On our way home from a week in Cornwall we decided to stop for a night in Fownhope to break up the drive. We picked “The Greenman”:http://thegreenman.co/, an inn dating back to the 1480s on the main road between Hereford and Gloucester. We booked our stay on line a couple of weeks before our trip as it looked lovely and the menu was good. It also has free parking and wifi.
When we arrived we settled at one of the lovely big white tables in the gardens behind the inn for a welcome drink. It was mid-afternoon, the weather was balmy and the setting bucolic. We enjoyed our drinks with the occasional visit from a myriad of robins in the trees surrounding the garden. Some other guests had ordered food and it all looked very tasty. After exploring the village and church, we checked into our rooms. My aunt and uncle had a double room at one end at the front of the building and my other aunt and I had a twin room at the other end. The rooms are clean, spacious and nicely decorated with bottled water and tea and coffee making facilities. The bathrooms are new and very nicely appointed. The one room had a walk in shower and we had a free-standing tub with hand-held shower. The bathrooms had complementary St Kitts toiletries and bathrobes and built in hair dryers. Our room was £90 for the night for bed and breakfast. Adjoining rooms are possible as our room had a door to the adjoining room but it was locked. I assume it was already booked when we made our booking so we ended up at two ends of the hallway or it is a single room and we needed a double and a twin.
The first thing I did was turn the heat off. It was a warm day and there was no air conditioning. However, we did find a fan in the wardrobe; little did we know how much we would need the fan later. Being such an old building, there is no insulation. When we retired after a delicious meal in the restaurant (see separate review) both my aunt and I took our duvets out of the duvet covers as the room was too warm to need duvets. Even with the fan going all night, the room was quite warm.
Have I mentioned the slant to the floor? Our room slants away from the front of the building. My bed was crosswise to the slant. So much so that lying on the bed pulled at a pinched nerve in my lower back and I was unable to get to sleep. If the beds had been zippered together as a double the slant might not have been an issue. It’s unfortunate because the beds are very comfy. Remembering the duvet I removed from its cover, I tried to sleep on it on the floor but the floor was too hard. So I got back into bed with my head at the foot of the bed but the pull on my back was still too much for me to get to sleep. Then I remembered my aunt had removed her duvet as well so I finally got some sleep on the floor on top of both duvets – by this time it was after 4:00 am. At one point I had considered getting up and taking my book out to the sofa on the landing. Turns out my aunt and uncle did not have a great night’s sleep either and my aunt also considered retiring to the landing. I can only imagine how cold the rooms might be despite the central heating, when a cold wind is blowing down the street.
The breakfast the next morning was delicious; choice of cold starters with cereals, yogurt and juice and choice of hot breakfasts to follow. The huge sausages are from the butcher shop down the street.
Would we stay here again? Maybe in cooler weather or in one of the cottages which have self-catering kitchens so the breakfast would not be included. There was a wedding happening the weekend we were there and the cottages seemed to be booked with the wedding party.
