Rye Farm

Fantastic accommodation great location.... Your allowed to wander nearby fields to see the sheep and cows and it's great fun to feed the fish in pond... Plenty to see if your into nature and the morning chorus sounds like mother nature's orchestra :) :)

Great cafe

We stayed overnight at Rye Farm on Sunday 1st September 2013 but we also stayed there some 4 years ago for several days.The good news is that nothing has changed - the accommodation offered to us on both occasions has been nothing short of superb. Our room was clean and smart with television and tea/coffee making facilities (a nice touch was the fresh biscuits), a good sized bathroom with both shower and bath and a range of toiletries, - and of course farmland views from the bedroom window.Breakfast does not disappoint either, full English or continental, almost everything is available and is served with charm and helpfulness in the farmhouse style breakfast room.Considering the earlier review, Yes Rye Farm is located in open countryside and it was once a full working farm boasting a much larger acreage. There are no stagnant ponds, just farmland ponds teeming with wildlife. Times change and the local water reservoir has acquired a large part of the farm but it still offers a breath of fresh air and a real feel of farm life made so much better by the genuine congeniality of owners Peter and Virginia. We chose a farmhouse B&B, the alternative of course would have been a sterile plastic box hotel in a City Centre.With respect to the other point regarding beds I for one fail to see why a family with a bed wetting child would fail to take with them, or ask for, a waterproof under sheet for the bed. I certainly do not relish the thought of me, or my child, sleeping in a bed which has been 'sponged' down by a caring mother desperate to hide the truth.We commend Peter and Virginia for taking a strong line on this and have no hesitation in recommending this lovely B&B (and couple) to anyone.

We didn't stay as we were visiting friends who had booked an apartment. Peaceful surroundings and the accomodation looked very nice.

We had a lovely week there in Pondview"

I never write bad reviews about a place but I feel this is absolutely necessary as this couple who runs this farm were not nice to us and even accused us of stealing!We booked Rye farm for 12 nights before we could move to our house in Colchester. We have three small children and the farm says “children are welcome”-well, definitely not.At first, the couple who run this place seemed warm and friendly but we soon realized that this was not the case.We stayed at the smaller apartment for the first 4 nights where the lady said to me straight away: Try that your children don’t run too much because we have guests downstairs. Well, I’ll come back to the children’s bit later.I would like to start by saying that the advertisement on the website does not say they have problems with midges but they do have a big one as they are near a huge pond of stagnant water so we could not open the windows at night because the windows were covered in insects ready to come inside the apartment, just as a horror movie and because it was the summer, the place was just unbearably hot.We moved then to “The Courtyard” which is the bigger apartment. The apartment is really nice but they did not give it to us in good condition. The fridge door was dirty and the TV and TV cabinet were covered in dust and spiders webs. Apart from that, they promote on their website that they have free Wi-Fi and really the signal was on and off during our stay and we were even 2 days without any access to the internet.Anyway, those were not the main problems. The main problem was that one of my sons had wetted the bed once at the first apartment and another time at the Courtyard. Both times I washed everything straight away and we thought we did not cause any damage. Well, on the second time, the lady came to the apartment while I was washing the bed sheets and when she realized my son wetted the bed, her face said everything. She was unsympathetic and did not treat us the same again.After we left, she wrote an email to us expecting full compensation and wanted us to buy her a brand new mattress. We thought that if children are welcome at her premises, accidents like this will happen. Anyway, out of goodwill we offered to pay half of the mattress. The reason being that we did not sleep in a brand new one and because all the problems we faced during our stay (mentioned above). After we told her we will only pay half, she sent us a very horrible email even implying that we had stolen 3 coasters and a knife from her. I admit that we took one knife by mistake as I took it to the park when we took our children and wanted to chop some food for my baby and then forgot and left it in the nappy bag but I returned it to them when I realized I had it. We never used the coasters and she accused us of stealing them!!!! Apart from that, she made up that we did not leave the place clean when she was the one who did not give us a place up to standards to start with.We have never felt so humiliated! We have stayed in many hotels around the world and sometimes my children have got sick and vomited the bed and the staff has always been gracious and helpful and we have never been charged for anything. Even when I have asked at hotels for some plastic cutlery for my daughter they have given me non disposable spoons to take away with me!This is the worst experience we have ever had! Luckily, God has given us lots of blessings and we do not need to steal anything from anyone!I would not recommend this place for family with small children and if you don’t want to be hot avoid the hottest days of the summer at Rye farm and definitely don’t have any accident at their place if you don’t want to leave with a bad taste in your mouth.Their excuse in their final email is that they are a small business and can’t be as generous as big hotels but to be polite, respectful and helpful you don’t need to own a big business

Excellent meal at Rye Farm with a very warm welcome.

A warm friendly welcome 11 o clock at night. Lovely clean and cosy room and a beautiful home cooked breakfast. Definately highly recommend.

Lovely stay, clean and comfortable with everything you could need. Friendly, helpful hosts. Lovely farm setting.

We love so , our home in england