The Old Borough Arms

We stayed at the Old Borough Arms for a couple of nights when we visited Rye for a wedding. Not knowing what to expect it was a bit of a shot in the dark. I can confidently say the Old Borough Arms exceeded our expectations in every way, the building itself is lovely, obviously old, but equally obviously loved and maintained, to me it looks like it comes straight out of a Studio Ghibli movie, in the best way. (also the cafe underneath the hotel does _superb_ ice cream) The rooms are good, very clean and comfortable, and while not air conditioned, very well ventilated. We didn't feel uncomfortable even during one of the UK's now regular heatwaves. Being an old building (Rye is full of them, the pubs are routinely 600 years old) the headroom can be a little challenging for those of us over 6ft, by the last day of our stay though I managed to avoid cracking my head on the very obvious "Mind Your Head" sign, so I guess that's probably more my fault than theirs. By far the most enjoyable thing about our visit, and the reason that we'll be going back, was the owner, Sarah. She is absolutely lovely, and has 'the gift' when it comes to hospitality, we felt welcomed and absolutely at home pretty much from the moment we stepped in the door. It made a huge difference to how comfortable we were, and how much we enjoyed our stay. She even sent some books back to us after we forgot them in the room: above & beyond! I can definitely recommend this hotel to anyone, it's a great base to spend a couple of days exploring the town. Be warned though, there are only half a dozen rooms, so book ahead. We will be.

The hotel is charming and the people working there are very friendly. The location couldn’t be better.

Unfortunately there wasn’t a comfortable place for me to sit and work in my room as there was no desk or table in the room.

Breakfast was excellent staff went above and beyond and was a absolute pleasure to meet especially Ella

Had room downstairs which was quite loud at times

Great location

The hotel's catering facilities and the much publicized terrace area are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, which were the nights we stayed there, so we basically only had a room. All the hotel's public areas were locked from 6pm in the evenings. Also, the rooms aren't serviced unless you specifically ask for this, first time I have ever experienced this anywhere.