We spent a 2 night ski and stay package with our teenage children. Our rooms were beautiful. The kids skied all day and we went sight seeing. Our breakfast was great. The service was wonderful. We would come again.

The first disappointment was the area. I thought that Hartness House would be out in the country with picturesque scenery. It is at the end of a residential street in a rather rundown neighborhood. Springfield Vermont is very very industrial, nothing like I imagined. The second disappointment was not being able to see the observatory, secret tunnel and workshop that is so proudly displayed on the Hartness House website. Why advertise something that would be of such great interest to your guests on your website and then not offer it? The dinner was fine, however the dining room was very cold and I kept my coat on throughout most of dinner. I noticed that the waitress turned up the heat just as the first guests were arriving and it took some time to sufficiently warm up. The place is quite rundown but in all fairness one has to consider the age of the establishment. The staff was very helpful and cheerful and did their best to accommodate us in every way in spite of all above shortcomings. The Charles Lindbergh room was very cozy and I slept like a baby. So overall my review is obviously mixed though I have to say that I would not come back again or recommend it to friends. As I stated before, the biggest draw for me go to Hartness House was the history and not having access to all that great history was disappointing.

When my wife and I were looking for a place to get married 5+ years ago, it's was by sheer luck that we found the Hartness House. We booked a stay in the main house to familiarize ourselves with their weddings packages. We didn't even have to step foot inside before we knew it was the place for us. And upon spending that first night there, it completely reaffirmed everything we wanted. Outstanding food and accommodating service. We booked our wedding before we left. Our wedding was outstanding. Quaint, quiet, and quite amazing. Just over a dozen people having dinner on the back deck after the nuptials, also on the back deck. It was perfect. We hadn't been able to go back until earlier this month, and we spent the weekend there with one of their packages. They were even better than on our first trips. And they've upgraded to be able to handle large weddings. I'm quite certain they could handle 200 the way they handled 20.
At this last stay, we got to know the proprietor, Alla. She made us feel right at home, offering the history and the ins and outs of this gorgeous estate. The food is exemplary and the setting is unbelievable. We've only stayed in the main house, and twice in the governor's suite.
If you want the feel of a true pure New England B&B, the Hartness House is for you. If you like being a faceless number adding to a Fortune 500's bottom line, stay away. I think many B&B's have some imperfections (as often written on travels sites), but at the Hartness House, they are perfectly imperfect.

My wife and I reserved a room at the Hartness House Inn of Springfield Vermont for the evenings of Saturday, October 9 and 10 of 2010. PLEASE NOTE: Carriage House appears to be the same physical address as Hartness House. Apparently, they're doing business under two names. The rate was quoted as $139 per night plus tax. When we arrived, we found the room to be unacceptable. It was dreadfully cold, the paint was peeling off the walls, the carpet was torn, the room had a musty smell, the TV was old and there were only a handful of “junk” cable channels available – no ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. And the sink in the bathroom wasn’t secured to the vanity which, in turn, was not secured to the wall. The whole thing wobbled precariously. It was really bad.

We went to the front desk and complained about the cold. The clerk took us back to the room to show us how to operate the heat. She had no idea how it worked. Finally she found the manager who explained how it worked. Hours later the room was up to about 65 degrees.

It went downhill from there. The following morning I went up front and told the clerk that we’d like to check out. “Fine, she said”. She ran the room receipt and it was just barely less than $300. “This isn’t right”, I said. “You’ve charged us for two nights”. “That’s right” she said. “We can’t cancel the second night because it’s peak season”. “Not even if the room’s lousy – unacceptable”? “That’s right”, she said. I asked to see the manager. The clerk told me she was “busy” and couldn’t possibly be bothered to see me.

So, with the greatest reluctance, we stayed the second night. It was that or lose our money and then go out and try to find a decent place to stay. I must say, I’ve never gotten that kind of treatment at a hotel, and I’ve stayed all over the country. Of course, I won’t go back to Hartness House. But I’ll also stay away from Vermont if they can’t police their inns better than that. It’s not unreasonable to expect a comfortable place to stay if you spend that kind of money. What we received was nowhere close to comfortable or acceptable.