Boorowa Hotel

The service was lovely, and the town was quiet. We were travelling with two kids and booked the quad single room. The beds were comfortable, and although the furniture is dated, worn and mismatched, it gives the place character. After arriving late, we ate downstairs. The beef and Guinness pie with vegetables was really good, as was the steak sandwich. In the morning, there was fresh bread from the bakery, along with cereals and condiments. A couple of things let it down: the bathroom could have been cleaner, and some cushions on the outdoor seating were torn. I’m not keen on shared bathrooms, but this one was still bearable.

The host was pleasant, but our stay was anything but. We expected somewhere old and charming, yet the room felt old and unsafe. The bedroom door lock was crooked and unusable, with loose screws hanging out. We raised it with a female worker at 10pm. She offered to refund us, but said everywhere would be booked because of the Cherry Festival and there was nothing else they could do. Her suggestion was to wedge a chair under the lock, but there was no chair in the room. We would have needed one to open the other side of the French doors, and the bolt was out of reach. We were left to manage on our own, four hours from home, with nowhere else to go. Since we couldn’t secure the room, we kept our luggage in the car and carried our clothes and toiletries out to the street whenever we needed them, morning and night. There were bugs everywhere, the room was dusty, the sheets were dirty, and the tap kept leaking. The outdoor toilet had dead and live bugs in it too. To get through the night, we tied the lock to the handle and pushed the heavy wrought iron magazine stand against the door, while swatting bugs away. The room service was poor, and the broken lock should have been obvious to the owners. Charm is overrated. I’d give it a negative rating if the system allowed it.

The rooms are comfortable and reasonably priced, but the trucks rumbling past all night are loud and seem never-ending. The bar has a happy, friendly atmosphere, the service is warm, the food is great, and the Guinness is terrific.

We dropped in for lunch on Saturday. There were plenty of people having a beer and making plans for the day. Parking was easy, and the host and staff were friendly.