This quirky old inn has lovely bones and great potential to be excellent, but it needs a little bit of a makeover. Rooms are clean and perfectly well-appointed, but dated.
The shared areas are really nicely designed - pretty and cosy snug room for the winter, and a super fireplace in one of the 3 dining sections, plus several indoor and outdoor areas well-suited to warm weather. The outside space is large and the garden could be beautiful, but there are several forgotten pots and planters which could do with some lovely plants in them, as could the garden, which has nice established plants, but need some colour.
Service was friendly, but staff seemed quite stretched. Food was decent, though I would have liked two eggs with my breakfast. The continental selection is perfectly good.
The one issue I did have was with the wines. We asked to try a wine and were told that they do not offer tastings. I would have happily paid to try a wine, but in the end we had no fewer than five different wines by the glass, and they were all really dreadful. They were also very cheap, and I would happily have paid more for better wine. We did wonder if perhaps they had been left out in the hot weather – as it seems unlikely that someone would choose so many bad wines to offer by the glass!
All in all, the hotel is nicely situated, in a beautiful area, and it is perfectly good for the price. It would be lovely to see it refurbished, however.