Willowbeck Lodge Boutique Hotel

We have visited her previous and absolutely loved it and so grabbed the chance on a recent holiday to use it as a stopover. Rooms and breakfast cost £170 so above average in price. Unfortunately we didn't have the same wonderful experience as last time. Positives: Lovely setting and wildlife, room was nicely decorated and clean, staff were pleasant. Negatives: -on arrival we were shown to our room which had external access by a member of staff. The key he gave us wouldn't open the door for my husband who struggled for some time. I tried too so we had to ask the staff ember to come back and help. He struggled too but after some time managed to gain access. No apology or comment that he would get it looked at. It. meant we had to leave our room unlocked for our stay. -at dinner we ordered our food and our main meal was brought before our starters. Apparently the system had swapped them around. We agreed to eat our main course before our starters. -breakfast has now been changed and is continental only. on arrival we were told we could have a cooked breakfast but would have to pay for it and order the night before. This was a surprise as there had been no mention of this and given the price I would have expected a cooked breakfast. -orange juice was undrinkable as though it was not diluted sufficiently and definitely wasn't 'fresh orange' -husband is vegan and we had notified them of this on booking. The only breakfast available was toast with vegan margarine. He was OK with this, but other vegan potential customers may wish to know this. -grounds felt shabbier than last time....there was a broken light fitting and electric cables, chair and table upside down on the ground outside our room. If the above issues were resolved we would return, but not as things stand.

We stayed overnight and booked dinner in the restaurant, although this wasn't necessary as the four of us were the only guests staying or eating there. The bedrooms were tiny (booked as standard doubles) with no wardrobe - the only hanging space was an over-door rail. We felt afterwards that they could have given us an upgrade since we were the only customers! It was an eerie experience being the only guests and there were no staff on duty in the building overnight. The retaurant was emply, apart from us, and although we had been asked to choose our meal on arrival, it didn't taste as if it had been well prepared. My starter of heritage beetroot salad with goat's cheese was pretty tasteless and my main course of halibut in lobster sauce was dry and disappointing. The portion was pretty meagre too. Breakfast was another let down with toasted plastic bread and a dry kipper. The poor staff tried their best but they were fighting a losing battle. No amount of smiling and pleasantries was going to make this experience any better.

Went with another couple, after spending a pleasant weekend together on Hadrians wall. We were heading south - the were heading north so a restaurant close to the M6 seemed to a good idea for somewhere to say our "Goodbyes" Sunday lunch - Awful Not much choice (Nothing like what the website suggested) Fish and chips served on a stone cold plate - mushy peas cold. Fish similar somethhing that had been warmed up on top of the range at a back street chipy and served with a portion of batter scraps. (Much more batter than actual fish). Definitely a place to avoid in future