
Hospitality tray was lovely, cafetière, hot choc were nice touches, but I did not see any hand baked biscuits? In a place like this I would expect homemade ones, not in a packet. Was not offered a cream tea at any stage which was disappointing.
Was not massively impressed with breakfast either I'm sad to say, and I thought it would be gorgeous. It was only the 3 of us staying at the B&B, so I can only assume a bigger effort wasn't made because of this. When you look on their website, the breakfast menu does read differently, and is not in fact what is on offer. The continental breakfast is not all it says it is. There was no fruit, or fruit salad, or porridge out to help yourself too. Nothing was really explained very well. Their sugar alternative was 2 years out of date, as was the sachets of Nutella which my daughter was about to eat. It was growing something in the packet. Cutlery and plates were not always very clean. Tania did not make an effort to come and say good morning, even tho she was in the kitchen next door. I found this a bit odd for such a small establishment. Whilst Richard was more than happy to answer any questions we had about places etc, no other info was offered. We would like to have been maybe given a little tour of their property or told where we could walk to, where the animals were etc. One evening we wanted a refill of milk, but the whole place was in pitch darkness with nobody to be seen anywhere. I can only assume they were out. Again, I found this odd, as surely there needs to be someone present at all times? On the website it says that the beds were changed if staying for 5 nights or more, but ours were not changed at all. Whilst I appreciate that this is a home, it is also a profitable business, and I think this needs to be differentiated. If a lounge is for guests use, it shouldn't be personalised with family memorabilia, but that is just my opinion, and some people may love this.
It was not cheap to stay here, and I'm disappointed that it did not live up to expectations. If you cannot provide things to paying guests, then you shouldn't say you can. I do feel we maybe suffered as we were the only ones staying here. I know we should have really pointed these things out to Richard and Tania, but we just felt awkward in doing so. I know they have had really good past reviews, but if they dont up their game, them I'm sure their will be more reviews like this. Sorry.