4-star holiday cottage near Malvern, Worcestershire

News

  • Four Star Gold Award for Rhydd Barn in 2015!

    Gold Award April 2015 Four Star Award - April 2015

    Rhydd Barn’s annual inspection for VisitEngland (carried out by Quality in Tourism) took place on 10 April 2015. We are pleased to announce that we maintained our Four Star Gold Award rating. ‘The overall score and that of the key sectional areas sit comfortably within the Four Star banding range or exceed guest expectations […] All the elements required for the Walkers Accreditation continue to be in place […] A Gold Award has again been achieved.’

    Here’s the ‘Highlights’ section from the report:

    The property enjoys a very good location and the ‘piggery’ provides a useful additional storage area. Externally the building is in an excellent condition with further painting having been completed. Some excellent views are provided. The accommodation has an unusual layout however this has made the public areas particularly flexible and spacious in relation to the numbers accommodated. The new cushions present well.

    Tiled flooring to the ground floor is excellent with repairs now completed and the bathroom ratio continues to be a key strength. A very good range of kitchen equipment is provided. Recess lighting where fitted has been very well positioned enhancing ease of use.

    Guest information is particularly comprehensive and collation has enhanced ease of use.

    Repairs and improvements are ongoing. For instance, we recently replaced  the ground floor picture window because the double-glazed unit had ‘blown’.

  • Elgar Birthplace special offer

    Elgar Birthplace Museum logo

    We have arranged a special offer for visitors to Rhydd Barn: a 2-for-1 offer for admission to The Elgar Birthplace Museum in Lower Broadheath, north-west of Worcester. Special 2-for-1 vouchers and brochures for the museum are in the barn. With this offer the price of admission for two adults (normally £15) would be £7.50. Refer to the museum’s website for further information about the museum. The museum is about nine miles away from the barn.

    , , , ,

  • A few small repairs

    Bathroom - towel railbathroom - mirror shelf

    The photographs show that the towel rail in the bathroom, which had become unsafe, has now been replaced.

    At the same time a new glass shelf was fitted under the mirror above the washbasin which is more securely attached to the wall.

    , , ,

  • Four Star Gold Award again for Rhydd Barn in 2014

    four star logoRhydd Barn had its annual assessment by Quality In Tourism on 11 April 2014. We are very pleased to announce that we have maintained our Four Star rating and our Gold Award (given in recognition of exceptional quality within a property’s star rating). We have also maintained our Walkers Welcome accreditation (please refer to the Walkers Welcome leaflet for more information about this).

    Some highlights of our assessment include:

    “The property enjoys some excellent views even from the ground floor windows”

    “Guests appreciate the flexibility of layout of the living areas in particular”

    “The barn is specious for the numbers accommodated”

    “Excellent standards [of cleanliness] observed—high and low surfaces are pristine and kitchen equipment and kitchenware is immaculate”

    “The guests continue to benefit from a shower room to the ground floor as well as an en suite facility on the first floor”

    “Guest information continues to be comprehensive and is up to date”

    One point that we have already improved on since the assessment  is to make sure that the emergency information is more clearly displayed.

    , ,

  • Flowering meadow

    CowslipsPrimroses and cowslips are flowering in the little meadow by the entrance gate to Rhydd Barn. More primroses have been planted this month.

    Bluebells are flowering at the bottom of the slope behind the barn in ‘the dingle’.

    The small white flowers of blackthorn are appearing in the hedgerows. A lovely warm sunny day after a cold and wet winter.

    I have bought an attractive set of new saucepans for the kitchen.

    , , , ,

  • Decorating

    Daffodil

    The north wall of the Rhydd Barn facing the common needed painting and this was done last week. The other walls were repaired where necessary with white paint. The iron hand rail on the steps and iron side gate have been re-painted black.

    The Barn looks very smart for the new season.

    The tubs on the patio are full of fresh daffodils—so spring is coming after such a wet winter.

    , , ,

  • Visit Worcestershire Awards for Excellence Finalist

    Visit Worcestershire Awards for Excellence logoRhydd Barn was nominated as a finalist in the Best Self Catering section of the Visit Worcestershire Awards for Excellence 2013. We were one of four self catering establishments to be nominated in this year’s awards. Although we did not win our section, Rhydd Barn received a ‘Commendation’ from the judges at Destination Worcestershire’s Annual Tourism Conference held at Stanbrook Abbey in Callow End on Thursday 23 October 2013.

    , , ,

  • News for September 2013

    Evening Primrose

    In the middle of the meadow at last an evening primrose is established. The grass at the back of the Barn (where a tree was cut down a couple of years ago) is growing well. I hope to start a log pile there to encourage invertebrates in the dip beyond the grass.

    The west wall of the Barn has been painted and the inside wall was treated and painted where a small patch of damp had appeared by the first floor window.

    A new cleaner/caretaker has started to look after Rhydd Barn replacing Nat Halfpenny who has left to have a baby. Our new cleaner is the wife of the gardener who has been looking after the grounds for a few years.

    People have continued to enjoy their stay at the Barn—many of them repeat customers.

    Our 2-for-1 offer to visit Elgar’s birthplace at Broadchurch is very popular.

    ,

  • Four Star Gold Award maintained for 2013-2014

    Rhydd Barn ground floor
    “Spacious kitchen, excellent flooring and lighting and very good level of equipment”

    Rhydd Barn recently had its yearly assessment VisitEngland and we were very pleased to continue to achieve a Four Star award for self-catering and a Gold Award for high quality standards; also we continued to achieve the Speciality Award ‘Walkers Welcome’. The inspection was carried out on 19 April 2013.  Here are some highlights from the report:

    • “The property enjoys an very good location with excellent views”
    • “The provision of space is unique with an excellent choice of bathroom facilities”
    • “The guest information within the unit is extensive and well presented”
    • “Very good levels of cleanliness were observed”
    • “The kitchen has a very good range of equipment in a spacious area and has excellent flooring and lighting”

    The assessor stressed that to maintain this award long-term maintenance and development are important. She suggested some changes and improvements which we will implement during this year.