The Tollgate Bed & Breakfast

First stay here in a standard room for one night. We did take a chance because some of the reviews weren’t overly positive. Our room, 108, was spacious and comfortable. It was a little dated but that didn’t bother us. The bed was large and we both slept really well. The bathroom was lovely!! The breakfast. Couple of things weren’t great but when it’s reflected in the price, can’t really complain. When we arrived, we were told breakfast would be between 07.30 -10.00 Then they wanted to know what time we wanted breakfast? When we’ve been away before in other hotels we’ve got up our leisure and headed down to breakfast, so we felt pressured to be ready at a certain time which was off putting. The breakfast itself was disappointing. The scrambled eggs were not great, a lot of white in them so hadn’t been whisked and weren’t soft or creamy. The toast was soggy like it had been buttered and left. The cooked full English was small and not exactly great. We waited 20 minutes before they took our order. But as I said, the price of the room and breakfast was reasonable. We would stay again.

We booked a one night stay bed and breakfast. We got just that the bed was comfortable there was everything we needed. Yes it’s a bit tired but the location is perfect for us. We were surprised there was no evening meal available. All the staff were friendly and efficient and breakfast was very nice.

It was awful, really awful. What made it more awful was that we paid £165.00 for one night in a room that I paid an upgrade for, "a luxury room", it was far from that. I dread to think what a standard room was like. We had room 107. It was just grubby, unclean and very tired. A bit shocked to see a whirlpool bath in the corner of the room, or just at the end of the bed, it threw me right back to the 1980's , the only thing that was missing was the round waterbed! The carpet was well worn, there was a build up of dust behind the room door so much so that there was a visible line of grey fluff where the hoover could not reach! I dare you to look at the box trunking at the headboard of the bed, there were cobwebs.....they were not behind the headboard, but in the clear area between the bedside table and the wall. In front of the wardrobe, the carpet was either threadbare or so stained it looked threadbare. I thought the hotel was playing hide and seek with the fluffy white dressing gowns as we managed to find a white dressing gown tie/belt in the wardrobe, but no "robes". We chose not to use the bath in the bedroom but stick with the shower room. It was nearly good, albeit, one of the pump soap dispensers was empty and the other less that half full. We left the empty bottle on the case stand in the hall, just to give the hint that the soap needed re-filling. Mattress, please invest in a new one, bedding, please invest in some new bedding! Actually close off this room until it has been re-furbished. I suggest moving the bath back into the bathroom on the other side of the stud wall behind the headboard, it would actually enhance the bathroom and the bedroom all at the same time, the pipework goes back to the bathroom anyway! Upon arrival and just after check in we received an e-mail from the hotel, welcoming us to the Tollgate, but also to advise us that the restaurant had closed for a myriad of reasons. The good news was that we were celebrating with friends at the White Horse in the next village. What a great meal that was, why can you not make that work at the Tollgate? There seemed to be a list of additional charges, early check in, late check out, a charge for this and a charge for that, an additional charge for just about anything else we would need, but luckily no other services were needed. Although the offer of a Sunday paper (happy to pay for it) would have been nice. We did see one couple at breakfast that seemed to have all the Sunday papers piled on the table. Maybe it was the owners looking for a new investment or just a couple that had found a local paper shop. There are some upsides, good parking, the breakfast was ok, nothing special but OK. The best part was the breakfast female waiting staff, the young girl seemed to be on the ball, pleasant and efficient. In fact to be fair the older foreign chap serving at breakfast was also on the ball. Housekeeping did start beavering away at about 0800 Sunday morning in the new block, I d