Ross on Wye is a historic English market town on the banks of the River Wye and close to the border with Wales. It is to be found in the South of the county of Herefordshire, a few miles North of Gloucestershire and several miles East of Monmouthshire, Wales.

We (that is my wife Eira Wyn and me, Bernard) visited the town on our journey to South Wales on a warm autumn day in 2006. The hotel we had chosen was advertised as being a "Country House Hotel" within its own parkland setting yet, intriguingly, within a short walk of the town centre.

I thought this sounded a bit far fetched, a bit of advertiser's licence, so we booked it online to test it out. We travelled into the town on the A49 road and the directions to the hotel were both accurate and straight forward, and, low and behold we found a Country House Hotel standing in its own parkland yet close to the centre of the town. Exactly as it said on the tin!

As it was late afternoon when we arrived we hastily booked in, deposited our cases in the bedroom, and set out to explore Ross on Wye. A few minutes walk brought us to the town square and the historic 'Market House' building which was built in the mid 17th Century to replace an older building and is still in use as a market place to this day.

There are several streets leading off from the square and we chose one of the narrow ones that took us slightly uphill and into the grounds of the beautiful St. Mary's Parish Church. The 700 year old church boasts a grand steeple and spire that stand out proudly overlooking the banks of the River Wye and the surrounding countryside. The first thing we noticed on entering the churchyard however was the Plague Cross a stone memorial to victims of the plague, the Black Death that had decimated so much of England and Wales and struck the town of Ross-on-Wye in 1637. The 315 unfortunate victims were buried at night in unmarked pits nearby and the memorial was erected soon after.

On a brighter note the grounds of the church boast some beautiful mature trees, but they do tend to block the view when you are trying to take pictures of the church spire!

From the church yard it is a natural progression to head down hill toward the River Wye passing en-route several interesting yet not terribly old buildings. Indeed the impressive looking Tower along with the mock gothic town walls were built relatively recently in 1833 and the tower was originally known as "Collins Tower."
It's only a short walk to the river and there are a number of Restaurants and Pubs along the river bank. The setting is beautiful but if you have children beware ! The dogs have got there before you.

I appreciate that Ross on Wye is a historic town but surely the town council should come out of the Dark Ages and prevent dog owners from allowing their pets to foul what is probably the towns most attractive feature, the river bank and the Rope Walk (so named due to the rope making industry which once took place by the river). There are no signs warning dog owners of penalties and no "bag it and bin it" options for any pet owners who do decide to clean up after their pet. In fact it's a disgrace and could be described as the 21st Century version of the plague in Ross on Wye. 
( Eira Wyn told me to censor my language)

Eira Wyn told me to calm down and we had a couple of shandies while sitting on the benches outside the riverside pub watching the setting sun. We decided to walk back up the hill to the town centre. There is a pleasant little square at the top of the hill with an attractive Fish sculpture. But I am afraid I could not get a decent picture as the light was fading fast. Eira Wyn was feeling peckish by now so we set out to look for some where to eat.

We passed the site of the Old Jail, but they only offered porridge, so we walked back to another old building, the Post Office, that had been converted to a Wetherspoons Pub and restaurant. Alright Wetherspoons are a "chain" but the beer and the food is reasonably priced and can be quite tasty. But most importantly Wetherspoons do a fantastic job of preserving many old buildings that would probably have been demolished by any other company.

As we wanted an early start in the morning we did not linger too long in Wetherspoons ..... well in fact we lingered long enough to enjoy a pleasant meal and for me to enjoy a few pints of beer and to admire the work that Wetherspoons had done to retain the character of another old building. (Mind you, it's good that the law is changing as regards smoking in restaurants as Wetherspoons were lax in their control of the non smoking areas).

It did not take us long to walk back to the hotel and as it was still relatively early we decided to test the service in the Bar. To be honest it was pretty quiet but the staff were pleasant, the ambience posh, the beer as to be expected was pretty expensive but there were enough interesting guests about for us to spend an hour or so "people watching" before we retired to bed.

 

Tried and Tested : Chase Classic Hotel

Location :

As I said earlier it is in a perfect location for visiting Ross on Wye. Close to the town centre but located within beautiful private grounds.

The Hotel :

The entrance hall is strikingly beautiful rather like an English Lord's Country House with marble colonnades and a wide sweeping staircase. The booking-in process was smooth and the receptionist was pleasant and we were quickly on our way up stairs to the bedroom, .....er well not with the receptionist.

The Bedrooms :

To be honest I expected a bigger bedroom as we were not paying for the basic bedroom. Eira Wyn however thought the room was perfectly fine but I don't think she realised the price we were paying. The en-suite bathroom was excellently fitted out and perfectly clean and the bedroom had all the facilities expected of this grade of hotel. We had a good night's sleep which is no more than we would expect as the hotel is in it's own grounds and thus set back from any traffic noise.

The hotel has a non-smoking policy throughout all of its rooms.

The Breakfast:

Eira Wyn declared the breakfast to be "excellent", with good service, a full English breakfast and a variety of fresh fruit and cereals in a very pleasant dining room. 

Chase Classic Hotel >