The Dowds' Country Inn & Event Center

This review is for the event side only - I didn’t stay at the Inn but from what I saw the rooms and Inn seemed nice. So for a place to stay this review probably is not relevant. Unfortunately I would not recommend this place for an event. The woman, who I believe was the owner, managing the wedding we attended was the rudest person I’ve ever dealt with. It wasn’t just me, it was a noticeable theme that was talked about by nearly every guest. Many guests actually abandoned their rooms at the inn to relocate to a different venue because of how unpleasant it was. A real shame. The rest of the staff was friendly and helpful. The bar tenders did a great job despite unorganized planning/management (most notably they ran out of glasses and couldn’t improvise or get more for over half an hour). But the manager/owners attitude was so sour and abrasive it really stood out and brought the place down. I completely understand the stress of managing an event. I understand guests being out of line and her frustration with a couple 20 year olds trying to exercise their right to drink a few months too early. I don’t hold any of that against her - I get she has liability and I would have been frustrated about that too if it was my business. That wasn’t the issue. It was the interactions that should have been routine or mundane that were consistently hostile for no obvious reason. This happened from the jump - not after a long night but from the minute anyone arrived to the inn.

BEWARE if you are thinking of staying at Dowds Inn for a Dartmouth graduation weekend. They have an advance full payment, non-refundable deposit policy, which is OK if you don’t suffer a serious health event such as a heart attack, stroke, injury, etc.—which is what happened to us. When we had to cancel—we had no choice; when asked, Dowds refused to even consider offering a refund. Even after we found another family to book our room at full price. (Dowds had failed to find a replacement—we did it for them). Dowds—who would thus lose no revenue if they refunded us did not do the right thing but rather chose to keep both families’ payments, doubling their revenue for the room. To be safe, choose somewhere else to stay.

I went to an office party here ...
Very nice atmosphere.
I arrived 45 minutes late and all the food was gone, I was pretty bummed out because I was so hungry ..

Service: 4

Fantastic stay here, in every way!

Service: 5

We loved our stay at Dowd’s! Everyone was so kind. They cook breakfast to order, the rooms were clean and cozy, and the property is beautiful!

Service: 5

Excellent inn! The room was well appointed and bed was super comfy. Breakfast was cooked to order and had a very nice selection of options which is included in the room price! Staff treat you like family and Duncan makes a mean omelette. There is also a nice Italian restaurant a couple doors down. If you are in the area this is the place to stay!

Service: 5

We loved this place. It was charming..! This was our first trip with our puppy and he loved it too. The rooms were neat and cozy, lot of space outside to walk and play with our pet. The breakfast was scrumptious. Would def want to visit again.

Service: 5

The staff were unfriendly. My wife felt on edge the whole stay.

Service: 1

I stayed at the Dowd’s Country Inn for one night in early October 2023. At check-in I told the lady at the front desk I had the Presidential Suite which I reserved 8 MONTHS prior in Feb. 2023 with an e-mail confirmation. She gave us our key and we went to our room and we thought this didn’t look like the photos on the website. I looked at the wooden block attached to the key and it said Pike’s Suite and not Presidential Suite. I walked back to the front desk and told her she gave us the wrong room. She said her system shows my reservation in Pike’s Suite. I showed her my printout from 8 months ago and she told me she didn’t know what happened in her system. I said not a problem, just give me the key to the Presidential Suite. She told me people just checked in after me that also somehow booked the Presidential Suite and since they “had 2 kids”, I was out of luck. She asked if I wanted to change rooms to another suite that just had a king bed instead of a queen bed. I told her that was OK, we can keep the room we had if the only thing different was a bigger bed. She told me that she would have the owner contact me in the morning. The next morning, I asked a different lady at the front desk if the owner was around and explained my situation. She very rudely told me “that's not our problem that's Expedia's problem”. I told her I didn't book through Expedia and booked directly with the B&B. She told me she couldn't help me. We checked out and I e-mail the owner the next day. A week went by and I finally received a reply telling me that I was offered a bigger room and I turned it down. I said no, that wasn't true. The lady behind the desk told me it was the only thing different was a king bed. All I said was just refund me the difference between the Presidential Suite and the Pikes Peak room that I actually stated. It's been over two weeks now and I'm getting no response. Very bad customer service. I would not recommend staying here. I've never had this happened to me in over 30 years of traveling.

Service: 1

Wonderful inn. Great staff who were so helpful to us and our son who was hiking the Appalachian trail and came off the trail to attend his graduation. Super breakfast. Will definitely return

Clean room, nice staff & delicious breakfast will go again.

Service: 5

We stopped on our road trip for a night. Beautifull inn, great breakfast and awesome staff. I highly recommand.

Service: 5

Clean room, nice staff & delicious breakfast will go again.

Service: 5

The Dowd’s Inn is a lovely, quintessential B&B in the heart of beautiful, quaint Lyme, NH. Our party of three were looking forward to our mini reunion, and were excited to have found “room at the Inn”. Unfortunately, our stay was not without mishaps. We arrived at our 3rd floor room to discover that it was 84º. The AC had not been turned on for our arrival. When it seemed to take forever to cool down, we realized the AC filter was completely clogged, which we had to clean. We also discovered that the third bed had not been made up, per our request when asked on the online reservation form. When we checked the room for extra sheets, we did not find any, but we did find a drawer full of empty candy wrappers and someone else’s clothes. Obviously the room had not been cleaned properly, including dirty rugs and hair in the bathroom. When we attempted to take a shower, we could not get any hot water. We eventually got hot water in the clawfoot bathtub, but there was no stopper for the drain. Twice we left the “DO NOT DISTURB” sign on our door and, both times, someone entered our room without our permission (once to “clean”, and once to “install” the drain stopper, which was nothing more than a rubber stopper on a chain not attached to anything.) We rarely saw someone at the front desk. We heard over and over again, "we're short staffed." The poor woman serving breakfast (she was sweet, and breakfast was good) was simultaneously trying to answer the phone and check people in and out. In fact, the only time we saw the innkeepers was to deliver our missing linens at 10 pm, and to transport an AT hiker. It’s only right to contact the innkeeper directly to voice our concerns, which we did. Twice. Zero reply. As a result, and very unfortunately, we have resorted to social media so others are forewarned. Our mishaps were numerous, and a good innkeeper would address them immediately. An innkeeper who does not respond to paying guests is unacceptable.

i love old farmhouse's.... this was nice little place... did a 2 night stay rooms were clean, and well stocked. had a fan/iron board/air purifier in the closet for guests. nice collection of books lying around if anyone to read.. was nice to see a wall with hikers little messages off the dining room. Missed breakfast as i was visiting family at Dartmouth. Monday night before everything flooded, Tami stayed late and checked me in and gave a small tour. 5 star recommended

Service: 5