The Andel

We booked the St Nicholas guest house for two nights. The house has a warm family feel to it Emma and Paul are excellent hosts and made our family meeting occasion special. The Sunday lunch for our large family was delicious and served by very nice polite staff. Breakfast is equally good. We will be staying here again. Highly recommend.

I recently attended a Murder Mystery evening at St. Nicholas House with my family. We had looked forward to this event for quite some time and some of my family had travelled a fair distance as we thought that this was going to be evening of quality food, hosting and entertainment. Sadly however, some aspects really spoilt the evening for us. Prior to the evening, I had emailed our menu choices as requested in good time. I had pointed out that I was vegetarian and I was pleased when I was offered additional veggie choices that were not on the set menu so you can imagine my horror when my starter was brought out and after I had tried a mouthful, realised that it contained diced bacon. I have been a strict vegetarian for 35 years for ethical reasons and was mortified to find this in my starter. I immediately brought this to the attention of the owner but he really did not seem particularly interested. I was then told, after quite a wait, that there was no other veggie option for a starter. The owner did not seem bothered at all by the fact that although I am a strict vegetarian, I had been served a meat starter in error. The remaining courses of the meal were then very disappointing. My family had what was described as beef Wellington but at best was a meat pasty. The owners wife even asked me if I wanted veggie gravy with my main course, even after all of the upset with the starter! I was made to feel like a complete inconvenience. The vegetables were obviously frozen and had been completely over cooked and were tasteless, the potatoes were just over ready potato cubes! Desert was a shop bought apple pie with average custard. The meal was produced as cheaply as possible and the only reason that we did not leave after the starter debacle, was the entertainment. The actors for the Murder Mystery were so good and very entertaining and we had made the effort to get dressed up and join in so really did not want to miss this part of the evening. I had to ask for a refund for at least part of my ticket and at the end of the evening, the owners could not even be bothered to come and discuss this with me but sent the waitress out to see me instead. The waitress was so lovely and did apologise but this should have been up to the owners to address. We just felt that the upset that this mistake had caused had not been taken at all seriously. Having spent some time reading through some reviews for St. Nicholas House, it seems like we are not the only ones to have received substandard service. I am so disappointed in having to write this review but I did not even receive an email apology after the event so I feel very strongly about all of this and feel that others need to know so that hopefully this will not happen to anyone else.

The owners were kind and hospitable, especially as we were running late for our one night stay. Wonderful period property resplendent in traditional features and decor. Spacious and clean throughout. Bed very comfortable. Breakfast delicious. Large car park. Overall very impressive and reasonably priced. Our first visit and it won't be the last.