吉爾平湖畔別墅飯店(Gilpin Hotel & Lake House)

From the start, walking into reception, being show to our room excellent service…. The room had everything we needed bright and spacious at both the Hotel and later at the Lake House, both the hot tub and the view and swimming pool. We love the retreat in the Lake District and have been coming here over a long period of years, so professional every time…. The new chefs are so good, tasting menu, thank you Ollie for our wonderful selection of dishes whilst we were with you, and Tom for your tasty different BBQ style….

Very tired and desperately in need of refreshment and repair! We stayed here in a 5* Luxury Hotel that cost £1200 for a two night stay so expectations were high after reading some fabulous reviews. Unfortunately the Garden suite ( Catbells) were we stayed was Shabby and very tired.( see attached pictures) Add to the fact you could not control the heating in the suite at all and the wool duvet was extremely thin I was feeling the cold and found it hard to sleep as it was 0 degrees in the day and sub zero in the evening. Pillows were flat , mattress was old , saggy and had no support . There was a mattress topper that was no help The paintwork was marked, chipped and dirty in places, The bathroom was shoddy and broken and cracked in places. Bath sealant was mouldy, Shower sealant mouldy, floor tiles cracked in places, shower tiles cracked, light fixtures hanging out and damaged. light bulbs needed replacing. Room fixtures and fittings broken/ damaged. Bedside table, glass top chipped and sharp so could easily cut you if not careful. Cobwebs all over the ceiling in bedroom and bathroom, dust on bedside lamps and table tops . Wardrobe doors chipped and poorly painted in places . Confusion over welcome tray as to what was complimentary and what needed to be paid for. Small bottle of Gilpin gin left out on tray along with small bottles of spirits, nuts and half a bottle of red wine No price list . No mini bar tariff Overall a bad experience and definitely not what we expected

Duddon Suite (circa £800 per night) We booked this for our anniversary. The pictures on the website are similar (slightly stretched) to what we saw in reality BUT everything was worn and tired. There are brown water stains on the mural in the shower, the massage bed cover is flaking, half the plants on the green wall outside were dead and there was some sort of horrible algae covering the pond. The cabin was also falling apart on one side. THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT The room and spa area were 30 & 33 degrees Celsius plus every day with no air condition (except in the bedroom with didn't work well). The cabin is 75% glass with limited blinds so that as the sun rose all the glass heated the rooms, including the floor to ceiling mirrored glass on the back wall. Picture living in a Green House. During the day you could not sit outside because of the wasps and fly. It is always a bad sign when the hotel provide bug spray. So no where to have respite from the heat of the cabin. Adding to the experience is the hap hazard approach to cleaning. The bathroom and kitchenette counters were only wiped down 2 of the 7 nights we stayed there. There was no consistency you ended up calling down to reception to ask for things that were not replaced (towels, milk for coffee and coffee pods). THE DRONE INCIDENT For context, there is nothing separating you in the shower from the outside or the living room. No blinds to pull or shower curtain. You shower in open plan. If you were sitting on the deck outside you could see the person inside taking a shower clear as day. We had a drone flying overhead several times, rang down to the reception and was told, "apologies it is the marketing team doing videos, i'll let them know" Only for 5 minutes later for it to fly up again and lower right above us and hover. I went down to the office again to complain. A staff member called to say "sorry it is the OWNER of the hotel taking video." only for the team to move right behind our cabin to continue filming as I was on the phone with the member of staff. The constant buzzing of the drone and the invasion of privacy/ voyeurism ruined the day. I approach them to ask them to leave and one of them shouted at me. I would have expected to have been told by the hotel that they needed to film so we could have planned our day around this but there was zero warning or notification. BREAKFAST The staff in all of the restaurants and bars are wonderful. The breakfast is really well done. One bugbear, you cannot sit where you want in the dining rooms. They set the tables once and once only so if you want to sit on a table that has been previously used tough luck. I have never come across this before in a 5 star establishment. Normally the table is reset once the previous occupants have left. Basically you had to sit where the staff wanted you to sit. For context there is no air conditioning in the dining areas and the back room does not have a window you can open for ventilation so it gets

This property has the potential to be really wonderful, but feels as though it has undergone too much recent turnover to hit the mark. Prior to arrival, communication and response to my questions was excellent and I had high hopes for a beautiful quiet getaway. The bartender offered no suggestions when asked, waitstaff at Spice didn't offer water or wine list, dinner at Source took an excessive amount of time for the abbreviated tasting menu. All of the staff were pleasant and apologetic, but to have continued misses indicated that training and/or staffing is inadequate. We asked the concierge for help with a dinner reservation one night and he was unable to find anything. We walked in to one of our choices and they seated us immediately. On the positive side, our dinner at Spice was wonderful. The variety of dishes served and the quality was wonderful. We'd have eaten there again had we known it was so good. The meal at Source was also very good as were our breakfasts. Our room in the hotel was cozy, we loved the hot tub and the privacy, but the room needed attention to repair. The shower door didn't shut, the drain was clogged and cleaning staff left dirty linens from another room in our suite. Again, apologies from staff, but for the cost per night our expectations were higher. We arrived thinking we might add another night, but realized quickly that there were better options.

You know it’s the little things that’s count Arrive - coat not taken….cocktails ordered and side dish not provided. Sommelier a little rude about asking to see the menu (quite rude in fact) That said food really nice and table service excellent Still - sour tast and would go or come back am afraid….