Nice quiet accommodation. Looked like the accommodation had recently been refurbished. We had two rooms with a shared bathroom as my partner and I were travelling with my mum (going to Beamish). Fabulous beer garden. Good breakfast. Friendly staff. Access to a kitchen if needed. No food (apart from Breakfast) on site but a nice chip shop up the road and we sat eating our fish and chips with a drink in the pub beer garden. There is a Sizzler pub 'The Hilltop' 5 minutes drive away which serves meals in the evening. Ideally located for Beamish a short drive away. Can't fault the place really. We would stay again.

Needed a hook on the bathroom door for clothes/towel.

We had a double room with en suite. Everything was spotlessly clean. The bedroom was comfortable with plenty of wardrobe and draw space. The en-suite was spacious with a shower and plenty of shelving/ cabinet space for toiletries. Although the rooms are above a busy pub we were not disturbed at all by noise from the pub even when there was live music on the Saturday night.A full English breakfast is included making the whole stay excellent value for money. Would stay there when visiting family in the area again.

No negatives for us. The accommodation was ideal for our needs.

The room was great, with spare supplies (teabags, loo rolls etc)on the landing of that floor … there was even a small fan heater or cooling fan available. The beer garden was lovely and quiet with plenty of picnic type tables in a well maintained lawn. The owners, Michael and Lindsay, were friendly and helpful.

If I’m to find any fault, and it didn’t affect our stay at all, then it might be that we had to be gentle with the shower cubicle doors as one side had come off its rollers ….. that in itself tells you that there were no serious issues.

We stayed for two nights and used for a base to visit Beamish and other surrounding Roman sites. The room was comfortable and all the staff and Landlady were very friendly. The pub itself is very welcoming and the locals were very friendly and the noise was barely audible upstairs even with the live music on the Saturday night (which was very good by the way). The breakfast was really good with cereal options and full English with toast. We went to a pub called the shepherd and shepherdess inn a short drive or 40 minute walk away for dinner. Food is excellent and reasonably priced. We would definitely stay again when we are in the area.

We booked so we could visit Beamish museum, the location of Ball Alley was great only about a mile away. Hosts were so helpful making sure we had everything we needed, and pointing us in the direction of near by eateries for our evening meal. The rooms were exceptionally clean with the addition of a residents kitchen should you need it. All topped off with a lovely breakfast every morning. Would definitely recommend and book again.

When we booked, we'd booked expecting cheap and cheerful, but the Ball Alley very much exceeded that. We had a very warm welcome by the bar staff when checking in. The room was clean and comfortable. The bar below was busy (on the Friday night we arrived) but in no way noisy. We bought some, very reasonably priced, drinks and sat outside in the large beer garden. Breakfast was superb - the owners know how to cook decent bacon! Again, a very warm welcome at breakfast and had a good chat about the area. We'd booked the two rooms that have a shared bathroom, i.e. no en-suite. That wasn't an issue for us as we were with family in the other room. Just to note, there are two very wide steps down from the bedrooms to the bathroom but there are hand-rails and the landing was lit all night, so this wasn't a problem. This B&B was in perfect location for us, not far from the A1 and only a few minutes drive from the Angel of the North. We're already considering staying here again in the near future when we have some non-UK friends staying with us and want them to experience a wonderful pub and B&B.

Straight away when we turned up there was plenty of parking space in the car park and the boss was very friendly and told us all the relevant details that we needed - full cooked breakfast between 7.30 and 9.00 and we apparently were not very far away from where we were having a meal that night - as it is only bed and breakfast and not evening meal here, which did'nt bother us. The room was just right with a flat screen tv at the bottom of the bed, a decent bathroom and view out of the window and all the lights/lamps worked, we also had biscuits waiting for us, plenty of tea/coffee and milk and if you wanted anymore milk there was ample outside on the landing for us. We went to the Pheasant And Pheasantress about a mile away at the entrance to Beamish for our evening meal which we could'nt fault - all the staff were really friendly and the quantity and quality of the food was very good. In the morning we had as promised a superb full cooked breakfast and we had the opportunity to have cereals with it which you don't always get and plenty of toast. As far as we were concerned it was an ideal place to stay to see this area - you can obviously visit the Beamish Museum, it's also not too far to visit Newcastle or Gateshead where of course , there's the Metro Centre (just remember where you've parked your car) and if you want nice walks there's the Gibside National Trust Property only a couple of miles away.

There's only one very small point there was no chain on the sinkhole plug in the bathroom but it still worked and did'nt let the water drain out whilst you got washed, unlike some places we've been to before.

Felt privileged to stay in a characterful pub B&B where the hosts surely work their socks off. We got there in time for a nice pint in the bar and then retired to a very pleasant room with its own bathroom. Everything had been thought through to make a stay pleasant. Breakfast was excellent. Before we left, we had a look at the pub beer garden, very attractive and very well maintained. Very responsive to texts and calls. Delighted we hadn’t chosen a hotel and that we had found this little gem. Very quiet.

A bit tricky to find.

Super room with everything you needed for the stay. At long last we got a room with a mirror and plug close together to enable easy use of hairdryer. Breakfast brilliant - cereal, toast and full English made to order. Excellent host/staff couldn’t do enough for you. Would definitely stay again if in the area.

Nothing

The Ball Alley was clean and comfortable. The staff were friendly and helpful. Breakfast was great! Stayed after a long day at Beamish Museum. Didn't see it all so we went back the next morning as it's so close! Excellent value for money.

Shared bathroom, but I knew that when I booked. Shared with one other room which wasn't occupied so not an issue! Other rooms have ensuite.