We stayed here in Sept 2004 for one night and I thought it was lovely. It lived up to my expectations, although the service was a little inattentive at times (we waited over half an hour to place our dinner order). All the staff were very friendly and I thought the food was excellent (although I avoided the banana soup!).

We had wanted to stay here for a long time, having read glowing reports of the hotel. The location is great and we loved our room but it was not as quiet as we would have liked because it was over the pub - luckily, country life means that the drinking does not go on until the wee small hours. We had booked dinner on both nights, and on the first night, we were disapppointed to be shown to a freezing cold table in the gallery, not the main restaurant. However, we made our opinion known, and the management took our comments seriously, with the result that we were seated in the main restaurant, at a good table, for our dinner the next night. We will know to request a table in the restaurant itself when we return - we liked the hotel, found the food and service good, and enjoyed the atmosphere.

We had high hopes for our weekend break at the Hoste. All the reviews were impressive. We were warned in advance that our room would be small - it was the only accommodation available when we booked, but the facilities etc were fine with some nice touches in the room and a lot of character. We were pleasantly surprised.

But it all started to go wrong the next morning. We waited 50 minutes for breakfast to arrive. Apparently our order paperwork had dropped onto the floor. The waiting staff were wandering in and out of the restaurant, but none of them thought to ask us if we were still waiting. It was only when we queried the situation after about 30 minutes that things started to happen.

On the second morning, the service was faster. Two full English breakfasts were ordered. One was fine, but the fried egg on the second absolutely STANK of kippers. It was disgusting, so a fresh breakfast had to be ordered. Not quite the standard one would expect of a hotel which supposedly prides itself on the quality of its food and service.

At the time of booking we also confirmed that there would be car parking space available. We were assured that there was "ample space". Yet when returning to the hotel at 7pm on the second evening, no spaces were available. There was a special MG Owners Club type event taking place and half the car park had been reserved for these guests. The remaining spaces were taken up by locals who were dining.

This meant that I had to park the car way down the road and collect it when a space finally became available at 11:40pm. It also meant that I couldn’t have a drink with dinner as I had to drive. The hotel staff offered to take my keys and park the car for me, but as my insurance policy permits only named drivers and because the hotel does not have insurance cover this was not an option. They didn’t seem worried that it would have been illegal for them to have driven the car! Perhaps I’m over-sensitive about this, but having had my car damaged by another hotel in similar circumstances I have good reason to be concerned.

To be fair though, dinner was good.

The clientele were also rather "full of themselves". Other guests made similar comments, but the situation was perhaps exaggerated by the people attending the MG event, who were demanding and receiving priority attention. Overall though, we found the hotel pretentious and overpriced. It's a 2 star hotel trying too hard to be 5 stars.

To the credit of the management, we were offered a fair rebate when we checked out, and they were particularly embarrassed about the breakfast problems.

Would I go back? To the area yes, to the hotel, I don't think so. It's a nice country hotel, outwardly cosy and friendly, but somehow the atmosphere and service is not quite right - you just don't feel at home there.

We've stayed at many similar hotels, some more grand, some more humble - where the Hoste fails is that it is trying to please too many people at the same time and operating at both ends of the scale.

We have just returned from our second mid-week break in this hotel. I think it is a wonderful place to stay. The village itself is beautiful; a typical English village with a village green, church, second hand book shop, post office etc. The hotel has a lovely pub with a roaring fire, the rooms are nicely decorated, clean and have nice touches i.e.
your own cafetiere, mineral water, biscuits etc. The food in the restaurants is wonderful and the staff are friendly and not aloof.
There are always local people in the pub and it is obvious that the Hoste Arms is an important part of village life.