Six Bells Inn

Awful owner, rude and aggressive Shouting and swearing at customers over asking for an extra heater to warm up cold room. Kicked a 70 year old couple out of room at midnight being abusive and violent towards the lady especially. Do not stay here.

I'm frankly amazed by the number of 5* reviews that the Six Bells has received! I'm giving it 3 and that's really only because of the friendliness of the staff. In all other respects I found it overpriced and deeply disappointing. Our bedroom was cold on arrival and we had to turn on the radiator. The bathroom had an electric blow-heater fixed to the wall. The shower was ineffectual and less than clean. The only shampoo or shower gel provided came in the form of two tiny plastic sachets of 'hair and body wash'. The towels were small and had seen better days. There was no hairdryer and no wifi available in the room, though apparently there was access in the main building. The whole place was old, tired and had a distinct 1970s air. Having said all that, the bed was comfortable and we slept well, particularly as the place was so quiet. Breakfast was ok, if underwhelming.

If I was going for a meal, then I wouldn't hesitate to give this place 4 stars, but to stay, well, that was a very different experience. The rooms are clearly in a converted stable block. No issue there, but seemed closer to its original use than as a nice place to stay. First impression was not great - I'm all for rustic/distressed look, but this room just came across as more shabby - less chic. Not sure if the furniture was meant to look as it did, but it really did not look good! Little things like missing curtain hooks, making them hang all squint, poor finishes etc, raised my hackles a bit, then the cleanliness issues became apparent... Big obvious cobwebs on the curtain poles and dangling from the ceiling indicated the level of cleaning that had been performed. Then the bathroom... the ceiling fan had clearly never had a quick vacuum, and the soap tray was not pleasant. Also in the photos is the questionable electrics situation! The bed itself was spotless, and it was a bonus that there was a spare blanket... I tend to run quite hot, but I kept my down jacket on when in the room, as it was uncomfortably cold. The shower room has no radiator, but there is an electric fan heater on a timer, once you can figure out how to get it going - I used this to try and heat the room in general up. The soap tray aside, the shower was disappointing - somewhat akin to walking outside on a misty day. A suggestion would be to have refillable shampoo/soap containers, as the couple of sachets (confusingly kept in the main room, rather than the shower room) didn't go far. To have no hand soap available was also not ideal/hygienic. Evening meal was perfectly adequate, as was the breakfast, and staff were friendly and welcoming, but the stay in the room was possibly the worst I have had in decades of travelling. Sorry, but I just could not recommend.