Wonderful location Staff while nice and tried very hard to make the stay comfortable they lacked the expertise and training expected in a 4 star establishment.
The hotel is understaffed and struggled to provide the services expected. The room was not well cleaned with marks left on surfaces especially the TVs and Glass doors. Spiders webs left in the window alcoves and the room wasn't hoovered properly.
Small things just added to the disapointment: 1. No butter delivered with breakfast room service 2. No spoons delivered with the room service dinner even though a desert was present. 3. No salt and pepper delivered with room service. 4. Breakfast booked for 7:30 waited 10 minutes for staff to be available to take order. 5. Breakfast was very poor quality the amount of food varied from day to dayno consistency. The hash browns were very greasy and had black bits all over them. In fact the hash browns at Macdonalds are far superior.
I could go on but all in all this wasn't a value for money experience and I will not be returning.
Overall left with a feeling of disapointment and wish I had stayed at a Premier Inn at least the room is clean and you get what you pay for.
Sarah Cook364 days ago
Sadly we didn't get to stay over but afternoon tea was amazing, a real treat. Went and had a look around the spa which is brilliant lovely pool and fully equipped gym. The treatment rooms are very smart. Such a beautiful old house and gardens and the spa extension has been done very well.
Groove Manuva364 days ago
We had the pleasure of playing at Armathwaite Hall for a wedding last weekend and it's an absolutely lovely venue. Highly recommended! The staff were all great too.
We played some acoustic music in the afternoon and then the full band for the evening reception. The northern lights were on show outside too :)
Terri Griffin364 days ago
Review of restaurant and bar only:
My husband and I are staying in the Lake District visiting relatives and were looking for a nice restaurant to visit.
We were EXTREMELY disappointed in our experience. It started in the bar. We arrived 30 mins before our dinner reservation to have a drink.
Two bar servers walked around us as though we weren’t there. We finally had to ask for service. We watched one lady wait about 10 mins for them to serve her. There was no one else in the bar area besides her and the two of us.
Dinner was truly disappointing. We sat down to a lovely table setting with nice wine glasses. We only ordered a glass of wine and not a bottle.
They removed the nice wine glasses then were served in terrible small wine glasses like out of a small pub . When we asked why we weren’t served in the nice glasses, they said it’s because glasses of wine come from the bar. We expressed our disappointment on this and she did agree to switch them out but only after some discussion. Why would you even make this an issue and why would you make excuses instead of just taking care of it?
The food was average at best. The menu is quite limited . I had the Turbot which was actually tough. My husband had the venison which was as average . I like the heritage tomato starter
Then the strangest thing was that we were told to pay at the reception desk. We went to the reception desk and they just told us an amount without offering a receipt. When we asked for the receipt, they just read off the items we purchased . No receipt.
Unfortunately I cannot recommend this restaurant. It is definitely not worth the price or the service
John Iacopino364 days ago
Came for vegan afternoon tea. Delicious and thoughtful selection of scones and sweets, excellent tea on beautiful grounds. Also the vegan butter was fantastic
Keith Higham364 days ago
Were looking forward to celebrating our Ruby Anniversary having heard good things about the hotel. Sadly very disappointed. On arrival the hotel is quite impressive and we were met at reception by courteous staff and a glass of sherry..nice start. Unfortunately, room 147 Deluxe Double was a bit dated and tired with a musty smell. We had pre-booked dinner at 7.00pm and looked forward to a top class dining experience, but boy were we disappointed. Very poor and restricted choice, with no options for vegetarians. Portions were minuscule and poorly cooked. My wife’s Hake main course was rubbery and overcooked with little flavour. My battered fish, supposedly Sole, which was hard to find amongst the mass of batter was tasteless, mushy peas presented in a tiny dish providing barely a single mouth ful and overcooked chips. For this we paid £26.00 each for the main course. Starters at £12.00 weren’t much better either. All in all very poor quality and value for money. Needless to say we didn’t stay for dessert. The Spa was tired, claustrophobic and extremely busy. People wandering about with drinks in glasses and bottles inside the Spa and outside. A potentially dangerous situation of broken glass and slippery surfaces. Staff seemed unaware and surprised when this was brought to their attention. All in all a very poor experience, especially as we were treating ourselves for our ruby wedding anniversary. In fact, we were so disappointed, we discussed settlement of bill with management which is yet to be resolved and left after dinner.
Chantal Frith2 years ago
I don’t think that myself and partner have ever been so bitterly disappointed with a hotel establishment in years. We’ve just checked out after taking part in the New Year break package. Given the price range paid in advance, our feature room was probably the worst accommodation we’ve stayed in. Honestly, the room was so outdated, covered in a thick film of dust and was an amalgamation of The Overlook Hotel from The Shining meets Premier Inn. The bathroom was it’s only saving grace, so it’s safe to say there was no feature to the “feature” room. Our bed was rock hard as well, rendering us leaving with less sleep and more exhaustion as opposed to being fresh, and by no means is the feature room we had shown on the website in the room category photos. In addition to this, our friends who had also booked a Junior Suite, and had no hot water the entire 4 days we were there, and as the hotel was fully booked we had to share one bathroom between four adults. Again, given the high prices for an expected luxurious stay, this is unacceptable. I’d like to be able to say that the general manager’s (Simon) customer service approach was five star, however, instead of checking in with us, offering any type of compensation before requesting on check out, he instead greeted us with distinct rudeness, patronising tone, and evidently condescending towards the female community. His handling of the situation was utterly repugnant and none of us can understand why or how he is in such a position of authority for an estate hotel. Luckily, the hospitality/spa/events/housekeeping staff were the real heroes and went above and beyond to help. Unfortunately we will not be returning to the estate until there has been a major overhaul to the management system as clearly there is one manager exercising a god complex who thinks it’s appropriate to stay up drinking alcohol until 4am, and then berates the guests who have had such a poor experience and giving their feedback of the situation during checkout the next day. I work in operations and it’s individuals like this who evidently abuse their position of authority to the extreme and think they can get away with it. We also wanted the owner Carolyn to be made aware of the behaviour in the hope that this will never recur with any further guests, but until all is rectified with the management system at the hall, beware anyone looking to book large events like weddings where there are a lot of loving parts and guests requiring rooms. Not only may you not receive hot water during your stay, but you will also be verbally attacked if you voice your unhappiness.
Theresa R2 years ago
Came for the afternoon tea. It was a lovely experience as it is quiet, calm, peaceful. The staff are friendly and functional. The afternoon tea was well presented and tasted good. And we had a nice little walk on the grounds after.
As a side note, there were only men staff available, I understand it could be the rota for that particular day, but I thought it was noteworthy.
The hotel is understaffed and struggled to provide the services expected. The room was not well cleaned with marks left on surfaces especially the TVs and Glass doors. Spiders webs left in the window alcoves and the room wasn't hoovered properly.
Small things just added to the disapointment:
1. No butter delivered with breakfast room service
2. No spoons delivered with the room service dinner even though a desert was present.
3. No salt and pepper delivered with room service.
4. Breakfast booked for 7:30 waited 10 minutes for staff to be available to take order.
5. Breakfast was very poor quality the amount of food varied from day to dayno consistency. The hash browns were very greasy and had black bits all over them. In fact the hash browns at Macdonalds are far superior.
I could go on but all in all this wasn't a value for money experience and I will not be returning.
Overall left with a feeling of disapointment and wish I had stayed at a Premier Inn at least the room is clean and you get what you pay for.
We played some acoustic music in the afternoon and then the full band for the evening reception. The northern lights were on show outside too :)
My husband and I are staying in the Lake District visiting relatives and were looking for a nice restaurant to visit.
We were EXTREMELY disappointed in our experience. It started in the bar. We arrived 30 mins before our dinner reservation to have a drink.
Two bar servers walked around us as though we weren’t there. We finally had to ask for service. We watched one lady wait about 10 mins for them to serve her. There was no one else in the bar area besides her and the two of us.
Dinner was truly disappointing. We sat down to a lovely table setting with nice wine glasses. We only ordered a glass of wine and not a bottle.
They removed the nice wine glasses then were served in terrible small wine glasses like out of a small pub . When we asked why we weren’t served in the nice glasses, they said it’s because glasses of wine come from the bar. We expressed our disappointment on this and she did agree to switch them out but only after some discussion. Why would you even make this an issue and why would you make excuses instead of just taking care of it?
The food was average at best. The menu is quite limited . I had the Turbot which was actually tough. My husband had the venison which was as average . I like the heritage tomato starter
Then the strangest thing was that we were told to pay at the reception desk. We went to the reception desk and they just told us an amount without offering a receipt. When we asked for the receipt, they just read off the items we purchased . No receipt.
Unfortunately I cannot recommend this restaurant. It is definitely not worth the price or the service
The Spa was tired, claustrophobic and extremely busy. People wandering about with drinks in glasses and bottles inside the Spa and outside. A potentially dangerous situation of broken glass and slippery surfaces. Staff seemed unaware and surprised when this was brought to their attention.
All in all a very poor experience, especially as we were treating ourselves for our ruby wedding anniversary.
In fact, we were so disappointed, we discussed settlement of bill with management which is yet to be resolved and left after dinner.
In addition to this, our friends who had also booked a Junior Suite, and had no hot water the entire 4 days we were there, and as the hotel was fully booked we had to share one bathroom between four adults. Again, given the high prices for an expected luxurious stay, this is unacceptable.
I’d like to be able to say that the general manager’s (Simon) customer service approach was five star, however, instead of checking in with us, offering any type of compensation before requesting on check out, he instead greeted us with distinct rudeness, patronising tone, and evidently condescending towards the female community. His handling of the situation was utterly repugnant and none of us can understand why or how he is in such a position of authority for an estate hotel.
Luckily, the hospitality/spa/events/housekeeping staff were the real heroes and went above and beyond to help.
Unfortunately we will not be returning to the estate until there has been a major overhaul to the management system as clearly there is one manager exercising a god complex who thinks it’s appropriate to stay up drinking alcohol until 4am, and then berates the guests who have had such a poor experience and giving their feedback of the situation during checkout the next day. I work in operations and it’s individuals like this who evidently abuse their position of authority to the extreme and think they can get away with it. We also wanted the owner Carolyn to be made aware of the behaviour in the hope that this will never recur with any further guests, but until all is rectified with the management system at the hall, beware anyone looking to book large events like weddings where there are a lot of loving parts and guests requiring rooms. Not only may you not receive hot water during your stay, but you will also be verbally attacked if you voice your unhappiness.
As a side note, there were only men staff available, I understand it could be the rota for that particular day, but I thought it was noteworthy.