Someone reviewed below that it was a mixed bag.

I left feeling the same? Although I could find no fault with the evening food, or our room, which was exceptionally clean and tidy, and serviced as if by magic when we were having breakfast. We stayed in room 3.

So why have I marked the inn as average?

We'll our main bone of contention was the fact the inn was closed more than it was open during our stay.

We arrived Friday at just after three to find the place all locked up, but we managed to get hold of someone to let us in, after banging various doors and ringing the bell on the guests entrance. My wife got locked out going back down to the car, as I had the key in the room (and her mobile), and had to get back in via the kitchen when she managed to get hold of a member of kitchen staff.

We have since found out the inn is closed between 3-6pm, so I assume if we had arrived fifteen minutes later we would have been stuck until someone turned up for evening opening.

I have gone back through all my emails and booking form and the website, and there is no mention anywhere there or on their website. Looking down the reviews on this site, I see these are "winter hours". I would strongly suggest they incorporate this information into their website.

We had two excellent meals there on Friday night, and Saturday. I cannot pick fault with the evening meals at all. Some may argue a little expensive, but the food was of a quality to justify the charge. Also the choice of ales was good.

Saturday night was the last time we saw the place open to the public. We checked out on Tuesday!

We had been told on arrival that there was no food on Sunday. So we had already made plans to eat out. What was not pointed out was the inn was completely closed from 4pm. We returned to the inn at about 8pm to find it in utter darkness. This was a shame, as we were hoping to have a night cap by the fire.

On arriving back in the Inn on Monday night, only a chance to comment to the owner meant we found out the Inn was closed completely again all evening!

We then had to go back down the road to Aldeburgh, which was really disappointing as we had been looking forward to finishing our stay with what looked like an excellent steak and chips!

The sad upshot of going to Aldeburgh was we found the White Lion Inn, which we would easily chose over going back to the Dolphin Inn, should we return to the area.

For all intents and purposes the Dolphin Inn is a guest house in the winter, and really should state so on it's website. If I had known so, I wouldn't have booked here and booked somewhere else. I have never stayed at an Inn that was closed to guests for most of the time I was there.

What they did, they did well for the first two days, and then nothing.

This review page, and the guest book is full of comments saying it had the wow factor. I am sorry I didn't leave feeling like that. Left with a feeling of that was okay, nothing more.

As I say a real enigma.

The Dolphin is an excellent inn and base for staying in this lovely part of the world. Thorpeness is a uniquely English village with plenty to do in the immediate vicinity and slightly further afield. The staff are very friendly and the rooms comfortable and spacious. The food, breakfast and dinner, was delicious. Coupled with well kept ales what more could one want?

Happened upon the Dolphin Inn whilst looking for B&B. Rooms were very nicely decorated and my bathroom (Room 3) was also very nice. It would have been nice to have had a shower that hung up rather than a hand shower but the shape of the bathroom (in the roof-line) made this impossible. I was impressed by the little touches such as cotton wool / buds in the bathroom. We ate in the restaurant that evening and everything was excellent (Great sweet potato mash!). We found breakfast very good and nicely presented. We loved the choice of preserves. The waitress was very helpful and friendly. We thought the hotel was well worth what we paid.

Me and my husband stayed at the Dolphin last weekend (21/22 Oct 2011). We stayed in Room 1. The bedroom was, as many reviewers have pointed out, nicely appointed and pleasantly decorated. However, the en suite bathroom was not as clean as I would expect and had seen much better days. The dated bathroom suite was exacerbated by the paint peeling off the walls which compounded the ugliness of the bathroom. There was bath with a shower attachment and no shower curtain. The finish on the bath was chipped. There was no holder for toilet roll and the lino on the floor was old and not terribly clean looking. On closer inspection, the lavatory had not been cleaned properly and there were remnants of excrement on the underside of the seat which I cleaned myself. The bathroom needs at the very least a paint job and a good and thorough clean.

In the bedroom there was a trouser press, kettle, cups with tea and coffee provided. However, the room had an old fashioned 12" portable TV placed on a table in the corner of the room which only picked up 3 channels. I certainly would have expected a digital flat screen TV suspended from the wall, and most customers would expect as much in this day and age, more so given the £90 per night tariff.

The breakfast again was a mixed bag. On the first morning, the breakfast was disappointing. A toaster was provided to make your own toast. The bread took ages to toast and when it was finally toasted, it was as hard as mortar - the toaster obviously had seen better days also. The cooked breakfast seemed to have good quality ingredients, but it just didn't taste as good as it looked. There were flies flying around the dining room and as there were only 4 of us having breakfast, the flies were circling our table. On our second morning, the flies were still in the dining room. I did complain on this occasion about the flies and was told by the restaurant manager that they get rid of the flies every night and there was nothing they could do now because we were having our breakfast. However, if they have a known problem with flies, perhaps they should invest in one of those fly killing machines for the dining room. After the horrid toast the morning before, I asked if my toast could be toasted in the kitchen and they were happy to do this and the toast was much better. I also asked if they would be able to provide generic marmalade (instead of fancy flavoured marmalades) and although they didn't have any in the restaurant, the restaurant manager promptly provided some from elsewhere. The cooked breakfast on our second morning was much nicer and better presented.

When we paid our bill, I thought I would inform the owner know of my impression of our room. When I told him the bathroom paintwork was peeling off and it wasn't particularly pleasant in the bathroom. All he said was "I know". Had I been the manager and, like him, was obviously aware that the bathroom was shabby, at the very least I would have apologized to my guest. Having acknowledged that there was a problem, I certainly would not be promoting that room at the full price until it had been refurbished. I also mentioned about the dirty loo upon arrival to which the manager never responded and again there was no apology. Perhaps I should have said something upon arrival, but I doubt the response would have been any different.

To summarize, the bathrooms, and it was confirmed by our friends in Room 2 that their bathroom was exactly the same, need a total refurb. The rooms were certainly not worth £90 per night - £60 would be a more accurate and realistic tariff for the room we slept in as it stands now. Perhaps with a complete refurb of the bathroom and digital TV, they may then been be justified with the charge of £90 per night.