Hotel Le Pommier (Castel, United Kingdom)

The staff, from reception to restaurant and bar, are extremely welcoming, friendly and helpful. They will greet with a smile and their attitude towards their guests makes visitors feel very welcome.

The rooms are a decent size, spacious and well appointed. The beds are comfortable and made up with good quality linen. Many rooms have been recently refurbished and the décor and furnishings has been carefully considered with guests’ needs in mind. Rooms are kept very clean, as are the bathrooms, which come with good, powerful showers and plenty of hot water.

The food is excellent and delicious, be it a cooked full English breakfast or evening meal. The chef freshly prepares the restaurant meals and they are beautifully presented. The bar food is likewise of a very good quality and very tasty.

The location is scenic, but there isn’t much to do for children. There are some local shops and bars a quarter of an hour’s walk away, but these offer little to amuse youngsters. For this reason, the hotel is possibly more suited to couples and single people.

Some former guests had issues with cold rooms. This occurs generally on lower floor rooms which get little natural heat from sunlight during daylight hours. The single glazed windows also doesn’t help retain heat in rooms. Thus some rooms can get very cold and guests are forced to request electric heaters or for the heating within the hotel to be switched on.

The majority of the staff come from Eastern Europe and while extremely friendly, some haven’t got the best English language skills. This has lead to communication problems on occasion between staff and guests.