Another Place The Lake, Exclusive Hire

Just returned from a one night stay with my partner and toddler, what a fantastic place, one of the best hotels I’ve stayed in. Staff, fantastic, warm and friendly. We ate in the Ramsbeck, brilliant, nice selection of drinks, breakfast was also excellent (the chef especially was very friendly, waffles was a great touch). The pool, sauna, room etc all great. But it was the little touches of the place. Everything just worked. The baby monitor service really made a difference, the on site nursery, the childminders were so nice and our little one had a great time, EV charging that actually works, coffee in the library, just little things throughout the hotel and grounds that all added up to a truly fantastic experience. This was our second stay, previously coming just before Covid 5 years ago, it was great then as a couple, and even better now with a child (but it doesn’t feel kid focussed, best of both worlds). We’re coming back to stay at Christmas!

We were really looking forward to our night away at this hotel which had been gifted to us as a wedding present. Unfortunately, we were sadly disappointed. On arrival we came into reception at 1pm to ask what time check in was. The young lady on reception responded 3pm but gave no indication of whether there was anywhere we could wait (baring in mind we had just made a long journey to get to the hotel). I asked if there was somewhere we could grab a coffee to which she just pointed us to the living space. We returned at 3pm to check in. After giving our name, we were taken to our room. The same young lady as earlier took us to our room. Whilst she was pleasant and smiley, she said nothing. She told us nothing about the hotel facilities, where the spa was and when we could use it, what time check out was, where and when breakfast was etc. Nothing. This was very disappointing. When we got to our room it was clear that my previous emails had been ignored and a bed was made up in a dog friendly room for our child who was no longer attending. We spent our stay navigating our own way round the hotel and facilities. When we went to the spa, there was no one on the desk, so we just helped ourselves to towels and let ourselves in. Not an experience which matches that portrayed on their website. We also found out about activities running by seeing these on the board in the spa (however there was no one there to ask any questions about these). I think it would be good to let guests know about these on arrival. We enjoyed ice skating and spotted that there was a restaurant outside. Before dinner we headed via reception and asked about the different places to eat. When asking what time the Glasshouse served until, she said you will just need to go down and check with them - again poor service. We decided to have dinner at the Glasshouse which was lovely and the staff were very attentive. Breakfast was also fantastic and the chef was lovely, asking about our stay and making conversation. Overall, whilst our stay was ok, it sadly did not live up to our expectations. The greeting on arrival was hugely lacking which made us feel unwelcome, with little knowledge of where anything was. A real shame. Whilst I appreciate that this was the final night before the hotel closed for January, it is important to remember you still have paying guests who have paid a considerable night to stay with you. Overall very poor service but good food. Not worth the price.

Booked ice skating and pizza as a family Christmas treat. We’ve been before and the place left such an impression on us, that we thought this would be a lovely afternoon out. We arrived early so we could have a mulled wine and hot chocolate, as advertised. The drinks hit was closed. We asked an assistant in the ice skating who offered no explanation, just said if we wanted a drink we could go to the hotel bar ( not the same experience as a hot chocolate outside) and added with a tone that it would come of our ice skating time ( understandable but without the tone would have been nice) Hotel took over 20 minutes to serve drinks… plenty of staff who had time to chat rather than get our drinks. Back to ice skating where we were reminded bluntly thst we had 25 minutes of skating. Wouldn’t give us the skates until we handed over shoes, so stood on wet floor. At the end of the session, the way the assistant spoke to those coming in for the next session was appalling. Service is everything and if you can’t provide that service, then why over stretch. We spent roughly £125 on skating for 4, pizza for 2 and 2 rounds of drinks for 5. Because of the level of service, I would think twice about coming back here.