We stayed for two nights at this B&B and left with mixed emotions. The landlady, Mrs Warland is a pleasant lady, and did go out of her way to see that we were well looked after. Her husband, Mr Warland, was by contrast a rather unpleasant man, who clearly would rather have had his retirement un-interrupted by the irritations of running a small guest-house.
He demonstrated his displeasure with us after being challenged over his ridiculous policy of "no fried food in this establishment", when I requested a fried egg at breakfast. I was emphatically told that fried food was BAD FOR ME and no-one ate it any more. Two other, rather unfortunate guests, dining at the time were dragged into the matter by Mr W. who cited them as perfectly healthy individuals who never ate fried food. An unheard of intrusion, and magnificently Basil Fawlty.
Begrudgingly, I accepted the situation, and when I went looking for some artificial sweeteners for my coffee, I found I had a choice - of cubed sugar or granulated sugar - no sweeteners. Obviously, sweeteners are bad for me too... sigh...
Needless to say, this episode did colour our view of the establishment somewhat, as we don't believe that the job of a B&B proprietor is to act as a physician or guardian of guests' health.
Despite this, the building is pretty in an old-fashioned way, and is very clean. The decor dates from the 19th century and the soft furnishings appear to be from the 1950s. The floorboards creaked in true Old English cottage style and the bed was comfortable.
The double room we stayed in had a separate toilet/bath, but as the only washbasin is in the bedroom itself, the bizarre situation arises whereby you have to wash your hands in the bath....The bathroom certainly could do with modernizing - the suite is 1970's pink - you know the one. It would look great with a new period bathroom suite matching the rest of the house.
Sadly, we were unable to use the wardrobe or built-in cupboard to hang our clothes, as the smell of mothballs inside was quite overpowering, and we had to hang everything up in the bedroom itself, which, thankfully smelled neutral.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the dining area, which too had a cloying and overpowering reek of the dreaded mothballs. Quite off-putting when you are eating your egg (poached or boiled).
Despite all this, it is impossible to say that the place is bad. If you are the sort of person who is very easy-come easy-go, and you find Basil Fawlty funny, then this is worth a visit.
Another positive point - Interestingly, we left a set of keys there and they were very prompt at posting them back to us.
Finally - The Warlands do not like credit cards, as they resent the fee they have to pay. They are quite open about this. So - take cash, or your cheque book. And make sure you agree the price beforehand. On most of the websites we saw this B&B on, the price of a double or twin room is GBP55.00 per night. When we came to settle up, they tried to charge us GBP60.00 per night, claiming that that was the normal rate.
If we were to give Hambutts Mynd a rating out of 10, we would award a 6.5 overall, with Mr Warland himself attracting a 9/10 for comedic value and a 2/10 for welcoming attitude.
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