We have just celebrated my husband's 50th birthday here and I was helped to organise a Sunday lunch for friends which was great, the staff couldn't do enough to help and make it really special. We stayed the night before and had dinner in the bar with some friends and our children and the food is amazing, the ambience and setting are perfect for a country house weekend retreat, I'd tried many times to book rooms here and now realise why it's impossible without booking far in advance and why it's quite expensive - but worth it.

Having just returned from a fantastic stay here, I feel compelled to recommend, quite unreservedly, this idyllic country retreat. This is England at its very finest and my wife and I have already planned to return. It is rare that one cannot find anything to criticise, however, that was genuinely the case here. The staff are friendly and attentive whilst reminaing unobtrusive which makes for a truly relaxing ambience, enhanced by the beautiful country furnishings and roaring log fires (...... not to mention the Blond Witch beer!). Our room was magnificent with tremendous views of the surrounding countryside. We enjoyed a superb meal in the bar in the evening with great wine (well priced) and a similarly impressive lunch the following day. We had been intending to stay here for some time and are only sorry we hadn't done so sooner!! With our thanks to all for keeping the Inn such a treasure and the perfect place to escape to.

This was our second two-night stay at the Inn at Whitewell, again in January to celebrate a birthday. We spent some time selecting the right room and in the end went for room 5. It is on the 1st floor, more or less over the bar's dining area and overlooks the river. It was a good choice and we were not disappointed.

We arrived mid-afternoon on a damp and windy Thursday afternoon and as soon as we walked through the door we were greeting by the warmth and aroma of the large wood burning fire. Check in was quick and easy and we were shown up to our room.

As mentioned, it faces out over the valley and the river at the back of the hotel and benefits from two really big windows which gave a great view out. The room is very big. There is a huge super kingsized bed which does not overly intrude into the room's space. At the foot of the bed is a large comfy sofa which faces the fireplace. For £6.00 you can stock up on a supply of peat blocks and have your own roaring open fire. For us this is one of the highlights of staying here in winter (Please note, I believe that whilst most rooms have fireplaces, not all of them are open fires). The room is very well equipped with a large screen plasma TV, a Blu-Ray DVD player and a great music player/radio with a dock for an iPod/iPhone. One of the great things about the Inn is that there is absolutely no mobile phone reception, so the habit of checking emails or taking work calls was curbed from the outset. They do have wi-fi (which worked well in both room 5 and in the bar) for recreational web browsing. The hotel has a great range of DVDs you can borrow, including some that are new releases. There were a couple we would have chosen to watch, had we had more time, but our goal was to busy ourselves doing nothing.

The bathroom is behind the bedroom and again has a large window facing out across the river (with a blind). The bath is quite small and narrow, set within a much wider granite surround. The shower was strong and hot, but you always felt a little 'out of range' of its fall as the granite bath surround keeps you from getting directly underneath. I only used the shower but we were both put off from using the bath because of the granite surround extending over the edge of the bath, which looked like it might be uncomfortable to lean back against. However, these are minor idiosyncracies in what is a very well equipped and well finished bathroom.

As others have mentioned, there is no tea or coffee making facilities in the room. However, a quick call to reception at any time will bring a nice pot of tea or coffee via room service at no extra charge.

We settled down in the room in front of the fire, listening to some music and reading our books. Actually, we had to cheat a little by turning down the very effective central heating and cracking open a couple of windows, otherwise the fire would have made the room too hot. Nothing could have been more relaxing. As the afternoon passed, the rain clouds gathered and we watched the rain sheeting down and listened to the wind blowing through the slightly open window, with us snug inside.

That evening we dined in the bar. It was not overly busy, but enough people to give it plenty of atmosphere. There are an excellent choice of wines to be had by the glass if you and your partner's food choices diverge. We selected our meals from the blackboard of specials. We both went for a fantastic crab salad, with a mound of the fresh tasting crustacean piled upon a bed of mixed leaves and served with brown bread and butter. We both agreed it was a good choice. We both followed with the same main course - local duck breast and chicken liver. Again, a good choice. For dessert one went the way of a hot chocolate brownie whilst the other settled for a very large portion of three cheeses. We had gone for different red wines by the glass and finished off with a tasty, sweet, dark muscatel dessert wine.

The next day the rain was relentless and with an ever increasing wind. We did not stray far from the hotel. After a great breakfast consisting of cereals and a full cooked English for one and kippers for the other, we settled down in the lounge on a pair of comfy sofas to read all of the day's newspapers. All of the fires were lit and were crackling away, which really adds to the ambience. The place got quite busy at lunchtime and we returned to our room, had some coffee sent up and had the fire relit for the afternoon. We again settled back, listened to music, chatted and read our books, keeping one eye on the spectacularly wet and windy weather outside through the large windows.

That evening we dined in the hotel's restaurant. The place was a little slow to fill up but, it was mid January and the weather was enough to stop any casual diner from travelling too far. Once again, the food was first class; starters of chicken pate and belly pork were followed by ravioli for one and filet steak for the other. The steak dish was accompanied by a truly flavoursome little oxtail cottage pie which was simply outstanding and good enough to stand alone on anyone's menu. We went to bed content and grateful we only had a short flight of stairs to travel to reach our bed for the night.

All in all, the Inn at Whitewell met all our expectations. It gave us a place to chill and relax; it kept us warm, cosy and cosseted and we had some really great food. The staff are without exception friendly and helpful but never intrusive. We are already planning our next visit later in the year.

Had been trying to stay here for ages and after finally getting a room the experience did not disappoint. Stayed in Room 3 with a four poster bed (great nights sleep) and had the fire lit (£6 extra but would have been foolish not to have the fire as it added to the luxurious ambiance of the room). The huge old bath was an experience in itself especially with the divine ginseng Molton and Brown shower/bath gel. Ate in the bar at night and this was also to be recommended as was the breakfast in the morning. I have never had such delicious poached eggs and the fresh orange was excellent. All in all was very good but along with other writers would have appreciated tea/coffee making facilities in the room and a bath robe. Other than that could not fault the Inn at Whitewell.