Reviews of Mill House (The), Berwick St James
Review by Hello Moore on 26th August, 2013
Add your review Date visited: 24/08/2013 - 26/08/2013
Well, our experience of visiting the Mill House was really enjoyable and positive. A great place with its quaint personal touch, and memorabelia aplenty, some of which used to be alive. The hunting traditions go back a long way. The grounds are really lovely, tranquil and peaceful. Colourful Diana and Michael were very welcoming and accommodating. In fact, Michael was waiting for us in front of the house when we arrived. We had some interesting conversations with them both and were told some of the history of the area. Breakfast was lovely and organic - a cracking proper cup of tea. Satisfied customers. What can I say? :-)
Review by sarah johnston on 22nd June, 2008
Add your review Date visited: 20th June 2008
I can fully empathise with the feelings of Angie who visited the mill house in 2006.
Angie, it would seem the abrupt and sheer rude manner of the owner Diana has not changed. No I will not accept that she is a character and that this is an excuse for her rudeness. She is simply rude.
I had the unfortunate experience of staying there during 20th through to 22nd June with my mother. We had driven 3 and a half hours, we had decided to take a weekend away from it all. By the time we arrived we were tired from our journey and the traffic associated with the summer solstice. House and gardens were quickly observed to be beautiful, as described on their website.
We crossed the little bridge over the stream, the door was open, there was indeed a hastily child like sign through the glass stating to 'knock loudly'.....the door was open and within there was a much clearer sign stating 'do not knock, come and find me within the house'....ok we thought. So enter we did, 'hello, hello'.....and then finally a woman appeared, ah we said in pleasant tone hello. The response was dreadful, basically grilling us over whether we had knocked and if we 'had knocked like this' (aggressively knocking on the door looking at me and my mother as if we were a pair of naughty school children'
THE WELCOME< WELL THERE WAS NO WELCOME, absolutely dreadful. And to top it off the woman continued throughout our stay to be miserable.
No refill of tea and milk in the rooms, no how are you today, no human feel about the place. Thank fully the flowers and gardens were lovely.
Wish we too had walked out. Disgraceful. Thanks for dampening what would have been an otherwise pleasant weekend. Rest assured we shall not be staying there again.
Review by Mary Beth King on 8th August, 2006
Add your review Date visited: September 2005
I had to laugh when I saw the first review of the Mill House. The owner of the house, Diana, can indeed be formidable but I enjoyed meeting her and appreciated that she is a character.
I found the house very interesting and the grounds are lovely. No PETA supporters had better stay here as almost every painting, print, and other memorabilia that fill almost every wall in the house is about fox hunting. Stuffed fox heads and tails are hung in the foyer right where guests enter.
My room was clean and spacious and looked out over a lovely field where pheasants grazed in the morning. The walk to the local pub was a charming walk along the river path that I followed per Diana's instructions. She also called ahead for me to the pub as she said it could be very busy and I might not get a table.
The village of Berwick St. James is lovely with a winding road through the town and a red phone box conveniently placed on the high street between the pub and the Mill House.
It's only about a 10-15 minute drive to the bus shuttle to Salisbury and the road winds past chalk horses and thatch roofed houses.
If you want Motel 6, the Mill Place is not for you. If you want England the way you always imagined it would be, this is a great place to stay.
Review by Angie Scott-Plews on 3rd July, 2006
Add your review Date visited: 02/07/06
We fell in love with the grounds as soon as we stepped out of the car. The babbling stream, the little bridge, the gorgeous flowers and gardens. We had travelled from London - it was the hottest day of the year, and we were really looking forward to getting checked in and dipping our toes in the stream. It was 3.40pm. We knocked on the door. There is a sign that says "Please knock very hard", so we did. Four times. The fifth time we knocked, a woman came to the door looking very unhappy. She said to us in a very haughty manner "What time do you think this is?" We thought she was joking, so we just smiled and went to step through the door, but she blocked the doorway. "We take our rest between 2 and 4, didn't I tell you that check in was 4 o'clock? And a Sunday afternoon too!" We stood there stunned, not knowing if whe was joking or not. She hadn't told us that check in was 4 pm. We were very embarrassed and just looked at the ground. "Well, I suppose you'd better come in then" she said before leading us silently up to our room. When we reached the room (an awful approximation of Granny's back bedroom, complete with pile of dusty teddies on the window sill) she stood for another 5 minutes or so in her haughty manner telling us the rules of the house and grilling us as to how many mushrooms (etc.) we wanted for breakfast the next day. When she left, we just looked at one another and said nothing. We went out about five minutes later to have a look at the little village, but it had been soured by the harpie in the B&B. We drove back to the house, picked up our bags and left. Losing the deposit of £40 was worth not having to look at her face over breakfast. I do not recommend this B&B. Beautiful grounds, but ultimately ruined monumentally unwelcoming attitude of the owner.
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