The Sawley Arms

I booked four rooms for our family of 10, two doubles and one twin on the ground floor and a family room with a double bed plus bunk beds for children, which was on the first floor. Quite pricey, I thought when I booked, especially as breakfast was not included, but it was for a Friday and Saturday night in midsummer and the rooms turned out to be really lovely, as was the location, a pretty village, very quiet, close to Fountains Abbey. Also family rooms are hard to come by so well done to The Sawley Arms for providing such well-thought-out accommodation for little ones. There was room in the pub garden for the children to run and there was a playground nearby. The welcome, especially for those family members arriving very late, was kindness itself. My husband and I took the twin room, modern, spacious and absolutely immaculate. Lovely modern bathroom with a big walk-in shower (no tub). All the expected amenities provided including kettle, tea/ coffee/biscuits/ mineral water, hair dryer and bathrobes. We did hear the footsteps of the family in the room above but since that was our family that was OK. Breakfast was excellent with lots of choice (reduced price for children), as was the evening meal four of us had on the Friday. The bar and restaurant were both pretty busy. The only reason I give four stars not five is that, although service was excellent and very friendly, hot food was slow to appear both at dinner and at breakfast, both at our tables and at others. It's possible they were short-handed in the kitchen and at dinner we and other diners received fulsome apologies and the 10% discretionary service charge was removed from the bill. This was very likely a short-term situation and I don't hesitate to recommend The Sawley Arms both for the restaurant, location and the high standard of accommodation. Plenty of parking and outdoor seating.

We stopped at this Inn whilst touring in the Dales. We only had time for a quick lunch but wish we had stayed there! A great lunch was provided very promptly and served by such a lovely lady. We had a look around before leaving and found the Inn to be immaculate and very welcoming. We will be looking to stay there on our next visit to the Yorkshire Dales.

Excellent accommodation , we booked the twin delux room and it was immaculate and detached from the main pub . Really can’t fault it . The food was amazing and all the staff were very friendly and accommodating . The outside area & beer garden all immaculate . I’d highly recommend this as a place to stay and will definitely be back 😊

The people were so very friendly food wonderful very smart bedroom thoroughly enjoyed my stay would definitely return

We wanted to stay somewhere a little bit rural and cosy but still with easy reach of the nearby bustling towns and cities of Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough ...and this pub/ Hotel ticked all thd boxes and so much more . From the moment we arrived we we're greeted with a friendly front of house team and shown to our beautiful and spotless room. The bed was super comfy and i loved the molten brown products in the bathroom, my absolute favourite. For our evening meal we booked a table for 7pm , we sat next to a roaring log fire and tucked into our home-made fish and chip's which we're so tasty and fresh. Again the staff we so attentive and looked after our every need. Breakfast was out of this world!!! Lets just say we didn't leave feeling hungry..the sausages and black pudding were the best we had ever tasted ..i was told by the waitress everything fresh is locally sourced which is great to hear. Absolute gem of a place..definitely be back in the summer.

The heating wasn’t working for the whole of our 2 night stay at The Sawley Arms near Ripon . The four of us were very understanding but were surprised when on our return after a day out it still wasn’t working and no update or explanation was offered. The rooms are very well appointed - but the huge disappointment was the food in the self proclaimed ‘Gastro Pub’. The photos on the website totally mis- represent what you actually get - no wonder we were the only diners and the pub virtually empty both evenings. It is such a shame as the accommodation & outside space has been carefully thought out and finished to a very high standard. The breakfast & staff were great. BUT the Manageress, Julie was totally lacking in any form of customer care & failed to address our complaints over some of the food we received. The Prawn cocktail starter was fab ! But … £21.00 for a main course consisting of burnt dried up chips which I left as you couldn’t put a fork into them, soggy inside battered fish & peas. The “proper Steak & Ale Pie” was shockingly poor, also with dried up overcooked chips & bland microwaved Broccoli. We could not believe that a) some of the food had been freshly cooked and b) a chef of a ‘ self proclaimed Gastro Pub’ could justify putting such poor quality / poor value food on a plate We very reluctantly paid for the food but after discussing it the next morning when the Manageress arrived she failed to re-visit the subject after her assurance “she would investigate” . instead she ignored us which was very surprising considering the heating situation - £310 for 2 nights B & B with no heating and an indifferent manager - needless to say we did not eat there the second night and no wonder the pub was virtually empty again .