The Windmill By Richard Phillips

My wife and I were really looking forward to our stay at The Windmill, on one of our frequent visits to my wife’s parents. The pub is a gorgeous Grade Two listed building, located in a lovely village. We stayed in room 1 (Leslie’s Reserve). The room including the toilet and shower was clean and had a comfy bed and quality linen. We loved the exposed beams in the bedroom and the clearly original flooring. The toilet seat handle was broken – if you’re claiming ‘boutique’ this should have been fixed. However, it doesn’t take much of a scratch below the surface to find multiple issues. Please take this feedback as constructive as if you check my reviews, it takes a lot to give a negative one. There is a sizable hygiene issue at The Windmill! Had I not paid upfront, I would have only paid a portion and let you chase me for any balance in the civil court! When we got to the room, the provided bottle of water was half full and the 2 glasses were dirty and clearly had been used. When we raised this, the replacement glasses had multiple fingerprints and still weren’t clean (see the photos). We bought our own bottled water. There was only one coffee cup. When we asked for a second one, the When I raised this, the lady who seemed to be in charged, questioned my provided mug clearly hadn’t been cleaned as there was coffee stains in it. The 2 teaspoons still had sticky remanent of coffee in the spoon. view, saying “one of the cups is clean”. I said if one cup and both spoons are dirty, I’m going to assume all of it is unclean! There was no soap in the bathroom for washing hands. When we asked about this, we were told by the lady with brunette hair and a sleeveless top, that they didn’t provide soap for the sink. Upon realising what she was saying, quickly corrected herself and blamed the supplier. Surely, if that was the truth, they could nip to a local shop for soap. It seems we had to wash our hands by stepping in the shower to use the shower gel that was bolted to the shower wall. And this is a ‘boutique’ hotel?? While having a drink in the bar, we overheard the staff slagging off customers at a table. Totally unprofessional. By the way, the lady behind the bar with braids was fantastic. We chose to eat dinner elsewhere after our check-in experience. That brings us to breakfast. The same young lady with brunette had and the same sleeveless top from the day before served breakfast. She is clearly in the wrong job! There was a total lack of engagement. There was no ask to check if our food was OK. Zero engagement. That lady is in the wrong job. She looked miserable and disenfranchised. My wife had poached eggs and the chef clearly can’t cook an egg! They were hard boiled, so my wife left them and effectively paid a full breakfast fee for a slice of dry toast and a coffee. We waited for the brunette lady with the sleeveless top to collect the plates, but this clearly wasn’t happening, so as we left, my wife fed back to the server, while she was near the kitchen, that she left the poached eggs as the yolks were solid. There was a faux apology and she cared so much that as we lingered, she didn’t feed this back to the chef. The chef should be ashamed for delivering poached eggs like that. The above issues are easily fixable. The pub needs strong leadership which the interim manager isn’t doing or doesn’t know how. During the evening, someone asked the interim manager if there was car park spaces out the back and he simply raised his arms and said, “I don’t know, I can’t see from here”. Totally unprofessional. This pub will not survive with the standing interim manager or some of the staff. You need to replace them, especially the brunette lady that wore the sleeveless top and the interim manager. They are damaging your business. We both really wanted to like The Windmill and make it our place to stay when visiting my wife’s parents, but we will not be back.

The cosy atmosphere with smell of the real fire is what captures you straight away. The food was amazing and the staff were all friendly and very attentive.

Visited here on Tuesday for some lunch, booked online but didn’t need to as was empty. Was seated at a table for two but one of the chairs wasn’t a chair was more like a sofa which is fine but then you have to sit on your coat which can be uncomfortable when eating. I have visited here on many occasions so know the menu and know the food is going to be good which it was. The pub was all christmassy in decorations but no music until we nearly left? Needs music for a bit of atmosphere. All round good pub lunch

Was looking forward to breakfast at the windmill but was disappointed to say the least the bacon was so burnt an dry it was like eating wood chips an I believe garlic on mushroom doesn’t belong on a full English was a shame as I had heard good things about the place

Excellent food and service. Quality of the food was outstanding we had duck breast and plaice). Service was attentive but not pushy and the waitress was knowledgable about both the wines and food. Not cheap but reasonable for the quality and service £130 tip for two people two courses, a beer, glass of wine, excellent coffees and 2x tawny ports). Nice log fire, fairly crowded but not excessively noisy. Highly recommended.