This hotel has bags of character. The fact that the building is over 200 years old seems to be lost on one or two of the other reviewers - sloping floors and a few cracks in walls are part of the fabric of the building....

The hotel is decorated nicely throughout. Our room was gorgeous with an amazing four poster bed, views of the cathedral, fluffy robes and molton brown toiletries. One significant downside for me was that the mattress had certainly seen better days and was too soft.

The bar area has a fantastic real fire and lovely comfortable sofas and chairs. Perfect for losing yourself in a book and bottle of wine if the weather is awful outside.

I'm a light sleeper and can't say that the cathedral bells even registered in terms of disturbing me through the night.

Evening menu is fabulous and features some interesting combinations, although only four choices per course could be limiting for some diners.

And finally....the staff are very good. Courteous and knowledgeable without being stuffy.

Absolutely excellent, but the attic rooms are hard when you have heavy cases

We stayed at the Old deanery for a friend's birthday celebration at Fountains Abbey. This was one of the hottest weekends this year. The location is excellent, the building is beautiful ( and we didn't notcie the Catherdal bells) However, the room was large,with a good & comfy bed, but rather shabby ( we booked a superior room) There were water stains on the ceiling, and rather large cracks on the wall. The floors in the hall seem to slope somewhat, which made us wonder if the building was subsiding. No fridge or fan in the room. The beautiful slipper bath had a really good shower above, but the room got soaked when you used it. Breakfast was good, but not amazing. The bar area and gardens outside were lovely, but the whole place looks like it needs a thorough restoration, and not the patch up job it looks like it had. The rooms could have been much better appointed, with bigger towels, magazines, a fridge for the complimentary water & fruit, and a fan for each room would have been a very sensible purchase for the hotel to make, which would have added to the feeling of luxury it could have.

In all we felt that the hotel was missing an opportunty to be an outstanding boutique hotel, by making some simple additions to the rooms and environment.

My husband and I stayed one night at the Old Deanery and weren't very impressed. It is in a fabulous location which is all I can imagine its trading on.It was quite old and tatty inside, the room was nice enough with a view over the neglected gardens but it had a very warn and musty feeling.The bathroom was lovely and had Moulton Brown bath goodies, nice fluffy towels and bathrobes.

The bar and dining room were well decorated and presented but the menu was very limited. I am not a picky eater but didn't find much on the menu at all. When the food arrived however it was beautifully done.Breakfast was excellent.

Overall we were disappointed, thought it was expensive for what it was and wouldn't stay there again.