Whitehouse Rye — Restaurant in Rother

First the points that I feel need attention, then the good points.||The room (Rum Baba) was lovely but there were several issues relating to practicality:||First, personally I think the two main windows could really do with secondary internal glazing (the type that are heritage appropriate) in order to reduce the noise from the high street. There was a fair bit of noise up to midnight when the pubs and bars had shut and it started up at around 6.30am (vans and cars). The single pane sash windows didn’t really dull the noise. ||The two windows could also really do with black-out blinds (see photo taken at midnight with light streaming through)||The bathroom just doesn’t really work in a practical sense imo. It was a really large space but there were not enough shelves (and no hooks at all) and no shelves at all next to the bath for soaps, shampoos, or to put towels on within arms reach. That’s an easy thing for the owners to fix. ||Several bathroom tiles are cracked or have open gaps, I worry a guest could cut their feet. This really needs addressing. Again, this is easy to rectify. ||The main issue for me, personally, is that I’m a shower person not a bath person. There is only a hand-held shower operated off the bath taps. I tried my hardest to shower standing with one hand holding the shower appliance whilst shampooing/soaping but water was spraying everywhere. I get that the property is old-worldy but modern guest accommodation really benefits from having a shower cubicle for ease & practicality.||The Good points:||The room is attractive, and very spacious. ||It was warm and had controllable radiators. ||The bed was very comfortable and the duvet not too heavy (just right)||The accommodation is really well positioned in the heart of the old town. ||Generous clothes hanging wardrobe with plenty of hangers.||The complimentary breakfast from the cafe was really good. ||The staff were really friendly and helpful.||All-in-all I found this to be good accommodation in the heart of Rye which could be first class with some fine-tuning and attention to some issues of...

The setting is nice and the food was good but some of the staff came across as overly rushed and a little rude.

It was a busy day and we really appreciated being quickly seated.

When we sat down we noticed coffee stains and footprints on our table (perhaps someone stood on it to change a light fitting). We asked to have it cleaned and the response from the (head?) waitress was "The tables are cleaned after every use". She then stood there to see if we'd change our minds. When we pointed to the coffee stain, she rolled her eyes, grabbed a spray, quickly scrubbed the mark and walked off before we could point out the footprints. We then asked one of her colleagues to clean the whole table (as clearly, it hadn't been done). This seemed to annoy her too and subsequently sprayed wildly over the table, getting D12 (a form of bleach) on my arms and in my 8-year-old's face, as, through gritted teeth, she stated it was our right to ask for it to be cleaned - like it was an unreasonable request.

This whole experience put a bit of a downer on what is a lovely setting. The food was nice and came promptly but we just couldn't shake the feeling from the frontline staff that we weren't wanted there - never mind the reason for such hostility for asking for something to be clean.

Such a shame but we'd visit another...

What a find. Perfectly placed on Rye High Street, Whitehouse proved to be an ideal base for our first trip to Rye. Staff very welcoming. Room ‘Crumpet’ was on the top floor - not suitable if you have mobility issues. There is no shower in this room only a bath tub ( a very beautiful and large bathtub). It was extremely hot when we stayed so had to keep the windows open although hotel did provide 2 fans. |Cute amenities - caramel biscuit bars, water and oat milks. The rooms are above a popular bakery and it was lovely to wake up to the smell of freshly baked bread wafting up the stairs. The breakfast menu was extensive with unusual offerings that made it hard to choose. Our breakfasts were superb as were our included smoothies, all served by friendly and efficient staff. The sausages were probably the best I’ve ever had, I asked about the supplier - Jamie’s Butchers in Winchelsea, unfortunately we ran out of time to pick some up before returning home. |There are various car parks in Rye and blue badge parking on the street outside the hotel for guests with mobility issues |Would love to stay here again if we...