The Old Rectory

Beautiful quiet location next to a stunning church

The location. The house was beautifully decorated and spotlessly clean.

No tea/coffee facilities in the room

The warm welcome, the large and comfortable room and the location

N/A

A lovely house and grounds (with tennis court) situated in a quiet rural location. We were greeted pleasantly by one of the owners, and allocated a large, twin aspect, well-decorated and comfortable bedroom (with decent bedding and towels), complete with 2 bottles of drinking water and some small bottled toiletries.

The owners appear to have delegated the provision of just about everything to a local villager who, frankly, seemed fairly disinterested and appeared to only be there for cooking the breakfasts. The bedrooms were not serviced on any day, nor replenished at all during our stay - when we raised this issue (as we were checking out) we were told that we “should have asked” (!). The room itself had no coat hooks, the bathroom extractor fan was not working, and the house’s communal lounge is very small with seating only for 2/3 people (we were 4 adults travelling together, and there were other unoccupied rooms also). Breakfast was not a great experience, with nothing on display other than the self-service tea/coffee facilities and the tables laid - there were no menus of what was available and we therefore had to ask for everything (much of which was not available, such as white bread or smoked salmon). The food options were therefore fairly basic and limited but it was generally fine when it arrived. Weirdly, on the first 2 days, orange (only) juice had already been poured into glasses - not always pristine, but replaced for the third day with better (wine) glasses and a jug of juice - and put on our table for each of us before we had even entered the breakfast room. We were then asked whether we wanted a cooked or continental breakfast - there was no evidence of any cereals, bread/rolls, pastries, fresh fruit, etc - and we were asked on completion of our meal what we wanted for our breakfast the next day and when we wanted it. This was the experience each morning, and was somewhat disappointing, particularly bearing in mind the high room cost. Overall, there was nothing so seriously wrong that we felt we had to speak to the owners, which was just as well as they had not been seen since check-in, not even at check-out where the same one person in attendance just told us to leave the keys in our rooms when we left.

Everything. The friendly staff, the beautiful rooms that were impeccably clean, how quiet the area was, the lovely beds, and the delicious breakfast.

Nothing

The bedrooms were particularly well equipped and comfortable. The location of the house is excellent and its surrounding gardens are beautiful. We had a very good breakfast.