Beaumond Cross Inn — Hotel in Newark and Sherwood

The Beaumond Cross is a little gem!

We stayed at the Beaumond for two nights (Friday/Saturday) along with two friends because we were attending a wedding in a village near Newark. We didn't know Newark at all (other than for changing trains!) and so I chose the Beaumond from a web-search because we preferred to stay in an independently-run pub/hotel.

Booking online direct with the Beaumond was easy and gets you the best prices. A few days before our arrival I called the hotel to book six of us in for dinner and for advice on booking taxis to take all of us to and from the wedding, as we wanted a reliable firm who we could book for a return journey. Paul, the owner, was very helpful and recommended a couple of options from personal experience, of which we chose Strada Taxis, who turned out to be absolutely excellent.

On arrival, we were booked in cheerfully at the bar by Paul and the extensive breakfast menu was explained to us - there are loads of choices and booking in advance is highly recommended as the Inn gets lots of walk-ins for breakfast! Our ensuite room was compact but bright and clean with plenty of hanging space, just right for a short break. No air conditioning (it's an old building) but a decent floor-standing fan was provided. As well as the usual hairdryer/tea and coffee/TV we particularly liked that a decent large wooden shoehorn was also hung up - made getting my formal wedding shoes on a lot easier! You have to ask for shower toiletries at the bar which we also appreciated, as it saved wasteage by us only using what we needed.

The ground floor has a comfortable cosy bar with settees, and a small dining area where we ate on Friday, joined by some other friends who were staying elsewhere because they couldnt get into the Beaumond. Very pleased to see two local real ales on tap - see below for more food and drink comments. We were very well looked after by the owner's mum, Carol, who has a good line in homemade fruit gins... Everyone on the small team (who all work very hard) was friendly and welcoming, even when, on the Saturday night after we returned from the wedding, we stayed up rather too late as the last people in the bar reminiscensing over several bottles of wine.

Highly recommended - and having walked through Newark we'll be back for a short break at the Beaumond to see more of the town. The Beaumond would also be a great base for a day trip to Lincoln (frequent trains...

Arrived to the location with high expectations based on written reviews found online, but left feeling incredibly disappointed, especially considering you are spending almost £10 per head above the average price for a roast dinner on a Sunday.||Upon arrival, we were told there was no roast available – no beef as stated on the menu, but also no alternative (turkey, ham, pork) only offered a beef pie, belly pork or lamb shank, which is not a roast dinner by any stretch of the imagination. We are not afraid to pay a premium for certain restaurants, when the food is worth it, however this was, by no means, worth even a fraction of the price charged. ||The sides were brought out around 40 minutes after ordering, chopped up vegetable medley served in cold serving dishes, along with oily and not crispy whatsoever roast vegetables and potatoes, all lukewarm in temperature. Minutes later, we were then served the main dishes, all of which were below a standard temperature, again served on cold plates, and considerably lacking in quality to justify the price point advertised. Also, to call the blinis arriving that were described as "Yorkshire Puddings" seemed almost offensive. ||It's a rare occasion for us to go out for Sunday Lunch, but with already being aware of the £27.50 price tag for a roast dinner, to be told there wasn’t even an option of a Sunday Roast was incredibly disappointing, especially with the price and reviews indicating something of much better quality. The place lacked atmosphere, just background noise of a radio playing in another room, presumably for staff, and pretty much empty the whole time we were there, somewhat...

We had a lovely stay at the Beaumond Cross Inn. They emailed us beforehand to confirm check in time but we arrived 3 hours early (hoping to be able to leave our bags somewhere as we arrived by train) but we were instead they were perfectly happy to take us straight to our room. Our room (room 8) was lovely, spotlessly clean and full of character with tea and coffee facilities and a well stocked mini bar. We chose to have dinner there which was delicious. We both slept very well and went straight down to breakfast. This was included in the price and there was a delicious looking spread of fresh fruit and yoghurt (we wish we weren't too full from our cooked breakfast to try these!) and the full english we both had was great! The only thing we didn't love was that we were asked to choose what we wanted for breakfast (from a fantastic 4 page menu!) the day before - we were hungry when we chose so wasn't necessarily what we wanted the next morning, both still being full from our lovely dinner! That being said the staff were so helpful and friendly that i'm sure if we had asked to change our choices it wouldn't have been a problem - so I suppose that's our fault!

The hotel was in a great location - about a 10-15 minute walk from Newark castle station and surrounded by pubs and restaurants within a 5-10 minute walk and an Asda across the road. Although we didn't drive on the day it looked like there was ample parking space. Every member of staff we met during our stay was friendly and approachable and it felt as though nothing was too much trouble - they even printed something for us.

Overall we had a great stay and would...