Reviews of Mill and Old Swan, Minster Lovell
Review by David on 31st May, 2009
Add your review Date visited: May 2009
We stayed at The Mill and Old Swan our wedding anniversary and upgraded to a premium room in the Old Swan building for a nicer experience. However, it turned out to be one of the smallest rooms we had stayed (reminded us a budget hotel in Paris). The bathroom was tiny (I am a slim person but still banged everywhere and the towel rack was directly above the toilet) and needed some painting work (the wall was disgusting). While we were in bed, some people broke into our room. They had the key for the patio door to the room and simply unlocked the door and walked in. They did not leave until I shouted at them and tried to defend us.
When we contacted the reception, there was no mention of any security in the hotel. They simply offered a different room if we were not happy with that room. When we tried to call police, we found out that there was no mobile phone reception in the hotel (the reception confirmed this!). The security in the hotel was simply unacceptable.
We considered leaving the hotel as my wife was extremely frightened. However, due to our plans in the next day and there was no hotel nearby (this venue was in the middle of nowhere) we decided to stay.
We were offered a different room (without patio) which was even smaller and there was no space even to put our bags (we wondered why we bothered to upgrade). The room was boiling hot and it was so noisy until late (the kitchen staff downstairs had some loud music on and were shouting at each other until midnight) and from early in the morning (again the kitchen staff were talking very loudly from around 6:30am on Saturday morning). I had to walk all the way to the reception to complain about it (the reception in this venue was in a separate complex across a road and the room phone did not work).
The gym was a joke. It was quite far from the main complex and looked really like a ghost town. The sauna was shocking.
It was simply the worst night we had. We are still traumatised from the experience.
Review by Mr & Mrs M on 22nd May, 2009
Add your review Date visited: 21/05/09
My wife and I stopped in for lunch before having a look around the stunning village, church and hall at Minster Lovell.
Clearly the location of the Mill & Old Swan is superb, and the building itself is appealing. However the food was appalling and stupidly overpriced. A prawn sandwich was literally prawns in white bread (not the freshest) with a lick of mayo cost just under £6. My wife had a roasted vegetables and goats cheese sandwich and was equally unimpressed with what she got for the £5.75 price tag. We were foolish enough to believe that they couldn't mess up the coffee, but with no choice of anything but filter coffee and the need for some caffeine, we had a cup each. It was foul, more like bovril, the only saving grace being that the cups were so small. At £22 for a terrible sandwich, drink and cup of coffee each we felt we have been taken for a ride.
We will certainly not return nor recommend it to anyone else. Get your act together Mill & Old Swan, you are squandering the chance to be a superb pub for food. Awful.
Review by Cathy Gracey on 12th November, 2008
Add your review Date visited: Aug 2008
We were going to stay 2 nights but left after the first night. Could hear the people next door as clear as if they were in our room, they were up until the wee hours having a bit of a party. There were clanging noises from some pipes in the room and couldn't open the window as there were wasps nests under all of the eves, and thousands of wasps. They said they don't control them as its part of country living, maybe it is but I definately wont be back. The restaurant was also going to be closed that night, so nowhere to go. The restaurant is daylight robbery anyway, any other location and they would have zero customers. We went and stayed at a premier Inn, with a good food pub attached and had a much better night.
Never again.
Review by Timothy on 21st June, 2008
Add your review Date visited: 2008-06-21
Good Points: Pretty location, rustic building
Bad Points: Over charged for the room
General review: Wouldn't stay there again
Review by Richard Hurry on 11th February, 2008
Add your review Date visited: 8th February 2008
Wow. What a fantatic place. Lovely refurbished bedrooms. Friendly staff great food. Definately come again.
Review by James on 18th September, 2007
Add your review Date visited: 18th September 2007
Is this the same place as in these earlier reviews? The hotel seems to take advantage of its isolated location with regards to charging what it wants for a limited and very overpriced menu. I'm currently stuck in this place with no phone reception, no transport and no choice but to cough up almost 30quid to satisfy my hunger and throw down some food I don't really want. Fortunately the internet access is free so I can have a good moan online about the sorry state of affairs.
Review by Mrs. J. Williams on 24th September, 2006
Add your review Date visited: 09 09 06
We have just spent an overnight visit to celebrate my husbands birthday. The staff were extremely helpful and professional in assisting me,our family and friends in making suprise arrangements for my husband. We had a memorable evening.
We had a river view room which was perfect for our pre-dinner gathering,having a patio which flanked the river. Our guests rooms were smaller but were clean and had lovely views across the gardens to the river.
Our meals were excellent, the restaurant offered a varied and interesting menu. Our food was served by attentive but not intrusive staff.
We all enjoyed breakfast, again a very varied choice, and although self service plenty there and all beautifully cooked.
The grounds are well looked after, it was interesting to follow the short nature trail beside the river. However we would recommend the walk through the village to the ruins behind the church, routes are available from reception.
We all enjoyed our stay, and would recommend it to anyone who wanted quiet accomodation the Cotwolds or a visit for a special occassion.
Review by jane yates on 27th March, 2006
Add your review Date visited: 24 & 25 March 2006
We chose this particular hotel on the internet because of the beautiful setting and the lovely advertised facilities. The location lives up to the advertisement. I wish I could say the same for the rooms and service.
We were allowed to park our car in front of reception while we checked in. We then had to hike up a very long corridor to our room with our luggage because the actual car park is on the other side of the road behind the pub.
The room shown on the internet is spacious and comfortable. Not so in reality! The room was so small we had to take turns in moving around the room while the other sat on the bed. The shower required a degree in engineering to get the correct temperature. The windows are shabby and chipped. The toilet didn't flush properly leading to an embarressing mess in the bowl and the walls are so thin that the man coughing in the next room seemed to be sat next to me.
On the Saturday night we ate in the pub which forms part of the hotel. The menu was lavish but extremely expensive with only a set 3 course menu available. You are therefore obliged to spend at least £24.50 per head and more if you chose a dish with a supplement, (the majority carried a supplement).
My partner commented that the rooms appeared to be built out of meccano. After spending the weekend there a very apt description!!
The breakfast was good and the staff were friendly even if somewhat inexperienced.
As I said, absolutely beautiful setting, but we will definately not be retuning. We came away feeling disappointed .
Review by d mulkeen on 30th August, 2005
Add your review Date visited: August 2005
Had a really good weekend break here. Wasn't too busy, despite being Bank Holiday. Great tennis court/ had couple of fine sessions playing. Didn't try the small gym/ sauna. Breakfast was excellent. The staff were the friendliest I've met yet at a B&B/ Hotel in England. The room was adequate though we thought it smelled a bit of cigs. Comfy supportive huge bed. Great shower. Didn't have dinner. They have a list of lovely rural/ historic walks you can do from there. There's also facility for croquet (and I believe, a driving range). Beautiful buildings, scenery, very tranquil/ off the beaten track. Would stay here again no problems. Good value for money.
Review by M Jeffries on 10th August, 2005
Add your review Date visited: 9 August 2005
We have visited the Old Swan for lunch several times in the past. We have always found the food good and excellent value for money, namely £7.99 for a cold first course and £8.99 for hot with sweets at a very reasonable £1.50.
Service was excellent and professional.
Yesterday, we were told (only after selecting our hot disehs) that the previous hot buffet service was now only for conference members. Sweets prices had risen to over £4. A bar menus was now available.
More disturbing, was the embarrassment caused to a largish party (8) by lack of clear instructions from staff as to what we could and could not have. Most had swordfish steak which was both flavourless and tough. There was a poor variety among the sweets. No notices were displayed either on the menu or elsewhere regarding the changes - and to cap it all, because the staff serving drinks kept swapping over, they remained totally confused as to who had which drinks. They were lucky we were an honest party and wrote down a list of all the drinks. But their score goes down from 95 per cent to 55 per cent. Not the place to take someone used to professional service!
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