I know I'm just adding to the many five star reviews, but having spent a lovely night at the Star, I feel I want to tell people about it. First of all, reservations were incredibly helpful: we had to cancel our booking for December as I was in hospital with flu, but as we had been given a voucher that was already past its expiry date, I didn't know if they would be happy to honour it. They were. Our room (juliet balcony in the 60s block) was beautifully done, the furnishings felt solid and were well looked after. The bed was so comfortable I asked where the mattress was from (we need a new mattress), and Alex (who was at breakfast the next morning) told me. The bed linen felt lovely, the shower was a decent pressure. It felt like a real treat to come back from dinner and for the bathroom to have been cleaned, and everything tidied. Every member of staff we came across was helpful and friendly, and seemed to enjoy working there. The open fires in winter (it was very cold that weekend!) were a delight, but our room was also very warm. I loved everything from the guides for several local walks (in a convenient wallet) in each room, to the design of things like the water carafes (which I now want at home!) It was a joy to have piles of books in all the rooms, and the library was great for afternoon tea and to sit in after dinner. I loved the magnifying mirror in the bathroom (brilliant touch). The food was good but not great - we enjoyed the meal (salmon and avocado, followed by pork tenderloin in my case, steak in my husband's) but would agree with some comments that the starter was very chilled. Breakfast was also fine. I would return in a heartbeat, the village is charming (I wondered whether the Polizzi design touch has spread) and the walks in the area are stunning. It's hard to fault for a weekend away, and I'm sure that has something to do with the fact that the owners are very present.

We spent one night at The Star for dinner, bed and breakfast to celebrate my husband's 70th birthday. The hotel is larger than I imagined. Its very nice indeed, fitted with an eclectic and unusual range of furniture and objects, while still retaining its old world charm. Our bedroom was lovely, large and comfortable with a big shower room and space to hang clothes. The whole hotel is a delight, very clean and welcoming. However, the dinner wasn't quite up to the high standards of the rest of the hotel. The presentation of the food wasn't particularly good. I chose a simple beetroot and goat's cheese starter, something I've had many times before. In this case the starter consisted of three of four slices of beetroot, four smallish wedges of cheese and this was covered by a mass of rocket, several large, very cold, slices of tomato and was absolutely drowned in dressing. I left the rocket and tomato. My next course, was an array of grilled fish. The fish was good quality, but had absolutely no seasoning or flavour. The fennel and watercress salad on the side was cold and tasteless. The whole thing needed a sharp dressing and proper seasoning to lift it. My husband's said his pate followed by lamb cutlets was ok, but certainly not exceptional. At breakfast which was good, I had mushrooms on toast that had more flavour than any of the food at dinner. Possibly because its a fairly quiet time of year, the dinner wasn't quite up to The Star's usual standard, I hope this is the case. Luckily we were on a deal. If we had to pay the hefty full price for the food, I think we would have been very disappointed. All in all we enjoyed our stay, The hotel is lovely in a great village.

I must start this review by saying that we had originally booked a four night Christmas break at the Grand at Eastbourne arriving on the 23rd December. After staying one night we decided that it was so bad that we would rather cut our losses, and loss the thousands of pounds we had spent and sit at home alone with no festivities or food rather then stay at this dreadful place a minute more.

So we packed our bags and for some reason I decided to call The star to ask if they had any availability. I knew it was a long shot as they are normally booked up months in advance at Christmas but it was worth a shot.

My call was answered by a really lovely young man “Calam” who told me, to my absolute delight that they had just had a cancellation and there was in fact room at the inn for us. And on Christmas Eve. I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t actually hear anything else he said.

Well what a place, I thought I had gone from hell to heaven within 1 hour. The hotel is absolutely beautiful. Both Olga and Alex have not missed a trick. Everything from the beautiful decor, to the staff, service and food was just perfect. The attention to detail is incredible and I couldn’t find a single fault. Now that’s saying something from me whose nick name is high maintenance!

We stayed for three nights and really didn’t want to leave. The carol singers on Christmas Eve were great as were the lovely surprises
( I don’t want to spoil it for future guests) over the 3 days. I loved every single thing about The star. Even the guests they attract are lovely and all so super friendly.

We even heard from the locals that Olga and Alex have done so much for the beautiful village and continue to support the local businesses every step of the way

I am not religious but I am pretty sure that on the 23rd Dec my father sent a message from heaven telling me to follow the star and all our Christmas wishes would be answered.

Just go, it’s pure class