Harthill Hall — Local services in Derbyshire Dales

Myself and my 5 friends had stayed at Hartill Hall a year ago, we had nothing but a positive experience. This year was a completely different experience. The properties and facilities are absolutely amazing cannot fault them, and the location is everything stunning. However this time the hosts made us feel incredibly unwelcome from the moment we arrived. We are all young professionals and NOT unreasonable rowdy people looking to start trouble. We had been there for literally less than 10 minutes - it was a heatwave so we sat in the garden, and my friend came outside playing music. One of the hosts was seeing to the hot tub and simply said ‘Can you read? Read the sign then’. Music outdoors was against the rules, we were not intending to break, so no further music was played outside, we had simply not read the sign yet as it had been all of 5 mins since we put our bags down. We thought it was strange how passive aggressive she had been.||Later on that same day we were sitting outside. Some of the party were listening to music on the speaker they had provided in the front room as tea was being cooked in the kitchen, doors were open as it was nearing 30 degrees. The same host later returned saying ‘you’re breaking the terms and conditions of your booking’ and accused us of ‘hiding the speaker under the sun lounger’ and said she had seen us doing so from the camera room. This is nonsense there was no hiding of any speaker, the music was coming indoors from the speaker they had provided us. We did not intend to break any rules. Due to this second negative interaction we all moved inside and shut the doors.||A sign in the house said no music past midnight - this incident happened at 10:30-10:45. Following some incredibly loud banging on the door we go to answer it. 3 hosts were at the front door and one of the hosts stormed right into the front room screaming ‘you all have to leave now’. He was red in the face and there was actual spit flying from his mouth - he was SO angry, and seemed to be drunk. In confusion we asked why, stating we were playing music on THEIR speak BEFORE midnight, and why hadn’t we been given a warning before having someone barge onto the property demanding we all leave. Without explanation the 2 other hosts at the door continued to state ‘you have to leave pack your stuff and leave now’. We said we have all been drinking so can’t drive, they said ‘I don’t care - get a taxi’ again we said we are from Manchester the taxi would cost a fortune, again ‘I don’t care just get one’. We said we will turn the music off and go to bed then, and if we had just been told to do this sooner they wouldn’t have needed 3 people to come and storm the property. The host said ‘thank god for that’ and left, whilst the other 2 hosts turned their backs and walked away whilst a member of our party was trying to speak with them and figure out how this situation had happened.||We expected them to ask us to leave the morning after the incident or at least come and discuss the altercation that had happened/give us a warning, since they had been adamant that we all get taxis home immediately. They did not address it at all - we didn’t see 2 of them again. The only interaction we had was seeing the man who had stormed into the front room at the recycle point the following morning. He seemed a bit embarrassed and said we were clearly ‘reasonable’ people as we had turned the music down as soon as they asked. What we could not understand is why they couldn’t have asked us without getting aggressive. We did not want to act in a way that was disruptive to the hosts or any other guests on the property. We were behaving in no way different to the year prior. It was so bizzare and confusing. It’s highly unprofessional for 3 grown adults to storm into a property without warning and yell at guests like they are school children, when a simple discussion neither passive aggressive or aggressive was all that was required. Would...

Good points:||The house keeper Holly was very efficient, polite and helpful. She contacted me the day after booking to as me for the bed layout preference. When we arrived she had left a lovely welcoming note, two packs for our dogs including a mat, bowl and dentastix each plus a bottle of proseco and chilled glasses in the fridge. The ancient building, restored to a high standard was wonderful. The beds were very comfortable with good duvets and spare blankets. The outside jacuzzi was wonderful. Lovely to have soak on those chilly nights. There was plenty of room for the five of us adults in the lounge and dining room. The two bathrooms were very modern and clean. The showers worked very well because they were powered by the modern combi boiler so a never ending supply of hot water.||Not so good:||The kitchen was well equipped though a little dated. There was a good dishwasher, toaster, microwave, kettle and pod style coffee maker though There weren't any instructions for the appliances. The kitchen worktops were timber lathes joined together and were splitting especially around the sink area. The gas hob/electric oven needs replacing. One of the oven control knows was missing completely and the graduation markings were missing though the oven did work and I am sure it must have passed the annual safety test.||The bad part:||The owner. Four of us decided to go out walking for the day. The weather outlook was quite bleak so we decided to leave the dogs at home with my wife. When we got back in the afternoon the owner rushed up to us complaining that our dogs had been barking all day and he had received many complaints which was strange to us because we were the only family left on the complex. When we pointed this out he said it was the two builders who were working outside repairing a wall with him. He then said the rules are that dogs must not be left on the premises alone. We then pointed out that my wife was there all day dog minding. My said the reason the dogs were barking was because on older man kept coming to the apartment looking in he even went round the back.||Finally:||The apartment was worth the amount charged. The setting/views is relaxing. Harthill Hall is a couple of hundred mtrs from a small local road with very little traffic so nice and peaceful but BEWARE...

Good points, wonderful view from the upstairs lounge. The area overall was very picturesque. The barn was clean - but the scruffiness of the whole place was awful. ||All the bedrooms were small but we probably caught the short straw with the worst one (bedroom 3) which was so small you couldn't open the ensuite door fully because it hit the bed! ||Mattress was awful, you could feel the springs. We thought it might be one of those one sided ones that had got upside down so turned it over and turned it back quickly when we saw the nasty yellow stains underneath. We requested a conversation with the housekeeper but several calls failed to raise anyone and we finally got a spare duvet from one of the cleaners to put on top which helped. No apology needless to say from anyone.||The old radiator in our room was rusty. The ensuite was little more than a cupboard. The toilet seat was too small and collapsed when you sat on it. The shower had mould on the ceiling and the water kept going off mid-shower. ||The games room downstairs was different to the picture in the details - it was incredibly tatty. ||The main fridge freezer was downstairs which meant you had to trek up the tatty spiral staircase (which isn't mentioned in the details) to the lounge/kitchen upstairs. This staircase could be a real problem for anyone with even minor mobility problems.||The kitchen although new looking was an appalling design, far too narrow up against the bench dining table. ||Two dishwashers, one under counter fridge. When you opened the dishwasher door you couldn't get past. There are two microwaves on a high shelf – at least 6ft high - which we couldn't even reach, let alone use without the danger of spilling something. The photo on the details shows a different kitchen layout.||We tried to move the table over a bit to make more room in the kitchen area but it was screwed to the floor. The bench seats were really uncomfortable.||There are other rentals on this site and an indoor pool and spa. We checked out the pool but it was freezing cold. We didn't bother to check out the spa. Not a...