Four Star Gold Award for 2020
We are pleased to announce that Rhydd Barn has, yet again, been awarded a Four Star Gold Award rating by VisitEngland (the official tourist board for England).
Here is the summary from the report:
- A great location for exploring the Malvern Hills and surrounding area.
- The Proprietor is to be congratulated on the continued investment. This past year as well as ongoing redecoration, investment has included:
- The re staining of exterior woodwork helping to greatly “lift” overall initial impressions.
- Again, the re planting of planters and re planting/landscaping of the main drive entrance adding to the first impression and feel of the barn. New edging to the gravel drive “finishing off” the appearance. A real credit to the owners.
- A new Smart television along with USB chargers, a great benefit to potential guests. The re staining of exterior woodwork painting of the exterior metal work helping to greatly “lift” overall initial impressions.
- Other enhancements that help to further meet with market expectations include a new additional freezer, a great additional asset.
- The new toaster and kettle along with new omelette pan and compost caddy also very much to be commended.
- Again, the ongoing replacing and upgrading of kitchen utensils helps to further meet with market expectations.
- New night lights helping to enhance safety and guest access at night.
- Special mention should also once again be given for the very high standards of cleanliness noted on this visit, and for which Ms Boaz and the team are to be congratulated.
Sheep in field
My sister took this photograph recently of sheep grazing in the field below Rhydd Barn.
Wildlife at Rhydd Barn
We receive some lovely ‘thank you’ letters and emails from our visitors. Here, with their permission, is an extract from a recent email:
Dear Rosemary,
Thank you so much for letting us stay in The Barn over Christmas and for returning our tidiness deposit – received today.
[…]
We had a few treats courtesy of Mother Nature. We were visited by a pheasant who peered in through the arched window then minced round and had a further look through the door before marching off down the drive. We watched a muntjac deer come through the hedge by the water trough and walk along the cottage side of the hedge munching the grass periodically until he got to the gap at which point he dived through and bounced across the second field to the far hedge. We also saw a barn owl which dropped into the corner of the field immediately the other side of the fence from the arched window! The owl dropped a couple more times into the field before going into the garden of the house at the end of the drive. It was all lovely to see.
Gardening
Our wonderful gardener has been busy at Rhydd Barn refreshing our flower pots, tubs, and baskets around the barn patio—the cyclamen look good now. And the small flower bed at the entrance to the barn has been tidied up: some unsuitable shrubs were removed in favour of smaller flowering plants (eg small roses from the local nursery in Guarlford) with a backing of slate to keep it tidy. The edging along our entrance drive has been repaired or replaced where necessary so it all looks much neater, giving a positive first impression to our visitors.
New items for Rhydd Barn
During, on our own recent (August 2019) stay in Rhydd Barn, we took the opportunity to add or update some of the items in the Barn.
The current fridge is rather small so we purchased another, second, fridge for the Barn which is located in the pigsty next to the freezer.
We replaced some smaller kitchen items which were worn or not working so well. There is now a new kettle, toaster, omelette pan, tin opener, and a new set of downstairs drinks’ coasters.
We have ordered a small ‘compost caddy’ to place on the kitchen work surface for easier disposal of waste food for organic recycling. We hope to have this in place within a week or so.
We purchased a couple of USB charging plugs and recently replaced the carbon monoxide detectors.
We also now have two plug-in night lights which switch on automatically when it is dark.
Outside we modified the flower bed by the entrance gate to the Barn, replacing some plants and using Malvern stone to make it more like a small rockery.
FOUR STAR GOLD AWARD FOR 2019
We are extremely pleased to announce that Rhydd Barn has (again) attained the Four Star Gold Award standard in its annual assessment carried out on 17 April 2019.
Highlights from the assessment are listed on the 2019 Assessment web page of this site. Here is a quote from the summary:
Rhydd Barn continues to offer a high standard of comfortable well maintained accommodation for its market. Mrs Boaz, the Proprietor is very much to be commended on the continued investment and maintaining of standards helping ensure that the high standards continue to be maintained. It is therefore a pleasure to once again reconfirm the Four Star Self catering rating with Gold Award for the coming year reflecting the care and attention afforded by the Proprietor.
A well-deserved award (and reward) for Rosemary (owner of Rhydd Barn, shown below) and her team for all their hard work.
Ironwork painted
The ironwork around Rhydd Barn has all been re-painted. This includes the gutters and downpipes of the barn and converted pigsty and the metal handrail on the outside steps of the barn. Our decorator took the photographs below of the completed work.
Rhydd Barn update
IN RESPONSE to guest requests we have installed two USB charging sockets in the Barn for your phones, tablets, etc—one downstairs in the kitchen/dining area and the other in the upstairs living room.
There is a new suitcase stand stored at the bottom of the bedroom wardrobe and spare blankets are now stored in a protective bag (as recommended at our last inspection). A second shoe and boot tray has been added downstairs.
Outside, we have filled the flower tubs and baskets with completely fresh compost and replanted them. We think something in the soil was negatively affecting their growth last year.
All gutters and down-pipes are being re-painted with Hammerite metal paint, as is the handrail of the Barn’s outside steps.
Guests have already expressed their appreciation of the new mattress on the bed and the champagne flutes.
