Gästanvändare
23 april 2023
Travelled down to The Bell for a two night stay to celebrate my birthday. The journey was pretty awful so we were looking forward to a warm fire, a cold drink and a snack to cheer us up. On arrival there was a small group of staff gathered at the bar who, after a while must have wondered what two people standing in the entrance with two heavy bags wanted, so they checked us in. Room was OK on first impressions (Roebuck, on the ground floor, dog friendly). We headed back to the bar, no food until 6 and it was freezing. The sofas around the only fire were occupied with various laptops and notepads, staff I presume. The fires in the main bar had a note saying they were sorry but they couldn't be lit. A problem with the flue apparently but not to worry, they's have it all sorted come next winter (yes, they did say that). Dinner was pretty good and although still very cold there was a good vibe in the bar (no dogs in the restaurant an FYI). Mostly a good night's sleep with not much traffic overnight (the road runs within a metre of the back of the room) but woken at 6am by a staff members dog in the adjacent ground floor office barking from 6am until 6.30 when I went over to the pub to find someone to come let it out. They did apologise at breakfast and refund a night's stay. The room itself had defective blinds that wouldn't open so the room was quite dark in the morning and I couldn't get to the windows to open and air the room. Overall only an average stay and I'm not sure I'll be going back. My recommendation if you're going; go for an upstairs room. The walks by the River Kennet are awesome as is the scenery. Ramsbury Estate is worth a visit.
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