Nutley Farm

In need of a break, my girlfriend suggested Nutley Farm as she recently edited a book for the owner Catherine, which I am told is quite the read. Catherine, after learning it was my birthday, took me out for a lovely dinner at the nearby Sailor’s Return, which I highly recommend. Nutley Farm could not be in a better location, on a heath and a ten-minute drive from the coast, with lots of things to do nearby. I stayed at the Gatehouse, and it was everything I wanted and needed - clean, comfortable, and quiet. I did not try the hot tub this time and look forward to taking the plunge on next visit. The cottage sits in a lovely little enclosed garden and was quite happy sitting, reading, and listening to nature, which surrounds and abounds. It was a peaceful and relaxing few days and most importantly, felt like I had had a holiday. Will definitely be going back.

Overall a nice walk through the lights with a good festive atmosphere. The reindeer feeding and Santa was particularly good. However it was over crowded in the festive barns and food areas. Waiting for Santa was in that area too which made it difficult as we were constantly trying to move kids and a buggy around to let people pass. Santa was great and our kids were completely engrossed in it. They took a family photo which we would have purchased. Unfortunately for some strange reason you can only buy photo prints and souvenir toys with the photos inside. Like many I’m sure, we have no use for prints and like to encourage unnecessary printing and waste. We were quite surprised that no digital purchase was available, so we left with a bitter taste on the overall experience. I offered my feedback to the events organisers whom have advised its a small detail given the amount of work that have gone into it. For us it’s a small detail that will prevent us from returning and may well be useful for others to be aware and know this as well. Hence I felt it necessary to leave this review.

We had stayed at The Gatehouse last year, booking specifically because of the hot tub, and as we had such a lovely break, we re-booked again for a longer stay in February 2024. We arrived at around 5pm, lifting the lid of the hot tub, expecting lovely warm water, but to our dismay, found it completely empty. Nutley Farm asks for guests to email confirmation that they want the hot tub, which we of course did, as it was the reason we booked for our first stay and then to stay here again. It does beg the question, if you have a stay with a hot tub, surely the owners should ask guests to opt out rather than opt in? We immediately spoke to the on site owner who said he would fill it in the morning! so our first night was ruined. It took all morning to fill and then had to heat up, so our second evening was ruined too. Then even more annoyingly, it then went into sleep mode overnight, so by Sunday morning was barely above 25 degrees. Our relaxing break now totally marred, we finally were able to use the hot tub late on Sunday evening, but our whole stay had been spoilt and as we'd booked direct, because we had stayed before, what a mistake that was!! - no promised 10% discount for doing so and consequently, we had no protection for not getting what we'd paid for. We contacted the owner who said that as he considered we had only lost one evening use of the hot tub, the compensation would be £20, which was a complete insult. His reasoning was that if someone had stayed prior to us, it would not have been available anyway, this however does not add up, as it was empty on our arrival so clearly not just unavailable due to a change of water. For a few personal reasons, we really needed these few day's break, we absolutely did not get it and what is worse, is that the owners of Nutley Farm appeared to really not understand that they had let us down. We'd paid, we left, no way would we go back, but they have our money so why should they worry about a couple they'll never see again. If you want to go here, I would strongly advise getting in touch with the owners before you go to ensure you are getting what you expect. Such a massive shame as we'd hoped we'd found a place we could regularly visit within easy reach of home and somewhere to recharge. They state that "feedback is very important to their business" and that "it is very important that you really enjoy your holiday here at Nutley Farm" so this is our honest review. They really must pay more attention to providing a reliable service.