Bickleigh Castle

Positive comments first...historical and interesting place. Wouldn't recommend the place. Needs loads of tlc. Overgrown gardens...and tennis court in a poor state. Room needed redecorating. Shower ran out of hot water and broken. When we reported the blocked drain no-one had sorted it it when we returned late evening. No room maid so bed still unmade and cups not cleaned. Towels were old and worn. Breakfast very poor. Sorry but we were very disappointed.

Difficult to write, but I feel this cannot go unsaid. Apologies for the length of the review, but there is a lot to say. We visited last week and had high hopes for this, going off the google reviews, unfortunately this was not the reality. We were gifted a "cream tea and tour" voucher for Christmas and due to the great reviews, we decided to stay at the property the night before, this was our first mistake. The B&B: On arrival we were checked in by the owner, who greeted us welcomingly, she seemed very stressed and a bit erratic, but she was friendly so we looked at the positive. She checked us in, took the money and scrambled around for the room key. I mentioned our voucher for the next day and attempted to show my booking confirmation email. She looked for my name in her diary and said that we weren't booked in, but "lucky for us she would squeeze us in", this made us feel slightly uncomfortable as it had been booked with the non refundable voucher a while back, and how are we the lucky ones for booking something through the correct channels, and the hotel getting it wrong? The host explained again how we were lucky as we were in the "newly refurbished rooms with an amazing castle view". Gestured up some stairs and told us we were room 6. However when we got to our room, it was unclean, the headboard was dirty/stained, there was mould in the shower and the coffee cups weren't properly cleaned. There was no evidence of any refurbishment (the furniture was dated and tatty) and looking out the window, all we could see was the courtyard and road, no sign of the castle (which we later found out was blocked by the thatched roof and half concealed behind another building). We felt not only lied to, but also a bit disheartened considering the price that we had paid. (A pub down the road was only 2/3 of the price). The info booklet and leaflets in the room were all very outdated, showing incorrect info and (as far as I could read) were last updated in 2022. Breakfast was okay, a warmed croissant and self serve cereal/toast wasn't quite what we expected for the price we payed, but it was all okay. This was slightly ruined by the owners cat being left to reign free around the breakfast room, rubbing up against our legs, which felt quite unhygienic in an area with food left unattended and guests eating. The Cream tea: We sat in the courtyard which was a beautiful setting, especially in the sunshine. The scones were stodgy and dry, and when bringing it over, the waitress had slopped the tea everywhere, and our scones and plates were served on a puddled tray of tea. We were disappoint with this, and after everything previously, were seriously considering leaving as quickly as possible. But we persisted, hoping that the grounds would be lovely and the tour would be informative. Considering they bring someone in from external only once a week, we thought it must be good. The Castle Grounds: Again, we were wrong. The castle grounds are tired, there seems to be no care or upkeep given to the buildings or grounds. There was no real evidence of gardening (other than mowing the lawn), most of the benches and chairs were in disrepair, the walled garden orchard had apples rotting on the floor everywhere, and there was scrap wood and building materials left around the site. The tour: The tour guide didn't seem to know a lot, wasn't very informative and there didn't seem to be any structure to the tour. One of the rooms was used as a B&B room (modern TV, kettle, shower gel and towels etc in it) and most of the art and displays were all "copies". I cannot believe this was hyped up as an "amazing example of a Grade 1 listed building" and "steeped in history". There is much more that could be said, but I have highlighted the key bits. This place has so much potential to be something really special, but it needs a lot of time, money and effort to be put into it. Maybe some fresh eyes and new ownership is what this place could do with, otherwise I fear it will be another great piece of history that will continue to fall into dereliction.