My wife and I have just returned from a three night stay at April House. We booked it because of it's great ratings on TripAdvisor.
David and Ruth were both pleasant and helpful and are obviously very proud of their business.
We had originally booked for their biggest room but on arrival were shown to a small room at the top of the house, which had a tiny en-suite and we felt this was too cramped considering our stay was for several nights. Ruth explained that her husband hadn't written down our request for a larger room, even though we had agreed a slightly higher price.
We told Ruth this and in fairness we were changed to a larger room with a bright outlook but once again the en-suite was very small, in fact smaller than the first room as it could not even fit a sink into it. The en-suite was so small (approx 3 feet 9 inches square or so) that we found that we had to be very careful getting in and out of the shower. There were no methods of heating in the en-suite (and to be frank there was no room for a radiator) and this meant that towels used for our evening shower remained damp until morning, when they were needed again. The wash hand basin was sighted in the bedroom, which we felt was not great in terms of hygiene, as you had to open the ensuite door before washing your hands.
The towels were changed daily, however and the room had many extras including chocolates and even the offer of fresh milk for the supplied tea and coffee.
The room itself was clean and the breakfasts were excellent, substantial and cooked with good quality produce.
We found Harrogate a very pretty town, which is well worth a visit. We would recommend Betty's Tea Room in the Town Centre as well as the other Betty's at the nearby RHS gardens, where if anything Betty's has an even better view from the veranda that overlooks the extensive gardens.
We would also suggest those of you that enjoy Indian food try the RajPut in Harrogate. My wife doesn't normally like this type of food but both of us enjoyed it so much that we ate there twice during our stay. It really was very good and very reasonably priced. It does get very busy though.
We would also recommend The Pine Marten pub and restaurant. on the Otley road, just outside Harrogate. Very nice and contemporary inside, with a very decent menu. I had the crispy duck salad, which was huge and very good indeed, whist my wife opted for a plain cheese and tomato pizza, which again was very large, on a thin and beautifully crisp base and was one of the best pizzas my wife had ever tasted. Best of all the pizza was just £6 and the Duck salad £8 or £10 for the large variety.
All in all April House is a good B and B that will suit the majority of families just fine. It may be that some of their rooms have much more adequate en-suite facilities but we can only speak for two of the rooms they offered to us. If it had proper ensuite facilities we would consider returning on our next visit to the Great Yorkshire Show.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC