Mr and Mrs Lardy 3 nights 12-15th Nov 2007 for anniversary

Booked direct with TOB via their website which was well produced and easy to navigate around. The 3 nights on a B&B basis included double room with En-suite facilities for a total of £189.We e-mailed the owner Alan RITSON to reserve a table in the restaurant for the Tuesday evening (closed Mondays) after reading rave reviews on various sites. I noted that TOB had featured in a brochure supplement by ‘The Times’ consisting of selective hotels/inns for the UK.

It is located only 5 minutes walk to the Castle which is in immediate view as soon as you walk out of the front door. There are some convenience shops, cash points and good pubs all within a short distance. The Lincolnshire Life Museum is also located 5 minutes away

On arrival at 11am we were greeted by the bright and cheery Alan. After a brief update of TOB and the facilities Alan helped us with our bags up to our room, Room No 2. The room had a warm welcoming décor with an extremely comfortable bed (very surprising for a Guest House) The view was nothing special as it overlooked the road but we knew this at the time of booking. Unless I am spending a lot of time in a room this doesn’t bother me one bit. I was aware there is another room which has views of the Castle but as above, not bothered. One thing that is important though, is that although we were on a ‘Main Road’ sleeping was no problem as there was hardly any traffic at all after 10pm and both me and Mrs Lardy are quite light sleepers.

You could tell immediately on arrival that TOB had character and it was the little things that impressed me - as follows.

Rooms were spotless, were a good size and tastefully decorated. Your ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign did not exist. A local artist has crafted a painting of a cat with your room number on it outside your room. If you don’t want disturbing you leave it hanging outside, take it in if your room is ready for making up - quirky and cute. Warning signs of minding your head near to the restaurant consisted of hand painted laying cards on the floor. The painting covering the doorway to room number 4 was also a nice touch

Now for the Restaurant, this was set out with a rustic, Mediterranean feel complete with Bang & Oulsfan music system playing discreet tracks. It’s appeal caters for all, romantics and both formal and informal meals. For my evening meal I had Roast butternut squash and red onion risotto cakes for starters, Pernod flamed ostrich fillet with gratin potato and lentil Kale cream sauce. Dessert was Apple and Nougat semi-Fredo (semi frozen apparently). Now I kid you not, do believe the hype if you check out the website. This is probably the best meal I have ever had without any exaggeration.

I don’t want to go on about the food too much as this review is about the hotel. Although it did complete our stay and I even got excited going to bed each night and looking forward to the full cooked breakfast (Alan, no tomatoes LoL). Alan told us there is an average 8 week waiting list for the restaurant so book early. The restaurant hold’s 40 and there is an extension being built at the rear to cater for the same again. Again this caused no problems as all work was done during the day whilst we were out sightseeing.

I would definitely stay here again. I felt that the service we received from Alan and his staff was genuine and not just a ‘thanks for your money do come again to give us more money’. You can tell that a lot of hard works goes on here to keep the standards so high. You will see from other hotel reviews I have submitted that these mainly consist of those from overseas this is because
1. Mrs Lard is pregnant so cant fly.
2. Never really liked the hospitality at home as much as abroad.
My faith has been restored here and I will be recommending it to friends and family.

PROS - Location, Clean and comfortable rooms, warm hospitality and food, food, food

CONS None-

TIPS - Parking - resident parking outside hotel non residents only 2hrs. To get round this all you do is drive round the corner (30 seconds walk) Upper Legs Road and park there as there are no restrictions at all.

I will also be submitting a Trip Report on Lincoln and have included some photos of the places we visited on this report