Things That Go Bump in the Night (and Other Stories)

I’ll be upfront with you — I don’t believe in ghosts. But I do believe my own eyes and ears, and honestly? Things get a little spooky around here sometimes. We have a board where guests and staff can log their experiences, and by popular demand, we’re sharing a few of the best.

The Woman in Blue

By far our most frequent visitor, she tends to drift through the restaurant and occasionally rests a gentle hand on a diner’s shoulder. We’re fairly sure we know who she is — a woman well known and well loved locally in recent times. She’s never unwelcome.

The Highwayman of Church Hill

Village legend has long held that Church Hill is haunted, and local children have always made a point of sprinting up it after dark. (If you’ve seen the gradient, you’ll appreciate that you’d have to really want to escape something to run up that hill.) Our most dramatic encounter involved a highwayman who followed a guest all the way up Church Hill, through the building, and up the stairs to her room. Being a rather formidable New Yorker, she turned on her heel to challenge him — at which point he melted away before her eyes. We caught up with her at the bar afterwards and asked if she’d been frightened. Her reply has become something of a house motto: “Oh honey, the dead are nothing to worry about. It’s the living that’ll get you.”

The Children

A common presence in the upper floors, small children are often heard running and playing in the corridors. During lockdown, while I was decorating alone in the building, I’d regularly hear little feet thundering about upstairs and doors banging shut. Guests sometimes wake to find them sitting quietly at the ends of their beds, smiling. What’s striking is that nobody has ever reported feeling frightened — quite the opposite. Most describe it as a lovely, oddly reassuring experience.

Most guests, anyway. One did check out early and left us a 1/10 on Booking.com on account of the apparition. You can’t please everyone.

Things That Go Bump

Beyond the named regulars, the building has a general air of restlessness. Barrels shift in the cellar when no one’s down there. Pictures leap from the stone walls. Vases part company with the dresser in spectacular fashion. We’ve stopped being surprised.

They say extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence — and we quite agree. You may not believe in ghosts either. But why not come and find out what your own senses tell you? And when you do, make sure you let us know what happens. We’re always adding to the board.