Rock Inn

Every part of our visit was truly excellent, beginning with a very warm welcome from our hostess Ruth, continuing with a top rate dinner which included the much celebrated feather blade of beef and finishing with the selection of home made ice creams. The quality and consistency of Darren ‘s cooking is fantastic and yes of course we’ll be back!

As ever we had a superb meal this evening. You can always rely on the menu but I have to say the specials board this evening was too tempting with a pork belly starter and a monkfish main course to die for!

Pros Clean room nice bedding and pleasant enough apart from the strong air freshener smell. Food was average not amazing. Good Power shower. Fresh milk for room. Cake supplied. Cons Cold, damp smell hits you on entry being disguised by heavy smelling air freshener. No fire alight in evening so everyone had to wear jumpers to keep warm for meal. Rubbish piled up in front and all around fireplace/wood burner - come on folks what does it take to tidy that up ! Room definitely not superior as described. Cut up carpet beside bed. Loo flush not working properly. Door difficult to lock. Tv only 3 channels. No info whatsoever in room - nothing. Very time specific for breakfast or you will find it all shut up and locked out. Again very cold. Cooked breakfast was just terrible. Not the most welcoming of places. Has lots of promise but falls sadly short in many areas, and overpriced on a d b&b basis. If you like quirky this is for you - take a chance we may have hit on an off time and didn’t get a great room.

I had been to The Rock a couple of times mainly for Sunday roast and although I had read the reviews on here and the comments about the owner we always give people the benefit of the doubt and will try ourselves. We had some friends and their children visiting who stayed with us for a few days and then a couple of days in a lovely place at Waterrow which they said was perfect. So it was a given that we would book into The Rock. We arrived just after our friends and as we planned to come with some other friends in a few weeks time we asked to book a table. She said I'm too busy right now so can we do it later. This was very odd because at that moment us and our friends were the only people in the restaurant (7 of us) and it was pretty early still. The owner was very nice and I mean overly nice to our guests calling them Mr & Mrs xyz etc, which was a bit odd. There was also what I presume was a new waiter. Very young, very shy and nervous. He wasn't great but he was trying and everyone has to start somewhere. The longer we were there the more he seemed to relax and the more the owners crown began to slip. 2 of us went for the rib eye steak on the specials board and 2 for the feather blade and the children had other things. The feather blade was good but the steaks were both very over done. Having read the reviews about steaks being so good we were surprised when she asked how the meal was, we said that the steaks were over cooked. She offered to swap them but only for the feather blade. No new steaks were offered but we said not to worry as we all wanted to eat together and we were all nearly done. After dinner we went into the snug and continued to drink (fairly expensive bottles of wine) and played some games. When the bill came which was around £300 we noticed that there was a service charge of 10% on it. It said we could request to take it off if we wished. Living in this area it is very very rare to see a service charge on a bill unless you are at a Michelin starred restaurant which this is not. We as a group decided to ask to have it taken off and that we would tip still particularly if the tip was going to go to the young lad who was waiting our table. As I said he wasn't great bit it could well have been his first night and we wanted to say, "keep it up"! Our friend went to settle the bill and ask for the 10% to be taken off. The owner was not happy about the service charge being taken off at all and you could see how mad she was bit she was holding it in! A few minutes later my husband went to the bar to book the table for a few weeks time. He said "can I book that table now"? She said 'no we are fully booked that day." But I've not told you which day it is or if its lunch or dinner!" "well we are fully booked" she said My husband was so shocked by her attitude that he walked away in total shock. We had not mentioned when we were planning on coming, there was no way she could have know if she was fully booked, she just didn't want us

It was warm and welcoming to stay and eat there on a snowy night in December. The fresh coffee-making pot and small bottles of fresh milk, as well as slices of homemade cake in the room, were also a lovely touch. The food is definitely the stuff of a Masterchef and we can thoroughly recommend it.

Enjoyed our stay comfortable rooms. Good food. we were made very welcome. Lovely cake in the room on arrival. Fresh milk and ground coffee available in the room.. Bar stocked really well with local ale. Nice wines.