The Highfield House

A lovely hotel, staff were helpful. The room was clean and very comfortable. Breakfast was freshly cooked and very nice. We would absolutely stay at Highfield House again.

Gift voucher not honoured with Mill and Vine from 1864 restaurant. Even though they said they would when the restaurant changed name. Same happened to a friend. Thieves who like to take your money! Still same people owning it but changed name as 1864 got a 1 rating on scores on the doors. Do not book or buy gift vouchers you’re wasting your money!! They knew who had bought vouchers by the numbers but decided not to contact them!!

A Name Change Doesn’t Fix the Problems I visited what is now called *The Mill and Vine*, formerly known as *The Highfield*, and unfortunately, it’s clear that the rebrand is little more than a smokescreen. Same owners, same chef, same restaurant manager - and sadly, the same issues. The food hygiene rating was poor under the previous name, and nothing seems to have improved. Service was slow and disorganised, and only consisted of the restaurant manager who seemed overwhelmed despite the restaurant not being particularly busy. It’s disappointing to see that rather than addressing the problems, they’ve opted to change the name - perhaps hoping people wouldn’t notice the negative reviews or hygiene concerns. If you’re considering dining here based on the new name, just know it’s the same operation behind the scenes. A fresh coat of paint doesn’t fix what’s broken underneath.

We booked weeks in advance and paid a £10 deposit per person. We received a confirmatory email 48 hours before our booked date. We turned up after driving 30+ miles to be told that the restaurant was closed and the booking cancelled. No advance notice, no phone call or cancellation email. The only communication was an email 48 hours before our booking confirming the date and time (the staff claimed that we had been phoned four times but no message was left for us - nor did they use email except to confirm our booking)! The day after our abortive visit to the Highfield House, I received another email saying “Thank you for joining us, we hope that you really enjoyed your experience”. We complained and tried to reclaim our deposit. All we got was a rude response - and a phone voice message saying that the restaurant was closing down (before our booked date) - clearly a pre-recorded message. The Highfield had my email address but did not use it. Despite repeated phone calls to Highfield House - no deposit has been returned to us. If this represents Highfield House attitude to customers it is, perhaps, unsurprising that they seem to have operated the restaurant as a separate business which has closed down. According to an open letter on the Highfield Web Site the restaurant is reopening under a new name "The Mill and Vine" - same Head Chef, the letter does not say anything about the experience of customers in the last two months.

Beware picking here for your wedding. Had our wedding here and was absolutely terrible service. Upon arrival, no welcome drinks were prepared and only a single cocktail bar open, which took 15 minutes to make 2 cocktails, whilst 70 guests stood around awaiting a drink. After complaining and asking for the bar to be opened, which is extremely annoying in itself when you've already paid to have welcome drinks for all guests, I just got a blank stare and refused... Also they didn't have the 25 beers in ice buckets which had been paid for before hand and when raising with them where these were was told we hadn't ordered them, until they checked the receipt and brough out 25 warm bottles of beer... 3k drinks package was a complete scam. As to not make the review overly long, the dinner service did not improve... After raising the issues with the owners they seemed to be considerate, but this was just a complete joke on us again and after offering us a small £460 refund which was poor for the trouble caused, ignored us for 8 weeks then started the company up under a different name, and refuse to honor the agreement. So yes beware Andy and Lindsey the owners.

In December 2024 I booked a three night stay at the Highfield House for August 2025. The reviews were great, and I was looking forward to my stay. Unfortunately, at the end of May 2025 I was informed that due to a "reconstruction of opening hours" the hotel could no longer honour my full booking. I am attending an event on a specific date, so cannot move my booking. Since the event is now only two months away and it is in the summer holidays, many other local places are now fully booked. As a result, I have had to book a more expensive hotel in a much less convenient location. This is all extremely frustrating. Highfield House did not offer any compensation and while I did receive a full refund, since the hotel itself cancelled the booking, that is only what it is legally obligated to do! I appreciate that sometimes unavoidable problems arise, but given how early my booking was made, I would expect better service. I will not be booking again.