Manorhaus Ruthin - Manorhaus Collection

Stayed 2 nights whilst visiting the area. Positives: well priced, well located, spacious room, tea and coffee facilities were good. Negatives: room layout a bit odd, with a bath in front of the window and a wet room that had seen better days. The locks on the doors are pretty poor. In fact the room door wouldn’t lock very easily and the closing arm needed adjusting, the fire door at the top of the stairs was unnecessarily heavy, the front door required slamming to shut and the front gate was a pain. So entry and exit wasn’t a pleasant experience. The shampoo and conditioner didn’t work, there was no shower gel. Overall the place has the potential to be very good, but it feels in need of a bit of tlc.

Unfortunately we didn’t love it here. It is a lovely boutique style hotel, with some lovely touches like a cafetière in the room, dressing gown and slippers, and the decor was very nice, run by a lovely gentleman and his partner. But there were a few very fundamental things that really let the place down. The lock on our door was broken meaning it wouldn’t lock from the inside. It didn’t have a latch, so you needed to lock it just to shut it. The man was very helpful but couldn’t fix it so we just had to ram a chair against the door to keep it closed. It was downstairs right next to the front door, so we didn’t feel very secure and just didn’t know if someone would just wander in. Turned out only 2 of the rooms were taken that night so in hindsight why didn’t he just put us in a secure room!? It took until late the next day to resolve by giving us an alternative key, after me chasing and calling to follow up. That evening we thought it might be nice to have a drink in the bar….hit there was no ice, which is quite fundamental for a bar really. Then we were charged £18 for 2 gin and tonics! Jolly glad we only had one!! We chose not to have breakfast as well was that was also rather overpriced. There was also little things like you had to unplug the tv to boil the kettle! And the bed had a weird hard ridge round the outside and when you lay on it you were slightly tilted backwards. Anyway it was ‘fine’ just a little bit like it was trying to be something special and it wasn’t and hugely disappointing that they thought it was ok to offer us no solution to the lock issue / pretty basic.

Arrived and followed the comprehensive instructions to gain access to the property, find our room and collect parking permit - all went without a hitch. Nearby carpark has lots of space but can drop off at the door. Pass works across the county which is a real bonus. Room was dramatically decorated in dark tones and floral paper - and really worked. We had said we were bringing our dog - a bed and bowls were waiting for her in our room. Fresh ground coffee and cafetière in the room too. Small details - big impression. We had breakfast on both mornings - wonderful Welsh breakfast (with amazing bacon) freshly cooked to order. Dining area is informal and full of interesting art. In the basement there is a fantastic 20-seat cinema. Gavin & Chris put on films with a themed 2-course menu that residents can attend, but is open to locals - we got a quick preview: sound quality and seating are impressive and the setting is unique. Look at their website for details - we want to return for the experience. Perfect location to explore the whole town on foot; garden furniture to sit quietly and read if you want. Lovely hosts, lovely stay in this historic but very comfortable quirky accommodation.

I attended the Supper Club's Christmas dinner last night and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. The menu was really good the other diners were great company; all in all, a very nice way to continue the Festive Season experience - thanks Gavin and Chris!

The welcome was not warm by any stretch of the imagination!! Ok we hadn’t read an email that had been sent to us, but we were made to feel like an inconvenience…. No welcome nice to meet you…. Anything other than why haven’t you read the email! Room very tired and really not great ! No interaction with anyone for the rest of the stay!

We booked the Film night on 28/04/23 the meal was ordinary. At the end of the meal the restaraunt emptied very quickly. Little did we know this was because the cinema downstairs could not sit 10 couples sitting togetherso when we went down there were no spaces to sit together. I complained but was greeted with a shrug of the shoulders so what was intended as a romantic night turned into both of us watching thr film alone. My partner complained by Email yesterday the response she got was in her words rude and uncaring suggesting we didn't need to come back. My partners impression was that they didn't care and suggested we didn't need to come back. We still have a copy of their reply.