Name: The Horseshoe And Castle
Address: Main Road Cooling, Rochester, ME3 8DJ, GB

10/10

Exceptional

23 Jan 2026

Andrew

VERY FRIENDLY, COMFORTABLE AND IDEAL FOR NEARBY WEDDING

6/10

Pleasant

22 Oct 2025

Deborah

Nice room and great breakfast but bed was a bit hard and the sink in our room filled up and water took ages to go down. Also black bits came out of the cold tap so we didn’t fancy drinking the water from it.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

24 Sep 2025

John

What a great place, it was very clean, Kevin and the staff were really helpful and couldn’t do enough for us. I wold highly recommend this place

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

08 Jun 2025

James

Stayed here while going to a friends wedding in the local area. Created to really friendly staff and check in was a breeze. The room was compact but had everything we needed, comfy bed and even a little hamper with slippers, teas coffee and milk.
Hotel is above a pub though there’s a separate entrance so coming and going was easy.
Would recommend if you’re near by.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

20 Apr 2025

Tony

It was a very nice place to stay at a reasonable cost. Ideal location near to Cooling Castle were able to walk back after the wedding well with a torch. Staff were all friendly. Would recommend.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

07 Aug 2024

Carl

Lovely place

Great place to stay. Breakfast was spot on.
Didnt have evening meal as i was attending a wedding however i tried a few beers and theres a great selection

Self

10/10

Exceptional

23 May 2024

SJ

Great food and conversation

Lovely stay. The food was great and the stay was very comfortable, Jus the right level of friendly engagement

Business

10/10

Exceptional

26 Apr 2024

Mark

What a find

Nice friendly pub with a very warm welcome. Food was delicious!

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

08 Oct 2023

Carmen

Lovely old school pub with brand new rooms

We stayed here after a wedding at Cooling Castle Barn. A warm and friendly welcome both on arrival and on our return from the wedding.

We had room 4, very recently built and in spotless condition. An excellent night and beautiful view over the fields.

Breakfast was included and cooked to order. Super quality with a big mug of Yorkshire Tea :-)

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

09 Sep 2023

Benjamin

This rustic lovely pub, restaurant and hotel is perfectly located a walking distance from the Cooling Barn wedding venue. The hotel has check in/check out times to accommodate popular wedding times. As soon as we arrived, we were met by the friendly staff, it felt like we had arrived at a home away from home. Stuart checked us in, top bloke, and the bar/restaurant had great friendly staff, Sarah, Honey, and Hannah that really impressed. We stayed in the cottage for 3 nights, (minimum stay 2 nights for the cottage) located at the rear of the main building with its own entrance. Literally 20 steps from the restaurant and car park. The cottage is self contained with a bathroom/shower over bath and toilet, a second walk in shower room with toilet, kitchen (with fridge and microwave), lounge, private outdoor court yard, and the main bedroom with cupboard. Ample of room and very private facility. Just a few improvements needed here, needs hand wash in the main bathroom, the temperature control for the downstairs shower was very hot and couldn’t be cool. An electrical socket in the main bedroom was very loose when pulling a plug out. No air conditioning here but a large tower fan is provided. No WI-FI found in the cottage but excellent Wi-Fi in the main building. I tethered from my phone when in the cottage. Could definitely benefit from extending the Wi-Fi to the cottage. The food and drinks are reasonably priced and the restaurant and bar service is 5 stars.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

18 Jun 2023

Faye

A must stay

Wonderful stay in a comfortable village pub. Food & staff top notch

Friends_and_family Friends

4/10

Poor

10 Mar 2023

Verified traveler

No great for business

Breakfast not served until 8.30 which is not good when you need to get to site early. No cleaning service during the stay, so unless you request it, your milk will slowly go off in your room and your coffee will never be replenished.

Business

8/10

Excellent

05 Jul 2022

Victoria

Lovely quiet countryside location, very friendly staff

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

17 Feb 2022

Verified traveler

A Great Stay

A warm welcome from the staff. Clear information in a folder with out of hours contacts. Comfortable bed and a lovely on suit. The room was excellent and we had a great night sleep. It was ideally located for us to travel to a wedding at Cooling Castle. Excellent breakfast! I would highly recommend.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

16 Dec 2021

Adam

Fantastic all round, great room

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

21 Nov 2021

Anthony

Idea for attending the cooling castle

Very nice indeed. Rooms have just been renovated over lockdown. Breakfast was great too.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

20 Oct 2021

sheridan

Lovely room, very comfy bed. Bal, the lady who cooked/served us breakfast was very friendly and helpful with information about Rochester as we were going there for a look round. Lovely full English breakfast.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

30 Jul 2021

Rachel

Brilliant service and food

Not fully staffed because of covid, but they gave us numbers to call in case we needed anything out of hours. Very clean and comfortable cottage. Only complaints are that the lock on the bedroom door is completely useless and the upstairs shower needed to be handheld the entire time because the bracket meant to hold it on the wall was faulty and couldn’t support the weight of the shower head. Thankfully, there was a second shower downstairs. Food from the restaurant is also fabulous.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

31 May 2021

Verified traveler

Lovely place!

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

21 Sep 2020

SarahJ

Fantastic B and B. The room was lovely with great bed. It was the best sleep I’ve had in a long while. The pub served the most amazing food. I’d definitely look to stay there again. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

03 Feb 2020

Verified traveler

Unfortunately one of the secondary glazing units was missing in our room so we had a draughty night and traffic noise.

Friends_and_family Partner

10/10

Exceptional

08 Oct 2019

Verified traveler

It was a traditional pub with good rooms & good food

10/10

Exceptional

01 Oct 2019

Steve

Friendly and Comfortable

Lovely pub, the owner was very welcoming and attentive. The room itself was clean and comfortable with decent facilities like tea and coffee facilities in the room. Breakfast was really nice with some ingredients sourced from local farms. Only stayed for one night but would be nice to stay a bit longer and sample the local Kentish beers on offer at the pub and try more food on their menu.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

12 Sep 2019

Peter

Excellent!

Excellent service, lovely room, very helpful and provided a lovely takeaway bag as I had to leave before the set breakfast time. Very minor things in the room such as no hook on the back of the main door, plug socket by the bed would be nice, shelf in the bathroom to put toiletries on - but these are all very small and didn't detract from a top stay. Very quiet, great night's sleep, easy to find and lovely staff.

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

17 Aug 2019

Glynis

Lovely comfortable and clean hotel. Staff very friendly. Great location for attending a wedding nearby. Twin room is not en-suite but has a private bathroom and is for your sole use. Robes provided. Good value and would recommend.

Friends_and_family Friends

8/10

Excellent

11 Aug 2019

Paul

Fab location

Ideally located for Cooling Castle Barn, which we walked to in about 5/10mins. Very friendly service and lovely traditional pub. Comfortable room and an amazing breakfast. Overall really pleased with our stay.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

30 Jul 2019

Tracy

Ideal location fr Cooling Castle Barn

Ideal location for Cooling Castle Barn. Clean and adequate for our stay. Room was quite small but comfortable. Lovely breakfast!.Provided a torch for walk back :-)

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

24 May 2019

Verified traveler

Very clean and friendly. Great place to stay for Cooling Castle Wedding venue.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

29 Mar 2019

Verified traveler

Very close to Cooling Castle - walking distance. The rooms were very clean.

Leisure Friends

10/10

Exceptional

03 Dec 2018

Verified traveler

Warm and friendly full of old world charm nothing was too much trouble brilliant.

10/10

Exceptional

17 Nov 2018

william

Business

Lovely clean and comfy room

10/10

Exceptional

27 Aug 2018

Jo

The wedding in Cooling Castle

Nice clean room, perfect location, lovely staff, very nice breakfast.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

29 Jul 2018

raymond

Tricky place to get to, road access not the best, lovely pub, great food

8/10

Excellent

28 Jul 2018

Verified traveler

Great for one night stay

Very handy location if you're attending an event at Cooling Castle Barn (walking distance) but would recommend for no more than 1 day. Room was a good size but blinds dusty and floor boards above very noisy (we were on the ground floor of the cottage).
Breakfast choice and quality of food very good and staff lovely and helpful.

8/10

Excellent

17 May 2018

Paul

Classic English Country Inn

Classic English Village Inn, lovely countryside and very quiet. Rooms are comfortable and good size. Shower was a bit wonky but nothing too drastic. Food is average but tasty, bar has a good range of Ales which was pleasant to find.

6/10

Pleasant

29 Apr 2018

shirley

Disappointed room was a cupboard and not en-suite as booked Toilet and shower was down the hall with a key to unlock every time you needed to use it

Partner

8/10

Excellent

16 Dec 2017

carolyn

Overnight stay for Christmas party.

Lovely pub. Friendly welcome. Clean room and comfortable beds. Log fire lit in the dining room in the morning ready for breakfast which was excellent and cooked to order

Family

10/10

Exceptional

27 Oct 2017

David

Walking tour

I chose this hotel because it was on the doorstep of a number of things that I wanted to see during my walking tour; St James churchyard was the one where Pip's siblings were buried and where Magwich jumped out at Pip (from Dicken's Great Expectations), the marshland is a bird sanctuary, the old castle (a private residence owned by Jools Holland).
The farmland is a mass of pear and strawberry fields.
The hotel is the village pub and a meeting place for the local farmers.
Staff are very friendly and helpful and the room was perfect.

10/10

Exceptional

20 Oct 2017

Stephen

Great stay

The room was lovely, the breakfast was great, the staff were very friendly and knowledgable. A great couple of days and would definitely stay again if ever in the area.

Family

10/10

Exceptional

14 Sep 2017

michael

we were going to a wedding just down the road the staff went out of there way to look after us until we left
for the wedding the room was clean and the bed very comfortable the full English breakfast was very well
cooked and well presented the staff were very good as well we will stay here again

10/10

Exceptional

30 Aug 2017

jesus

Nice hotel. Staff very friendly

Staff makes a huge difference. They are friendly and very courteous.

10/10

Exceptional

14 Aug 2017

Sarah

Nice pub, great breakfast

Stayed here while in the local area for a wedding. Room was clean and tidy and had everything we needed.
Breakfast was excellent, although only available between 8:30-9:30, which is a little early on a Sunday. Would stay here again if we are ever in the area.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

27 Jul 2017

Jose

Great place to stay, good food and comfortable

8/10

Excellent

25 Jul 2017

Verified traveler

Very welcoming and friendly.

Very friendly, good food and nice location. Ideal if you are attending wedding at Cooling Castle. Less than a 10 min walk.

Family

6/10

Pleasant

10 May 2017

Jean

We were disappointed that bathroom was down the hall .It said private bathroom when we booked. We did not expect to go out the room for showers and toilet.Breakfast was great so we're staff.
Was not a lot round hotel but a ride out it was interesting .

Partner

8/10

Excellent

06 Jun 2017

Foke

Mooie inn op een mooie locatie. Helaas konden we er niet eten 's avonds. Maar ze hadden een goede tip gegeven, waar we wel konden eten. Omdat we 's morgens vroeg weg moesten, hebben ze voor ons een prima continental onbijt gemaakt. Alleen jammer dat we een badkamer op de gang hadden.

Partner