Six Bells Inn

Awful owner, rude and aggressive Shouting and swearing at customers over asking for an extra heater to warm up cold room. Kicked a 70 year old couple out of room at midnight being abusive and violent towards the lady especially. Do not stay here.

I'm reviewing this on behalf of my father and his wife who had the misfortune of booking the six bells inn Bardwell for a stay. I am shocked and appalled at the experience they had at the hands of the proprietor of this establishment. They had an issue with the heating in their room, which if you look back at any of the negative reviews of this place it is still a recurrent issue. My dad's wife reported the heating issue to a woman who worked there. The woman reportedly tried to help resolve the situation. Instead of resolving the situation, the proprietor took it into his own hands to go up to the room and became verbally aggressive, swearing at my father and his wife. This disgrace of a man then proceeded to chuck my father and his wife out. This was at midnight!! Bearing in mind my father is in his 70s and had to drive back home, over 1.5 hours away. I cannot explain how disgusted I am in this so called proprietor of this kip of a place. He had no thought or care for the wellbeing of my father or his wife, kicking them out in the middle of the night. He is very lucky it wasn't me that he decided to get aggressive with as I would have had no hesitation in calling the police. Shameful behaviour from this man. I can only assume the proprietor was either drunk or mentally unstable to become aggressive with a couple in their 70s who only asked if the room could be made warmer! I would avoid this place and I would never let anyone I know book a stay here for fear that they would be left in a vulnerable situation, like my father was.

I'm frankly amazed by the number of 5* reviews that the Six Bells has received! I'm giving it 3 and that's really only because of the friendliness of the staff. In all other respects I found it overpriced and deeply disappointing. Our bedroom was cold on arrival and we had to turn on the radiator. The bathroom had an electric blow-heater fixed to the wall. The shower was ineffectual and less than clean. The only shampoo or shower gel provided came in the form of two tiny plastic sachets of 'hair and body wash'. The towels were small and had seen better days. There was no hairdryer and no wifi available in the room, though apparently there was access in the main building. The whole place was old, tired and had a distinct 1970s air. Having said all that, the bed was comfortable and we slept well, particularly as the place was so quiet. Breakfast was ok, if underwhelming.

We came here for a large family dinner (25 covers) and enjoyed good food and drinks. We were seated over 3 large tables (unable to sit in conservatory as too hot), but this didn't stop us have fun. I enjoyed the baked brie, beef casserole with mash and veg and followed this with a lemon meringue 'eton mess' style dessert. Husband enjoyed prawn cocktail, beef pie chips and veg and banoffee pie to finish. Great food and reasonably priced. Friendly staff who were happy to help!

If I was going for a meal, then I wouldn't hesitate to give this place 4 stars, but to stay, well, that was a very different experience. The rooms are clearly in a converted stable block. No issue there, but seemed closer to its original use than as a nice place to stay. First impression was not great - I'm all for rustic/distressed look, but this room just came across as more shabby - less chic. Not sure if the furniture was meant to look as it did, but it really did not look good! Little things like missing curtain hooks, making them hang all squint, poor finishes etc, raised my hackles a bit, then the cleanliness issues became apparent... Big obvious cobwebs on the curtain poles and dangling from the ceiling indicated the level of cleaning that had been performed. Then the bathroom... the ceiling fan had clearly never had a quick vacuum, and the soap tray was not pleasant. Also in the photos is the questionable electrics situation! The bed itself was spotless, and it was a bonus that there was a spare blanket... I tend to run quite hot, but I kept my down jacket on when in the room, as it was uncomfortably cold. The shower room has no radiator, but there is an electric fan heater on a timer, once you can figure out how to get it going - I used this to try and heat the room in general up. The soap tray aside, the shower was disappointing - somewhat akin to walking outside on a misty day. A suggestion would be to have refillable shampoo/soap containers, as the couple of sachets (confusingly kept in the main room, rather than the shower room) didn't go far. To have no hand soap available was also not ideal/hygienic. Evening meal was perfectly adequate, as was the breakfast, and staff were friendly and welcoming, but the stay in the room was possibly the worst I have had in decades of travelling. Sorry, but I just could not recommend.

2 Nd time we’ve stayed here visiting family nearby. Really nice place to stay, clean and tidy in an idilic country setting - basically on the middle of a field. Staff were all amazing and helpful and friendly. Only issue NOT THIER FAULT , £23 in a taxi for a 5 minute drive back. ( same price quoted. Any time of day ) NOTE: Uber takes payment £7-9 then cancels as no drivers available!