Leicestershire Round - March 2008

Accommodation list

Listed below are details of accommodation that we stayed in en-route with accompanying notes on our impressions. Of course, the opinions expressed here are simply that, but praise and slander where it's due. 
Hopefully this may serve the purpose of helping others who might want to walk the round.

Day one - Victoria Farm B&B & camp-site
High Cross
Tel: 01455 208270
Accommodation - Fantastic, very comfortable and everything that we needed. A microwave on the landing was a real bonus and Joseph made full use of it as we'd taken a couple of quick noodle meals.
Food & hospitality - Again, fantastic. Our hosts drove Dylan & Michelle to nearby Claybrooke Magna for a pub meal. The breakfast choices were varied and the English breakfast, well cooked and substantial.
Value for money - What else can I say but excellent? We had booked a family room to share in order to keep costs down at an agreed rate of £50.00.Upon arrival hosts very kindly offered us two twin rooms at the same price.
Overall - excellent!

Day two -
The Granary -
Self-contained barn conversion B&B
Hall Farm
Hall Lane
Osbaston
Nr Market Bosworth
Tel: 01455 291621
Accommodation - Fantastic, spacious, comfortable and well equipped. Exceptionally convenient for the round with it's campsite bordering the Fosseway green lane for day two's walk to Sharnford and beyond.
Food & hospitality - Self contained so we were left to our own devices. However, the host's son very kindly collected us from Sutton Cheney. There was a plentiful and varied selection of food for breakfast.
Value for money - £70.00 for all four of us. Brilliant!
Overall - Excellent!

Day three -
Travel lodge
A50/M1 Interchange
 Littleshaw Lane
 Markfield
Tel: 0871 984 6083
Fax: 01530 245148
www.travelodge.co.uk
Accommodation - Hmmm, well it is a travel lodge. I would say that they are cheap and cheerful but that's not really the case. Cheap and basic might  be more accurate. You get what you pay for I guess, but as luck would have it, on this particular night, almost all of the other rooms had been booked up by young ravers out on a night in nearby Coalville. To be fair. to the staff at Travelodge, a booking is a booking and they would have had no way of knowing who it was they were taking a booking from or what their intentions were. There were the inevitable disturbances in the early hours but miraculously we slept through the first floor lights being trashed.
Food & hospitality - Typical fast food outlets on site, namely Little Chef who just weren't that fast, nor was the food particularly worth the wait. How do they manage to be so consistently incompetent? The only slight sweetener was the costs of our drinks being taken off the bill after we'd complained about the time it took to serve us. We also got a small discount for having stayed at the Travelodge. Whoohooo!
Value for money - When compared to other accommodation that we'd stayed in, a night in a travelodge doesn't compare and given the same situation I'd opt for alternatives, even if they cost a bit more and/or weren't conveniently on route. On that note, of course a Travelodge is geared up for the motorist. On foot it involved a lengthy walk around an industrial estate and a bit of swift determination to make it across the roundabout.
Overall - Poor, just don't do it.

Day four -
Mountsorrel Hotel
217 Loughborough Road
Mountsorrel
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE12 7AR
Tel: 01509 412627
Fax: 01509 416105
email: info@mountsorrelhotel.co.uk
www.mountsorrelhotel.co.uk
Accommodation - A small, family run guest house, a little walk but conveniently located for the round.
Very comfortable.
Food & hospitality - Very good. The hosts kindly agreed to cook an evening meal for us that evening, so all we had to do was relax.
Value for money - A shared family room at £95.00 B&B and about £12.00 per person for the evening meal which was very good.
Overall - Very good.

Day five -
Cheney Arms Hotel
 Rearsby Lane
Gaddesby
 Leicestershire
Tel: 01664-840260
Accommodation - A little run down, like an eccentric country residence which I suppose it is, but charmingly beautiful nonetheless. 
Comfortable.
Food & hospitality - Excellent, it had that warm country pub welcoming feel which sadly, not all country pubs have. A pub for locals but inviting to visitors like ourselves too. We ate in the restaurant that evening which was very good. A little limited for vegetarians like Joseph and myself. The breakfast choices were varied and the English breakfast, well cooked and substantial. They also provided us with a packed lunch at £4.50 each which was very good.
Value for money - Our most expensive accommodation at £55.00 for a twin and £65.00 for a a double room but not excessively so. The food also was not overly pricey given the quality.
Overall - Very good.

Day six -
Stilton Cheese Inn
High Street
 Somerby
 nr Melton Mowbray
Leicestershire ~
Tel: 01664 454394
Accommodation - I'd been looking forward to this one and I phoned ahead as we walked over from Burrough Hill. No answer. We arrived at around 4.30 and I phoned the out of hours number on the door. No answer. No problem, sit and relax in the pub garden except its cold and really there's not really anywhere else to go and we just wanted to get washed and relax a little. Eventually someone came in and let us in at around 5.15. The rooms were very nice, spacious and comfortable. Excellent convenience for walkers on the round.
Food & hospitality - A real treat! Such a varied menu which lived up to its promises. Good atmosphere too, like Gaddesby, a real pub for locals and visitors alike. The staff, apart from the sullen one who let us in were friendly and professional.
Value for money - Pretty good at £40.00 for a twin. Food prices are reasonable too.
Overall - Very good

Day seven -
Fearn Farm B&B and campsite
Hallaton Road
Allexton
Leicestershire
Tel: 01858 555285
Accommodation - Basic, no frills accommodation, a bit like going to stay with an old aunt.
Food & hospitality - What lovely people, Joseph and I had called in to say hello months earlier. I phoned ahead from Allexton and a puzzled Mrs Summers  wondered why we hadn't arrived days earlier. Some kind of mix up somewhere. No matter though, on arrival we were ushered into the dining room and offered home made scones and jam with a pot of tea. After a while we sat in the lounge with Mr Summers and chatted. When booking this accommodation several months earlier I had asked Mrs Summers if an evening meal was possible. Fearn Farm is up in the hills, 1.5 miles away from Hallaton so we didn't want to start adding to our daily mileage by walking into 'town' and back. A sumptuous meal followed which literally took all night for us to get through but all of it, all of it delicious.
Value for money - Excellent value at £25.00 per person for B&B, evening meal and a packed lunch.
Overall - Very good. It was fine for our last night but I do love a room with a TV so that I can just flop on the bed and watch something other than Leicestershire countryside for awhile.

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