YHAgroup.org.uk

This is a fairly new hostel, a joint venture which doubles up as an outdoor centre for Rotherham Council. The old hostel is nearby, currently empty and unused.

Although the building is old, it has been completely rebuilt (I believe after a fire) and is to all intents and purposes a new construction. Full disabled access, including a lift, is provided. A serious omission is the lack of a members kitchen (free tea, coffee and milk were available in the dining room at all times). Also it does not officially have a cycle store, however a party of cyclists booked in while we were there and were able to store their machines in one of the numerous outbuildings.

We had some trouble finding the common room, it is on the first floor labelled \”Games Room\”. Despite this, it contained no table football, giant tic tac toe or other games. A wide selection of board games could be borrowed from reception. Leading off this room was another good-sized \”TV room\” containing a wide screen TV. This cannot be used to watch broadcast TV, only for DVDs which again can be borrowed.

Evening meal was excellent, there is a choice of two items each for starter, main course and dessert. Courses can be purchased individually, even just dessert if you want. A variety of alternatives for picky children were available although not listed on the menu. This is a B&B hostel, breakfast was the now-usual buffet with sausage, beans and hash browns also on offer. Toast was make-your-own in a rather slow toaster.

The washroom on the first floor was being run as unisex, the sign on the door appeared detacheable so possibly they revert to more conventional arrangements when they have school parties in.

We had a 4 bed family room which was a good size and provided with lockers and drawers. Oddly for a new hostel there were no bunk lights.

There is fantastic walking straight out of the hostel, up the Pennine Way to Black Hill or a climb up to an abandoned quarry which is very dramatic. There is a good and cheap rail service into Manchester from nearby Hadfield.

At present, there is no hostel rubber stamp!

# Posted by johnmann 272 days ago