Lumley Castle Hotel, The Gilt

Just a short distance from the centre of Chester-le-Street, in a beautiful setting. We had a courtyard bedroom which was in a quiet area. The whole castle is beautiful with a real sense of history. All the staff were first rate and nothing was too much. We used the restaurant in the evening and the meal and service were exceptional. We will definitely be returning.

Lumley Castle was without doubt the right venue for our wedding and we are really pleased we chose it. Everything ran smoothly on the day, it’s a venue with a lot of experience of weddings and they know what they are doing. David was our Co-ordinator on the day and he was great, helpful, nothing was too much trouble and it felt like he really cared about everything running smoothly. We booked the Scarbrough room for our ceremony and the Baron Suite for the reception. It was lovely to have the two options for the two elements of our day. The Baron Suite is really quirky - if you book it and go for table flowers I recommend utilising the candelabras, we did and they looked fab with trailing flowers arranged by our florist. Emma and Holly were excellent in terms of the planning, very helpful, knew their stuff and were very responsive. One of the things I found stressful with wedding planning was when suppliers didn’t get back very promptly but that was never an issue with Lumley. Always consistent in terms of communication. Price wise, we went with the sapphire package and it felt reasonable for what we got, our guests loved the food. There wasn’t much negotiation on price for things, some prices/pricing strategies were set in stone. So if you are looking for a lot of negotiation price wise then this may not be the venue for you. However I don’t know that other venues are big on negotiation either. If you want to get married somewhere that’s extremely picturesque for photos, quirky for guests and with staff who genuinely are lovely then I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Lumley Castle. We had a brilliant day and our chosen venue was definitely part of this.

Loved this a beautiful location and great inside and out. We didn't stay in the main body of the castle which was a little disappointing bit when we asked all rooms were fully booked up so we weren't able to book into the castle however you can walk around and access all the castle. There is plenty of parking around the castles surroundings. We was in hope of finding some kind of haunting/paranormal after hearing that the castle falls under one of Britain's most haunted. However most we seen were some orbs flying around. The bar is 24hours for those that want it you might want bank loan if you plan been in there 24hours as drink and food are pricey. We didn't book in for evening meal as when we went to ask the time slots left weren't suited to us so we got a share platter whilst in the library bar was OK for a snack but not a meal so we got a takeaway delivered when we finished drinking. The breakfast you book when checking in and you get to select a time between 8 and 10.30 which we thought was excellent and managed to get a sleep in. Our breakfast was at 10.15 there's a cold buffet to start then you can choose from the hot menu. We both chose full English minus black pudding but we didn't receive our toast and a hash brown would of made a nice addition the plate was oversized for what was thrown on there. For some reason two couples who came to breakfast after us and ordered the same were served before us which we found odd. Overall we really enjoyed our stay and would book again and will be following to see if any events are coming up.