Cross Hands Hotel (Old Sodbury, United Kingdom)

Staff and management are extremely helpful, friendly and efficient.

It's in a  roadside location, but there's no noise as such.

This is a great feature and the real ales  ‘pull' enthusiasts from miles around. A word of warning! This is life in the country and the visiting city-dweller needs to step back before comparing the services here with those in major hotel chains.

Part of the appeal of a break ‘away from it all' is the prospect of 'fairly' fine dining and a half decent breakfast. Failure looms here on both counts. People are ‘queuing' for tables that remain uncleared with a resulting breakfast that is either burned to a cinder or stone cold. Evening dining follows the same criteria. Prices are reasonable but value is not. The will to return is nil.

There are leaking showers in the bathroom and mould allowed to run wild without any apparent wish to control it. Add to this a less than acceptable standard of cleanliness plus lack of attention to maintenance issues and, frankly, why are you still her?

It's like any pub in any city. There's no evidence of ‘countryside', cars park right up to the ground floor rooms; rooms generally are on the small side- doubles pass as large singles - and cleanliness isn't a feature that is embraced here. The attraction of a city break next time now has much more appeal.