Rectory Farm Annexe

Double Room - 10/10. Clean. Great size. Nice and quiet. Bathroom - 10/10. Clean. Slightly small shower. Great towels. Bed - 10/10. Very comfy. WiFi - 10/10. Good. Staff - 10/10. Great communication with the hosts enabled us to let ourselves in and do our own thing. Friendly hello on our departure. Breakfast - 10/10. Choice of cereals, with fresh bread, fruit and yoghurts. Fresh juice with teas and coffees. Hotel - 10/10. Only stayed one night as a stopover on our way to York. Exactly what we needed. Great little place in a lovely rural village. Excellent night’s sleep.

Rectory Farm Annexe was a lovely place to stay & the rooms were well set out. Unfortunately for us we had a less than good experience. To start with the owners never came & made themselves known to us at all. In retrospect it seems that they were trying to run it as a hands-free Air B&B. We booked it as an ordinary Farmhouse B&B through, we think, ******* or HotelsOne last December. Only later did we spot via the farm’s own website that it was only continental breakfast. However we went back, what must have been through *******, again about breakfast & received the answer that a full breakfast was available for a fee – we actually printed off that answer. So we kept the booking thinking that’s what we’d do. What we didn’t realise was that not only was there no full breakfast but it was also DIY – a few bits left in the cupboard & fridge Air B&B style. In particular there was no ordinary bread - just three slices of sourdough in a tin. So at that stage after going out for supper we went round(there was a card in the room inviting us to let them know if we needed anything else) & asked if we could have some bread & then also queried the idea of a proper breakfast for a fee. I have to say that we did not feel it was dealt with in a friendly way at all. Indeed there was a kind of arrogance about it & we were definitely wrong about the full breakfast. They never did it & how could we possibly prefer ordinary bread. We were very much put in our place. Next morning the breakfast table had hardly been cleaned with crumbs etc left & an empty mini jar of jam. The previous morning’s little bowl of rather ancient wizened fruit compote was still there for the next day after we had had a little of it first time round. Once you start looking we then noticed that the milk container was 2 days past expiry. Sad as it was a lovely place.

The annexe was homely, but a little tired in places. The owners clearly think of themselves quite highly which wasn’t reflected in their manners! We returned from a wedding and being pregnant I wasn’t drinking, unfortunately for them they’d forgotten to close their kitchen window. They had guests staying & we overheard their snobby & show off comments “can’t have been a very good wedding, their already home”, “he looked like a peaky blinder, without socks” which was incorrect. My fiancé had socks on & I don’t think a linen jacket & suede brogues are quite the peaky blinder look! Rude, judgmental & ignorant. Could barely look us in the eye in the morning & had the cheek to ask how our stay was, I replied “I think you owe us an apology” the husband admitted they did. They sent a grovelling email after we had left. To say this ruined our weekend was an understatement and we would not return or recommend this as a place to stay.

The accommodation was superb. Beautifully decorated and sumptuous beds. We enjoyed having breakfast overlooking the garden shared with 2 other accommodations! However, we went on a very cold weekend and having travelled 3 hours we were tired and hungry. When we walked in we felt that the heating was NOT at all adequate. The owner did try and put on the electric fire, but he couldn't work it, so left us! We did manage to put it on, but we didn't want to leave the electric fire on while we went out to supper in a very nice pub nearby recommended by the owners. When we came back we simply couldn't get warm and we both had to wear extra clothes on in bed. Not fun! We were very disappointed with breakfast as they had advertised croissants, but we had day old bread in a tin! The icing sadly on the cake was we were rather taken aback at being given only 1 roll of loo paper!! We would never go again and I certainly wouldn't recommend it! A real shame as it is a lovely house with wonderful converted barns, really one of the reasons we went there.