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Visitors enticed by Black Jacks Mill web site will find an idyllic location, good bed linen and towels, but that is the sum total of what you get for £70, £80 or £120 per night. Bathroom and general hygiene is bad, there is no customer care, no proper management, no security - just horrible food. On arrival (at time agreed) I was informed by a garrulous, self-identified 'manager' that I should return “in a couple of hours”! That she had been supplied with a mobile phone number and might have warned me in advance did not seem to occur to her. Nor did she mention that extensive repairs or restructuring (drilling and hammering) are a permanent fixture - daily from 8 am - 6 pm! I returned 2 hours later. My room was small, dusty, cold. It had a door opening onto an adjoining room. I was assured by the 'manager' that this was "locked". She left. The door was NOT locked; nor was the door of the adjoining room which opened onto the corridor. A lone middle-aged woman requires security. I complained. The loquacious manager insisted I was wrong - "the door is locked”. It took a demonstration before she finally did LOCK the door. A 'private bathroom' at BJM means a bathroom across a corridor. NOT a bathroom adjoining the bedroom. In this one, excrement smears from the last occupant still stained the lavatory bowl; a filthy water glass was coated with a mix of toothpaste and (presumably) saliva. Bedroom had not been dusted; kettle and tea/coffee sachets supplied but NO biscuits, as advertised on web site. Breakfast is beyond appalling. No fresh coffee or tea. Make yourself an instant Nescafe and toast, "kettle in alcove"; plastic bags of brown (with dots of mould) or white bread beside toaster; no Marmalade; exciting choice of Cornflake or Weetabix cereal. Cooked 'English' means greasy fried eggs, bacon and baked beans. No choice - not even boiled, poached or scrambled eggs. In an establishment charging £70-£120 per room per night all the above is totally unacceptable! I complained vigorously to the one general factotum. The "owner" then appeared and asked I give them "another chance". Later in the day, the lavatory had been cleaned but filthy water glass still in place. Bedroom dusty as ever, still no biscuits. No staff to be found. That night (2 am) a heavy-footed TV addict pounded back and forth overhead; then down stairs, past my door, back up, more TV. No oversight at night; no staff resident on the premises. Owner lives in a separate house. Next morning I stepped into the bath across the corridor, juggled antiquated shower apparatus connected to taps, and got COLD water. No hot water in shower, bath or wash basin. Breakfast: real coffee appeared, as did a box of Alpen muesli and a small dish of marmalade. Brown bread still mouldy. I spoke to two other guests who confirmed my impressions. same ghastly breakfast every morning; careless hygiene. One said: “The English of course do not complain”! Indeed. On enquiry I found: There is no regular cleaner; ALL cleaning, cooking, reception, bookings, 'greeting' and general 'house-keeping' is the responsibility of a SINGLE employee. The garrulous 'manager' "works from home". The 'owner' runs a business elsewhere. I have travelled extensively in Europe, UK, America and India; nowhere have I experienced Black Jacks Mill's utter disregard for paying guests. On returning home, it took two emails formalising my complaints before the procrastinating owner agreed to “a full refund”. H. Armstrong Cork, Republic of Ireland

Date visited: 18-21st May 2011