The Joiners Arms

We stayed here for 2 nights. We stayed in the TILL as a couple although there is also a bunk bed. We found it spacious & clean. Plenty of amenities. We were even delivered further towels / toilet roll / tea coffee etc after our first night. It’s very quiet & quaint. The products & diffuser in the bathroom were so nice we bought some for home online. The bar next door was lovely with fabulous food but we did find the drinks a little pricey. The car park states 50 yards but after walking it many times we found it was more 200yards. No issue for us but maybe not for others. As we paid for breakfast to be included in our stay - this was fantastic. Lots of choice on the Buffett or table service.

I was worried about staying at Castle View cottage after bad reviews here. I can see a trace of why the reviews might have been bad but our stay was fantastic. I decided to give 5 stars in spite of, rather than 4 stars because of some minor issues. Overall, I would highly recommend a stay at Castle view cottage, especially if travelling, as were, with friends, or for a family. The decor was lovely and the team had gone the extra mile to make it welcoming, with plenty of provisions and lights and heating on. The bed was very comfy, as was the sitting room and it was great to have plenty of your own space, as you would not have in a hotel room. It was lovely to have a grassy garden out the back which would be nice to sit in in summer. Everything was spotlessly clean. The breakfast was delicious at the Joiner's Arms, which had nice decor / atmosphere and very friendly and helpful staff. We particularly appreciated the chance to book a cottage for one night only, which was on our cycle through up the coast. It was nice to have privacy and the cottage (yes, it is a bungalow but its name is 'cottage' and it is very sweet inside) was in a quiet spot I did not spot the castle but perhaps you can see one form the garden. All well-equipped. I will add the niggles so the hotel staff know and hopefully will respond. The main one is, outside at the back, there is a dripping water leak out of a pipe below the kitchen window. This is wasteful. Others were that the chest of drawers on our room was lacking a handle. The kitchen bin had a faulty foot pedal. It just be borne in mind that with a large property like this it means more room for niggles than you would get in a hotel room. It might help if the Joiners Arms could put more photos on the website so people can make a more informed choice. It was not pretty from the outside but it was lovely inside an very convenient.

First, the Joiners Arms rates itself as 5 stars gastro pub & luxury inn…….it is not. 5 stars of anything in hospitality infers an exemplar in quality product, quality service and quality hospitality. It is not luxury and the bedrooms are not “boutique suites” as they claim. The Joiners Arms does not come close to 5 stars, luxury or boutique. Bedrooms lack TLC and would benefit from the owner/manager actually staying in some to see the issues guests experience; stained carpets, peeling paintwork, dusty, lack of surface space in the bedroom (only surface was fully taken up by a coffee maker, kettle and a wooden box of tea bags, coffee sachets, sugar etc), lack of surface/vanity space in the bathroom, no chair, tiny hanging space (which is too short to even hang a jacket in), only two hangers in a double room (!!), and hopeless bedside lighting. Service was friendly and enthusiastic from well meaning team members but why would you tell guests at breakfast that they cannot have a boiled egg because it’s not on the menu and if poached eggs are on the menu and smoked salmon is on the menu, why do you need to go and ask the chef if the poached egg and salmon combination can be served because that combination is not on the menu? Positives: good pub food at dinner and a good buffet breakfast offering, comfortable bed, good quality towels, friendly and helpful staff. In conclusion, the Joiners Arms has many faults that should be corrected by an attentive owner/manager, it is not a 5 star inn (it is more accurately 3.5 stars), has silly rules about what can be served at breakfast, bedrooms need a good clean and maintenance checks. All that is part mitigated by good food (the gastro pub food claim is accurate), and friendly, smiling and helpful staff. Unfortunately the Joiners Arms probably does not need to try too hard, as there is very, very limited choice of places to stay locally (AirBnB type places aside) so there is no competition. Finally, an establishment can do nothing if it has no car park and no parking is permitted within about 250m of the pub, but why would you not state this parking restriction on your website ??

I booked the Joiners Arms under the promise of 5* food and accomodation and felt missold. It was a very disappointing stay. We stayed as a family of 3 adults and two children in Castle View Cottage. The cottage is poorly decorated and presented. It feels like an old home that has been repurposed on a shoestring with income generation and not the customer in mind. The decor is rundown, it smelt stale and whilst (mainly) surface clean , its shabbiness in no way made me feel comfortable. The wheelie bins are outside the bedroom window and the place feels a bit eerie. The pub itself was warm and welcoming in appearance and the staff for the most part were polite and helpful. The service however was slow as there weren't enough experienced staff working and as the pressure rose naturally the service reduced even further . Our evening meal was ok for most of us but not great. Breakfast was also disappointing: coffee machine serving poor coffee, dirty coffee cups stacked by the machine, dry pastries and cooked breakfast that was also just ok. The cottage should be offered for what it is, a basic level accomodation at a matching price. Neither cottage or pub are high level but when it is sold as such you hope for more. The management need to accept the level of service they are providing is not 5* and either stop selling it as such or make significant changes. I have fed this back to the company before posting.

We stayed in the Aln a wow on entry but needs some thought. It is a small eves room with sloping ceilings painted in dark colours, the only space to sit to do make up with a mirror is in a dark corner but the small surface contains tea/coffee tray, large kettle and pod machine! No room for anything else. One side of bed has no light control for room or the reading light..lighting in the dark room is poor. There is a freestanding bath in the room badly chipped with peeling enamel. On the plus side there is a large wet room style powerful shower in bathroom, but the black wc seat was chipped and flush needs attention. The breakfast was great. good range on buffet and hot food to order. Our experience at dinner ...great food but service could be better. The two tables either side arrived after but received food first and all thee tables had to ask for desert menus and coffee plus the bills as no staff came to assist! Main issue was parking, which is in the free village public car park, which was not a problem, we went into pub to ask where to.park off loaded bags and dragged two heavy bags into the pub to check in, only to be told the accommodation was next door in a separate building....surely the young guy who advised where to park could have advised us to check in first and then take bags straight to room !

Very disappointed with this hotel and very rude staff. We went for pre-wedding drinks and food with family and after waiting over twenty minutes to be served at the bar we gave up. They seemed extremely short-staffed but that was made worse by their rudeness. Completely ignored at the bar without so much as an apology for the delay. We needed an extra seat in the dining area but were told we couldn't borrow one from another empty table even though there were lots of empty tables at the time we visited. Eventually the waitress came to take our order but we were really put off by then and decided to cancel. Breakfast the next day was also hit and miss. We both had to ask for butter and plates as there was none at the self-service buffet area. Would not recommend.