Lovely impromptu night at Northcote. Ribble valley is such a nice county in Lancashire with…read morewonderful restaurants and retreats, and Northcote is a great addition to that. We didn't stay the night but we did have dinner here. The service was pretty good from start to finish. They were knowledgeable about wine and pairings and kept plate progression at a consistent pace. The service team seemed to be distracted towards the end of the meal and placed a lot of emphasis on cleaning (way before we were finished with dinner). I think that shouldn't be obvious to those dining so that took a hit on the quality of the meal. The food was overall very tasty. The maran egg and scarlet prawn were my favourite dishes, especially the egg/potato chip combination, which was one of the most creative ideas I've seen in a while. The bartender needed a bit more knowledge on spirits I think, and ran out of the spirit we selected. I would say I don't love the location of the hotel, as it's right off the main road and it takes away from the ambiance. Also there are two very large dumpsters right in front of the hotel. Seems like very poor placement. All in all however, this is a great night out in Ribble Valley, and likely a nice stay as well!

This is not a Michelin Star restaurant nor a Relais and Chateaux level property…read more Not even close. Michelin Star? You must be kidding me. Hiramatsu in Paris is a Michelin Star restaurant. This is a joke. I have never left 3 of my tasting dishes uneaten before in any restaurant, let alone one with a Michelin star. This time I barely touched my meal. For a location surrounded by great local goosnargh poultry, game, produce and supplies that England and Scotland can provide - for some reason the entire menu was Japanese infused, and not in a good way. At all. Everything that came after the 'Wagyu beef tartar with Sticky rice' was disgusting. Neither my wife nor I ate it. Not a thing. Scallops in Japanese miso broth with seaweed? No. Boney fish wing on fermented mushroom paste? No. Cold Venison that came with a piece of Liver so old and overcooked you needed your wine to get it down? No. Then came dessert. We ate the dessert, but at this point we had saved ourselves for this meal, hadn't eaten since noon and would have likely paid you 20 quid for a Big Mac. Now, when you send 3 uneaten plates in succession back to the kitchen barely touched - normally the waiter/ess or chef make note and comment. Especially at the better restaurants. Its a matter of pride to the chef. Not here. They didn't ask and certainly didn't care. I would have washed my sorrows down with the wine pairing, but at mostly 2014/5 vintages - it would have taken a few bottles since its barely been more than grape juice for more than 3 or 4 months. This was 320 pounds for two, and a complete waste of a weekend, a dinner and the money. Seriously, it was a total loss. Breakfast? Meh. Substandard and prepared by someone who likely worked at the Services off the M6 before he came here. Again, even with Bury black pudding available - these folks went with Irish. In a tube you squeeze onto your plate. Michelin star? Again - go eat at Hiramatsu, another Michelin '1 Star' restaurant, then come back to Ribble Valley Ginza Ward and tell me the Northcote deserve theirs. They don't. The Hotel? 350 pounds a night for two single beds pushed together, a tiny TV, a view of an overfilled dumpster in their parking lot and bed sheets more akin to a Premier or Holiday Inn, and you get my drift. They dont even have down pillows, ffs. The bathroom is lovely, so is the shower - but the fact that this place somehow got accepted to the Relais and Chateaux brand speaks volumes for the desperate position the french must be in, for this is no Relais and Chateaux. Not by a wide margin. The Ellerman House in Capetown is a Relais and Chateaux. The 'Le Manoir' in Oxfordshire is Relais and Chateaux. I have no idea where this belongs but this is a substandard brand imposter yet priced similar. Go stay at the Ellerman or Le Manoir, just for a night. Then tell me Northcote is Relais and Chateaux. It's not. The fact that we picked both this hotel and the Ribble Valley as a destination, then travelled all the way to rural England to experience this only made it worse. The fact that we paid 320 pounds for a disgusting dinner, followed by 350 pounds for a mediocre room with a badly prepared breakfast only added insult to injury. We had a two night reservation for the Christmas break, but cancelled it the very day we got back to the US. Never. Again.

Lovely little boutique hotel. Amazing collection of gins in their bar, friendly staff and nice roomsread more

Zero stars if I could give it! My husband and I booked this hotel through booking.com to stay one…read morenight while we were in town for a wedding. We arrived to the area before the room was ready and since my husband had some usher duties at his childhood friends wedding we decided to head over to the grooms house to see what we could help with and get ready there. We let the hotel know we would be checking in late after the wedding has finished, we were told to come preferably before 12:30. We realized we would be later and I called and spoke with a man at the front desk around 12:00 am I asked him if it would be ok to come in a couple hours as the wedding party was going strong. He said no problem see you when you get hear. My husband and I arrived at the hotel just after 1:00am to be greeted by a man who was incredibly rude to us. He said you were suppose to check in before 12:30 we explained I had called and I'm pretty sure I spoke to the same guy who was giving us attitude! He didn't care about what we were saying I went on to say my husband DJ'd at his friends wedding and we had to stay till the end and said again I did call to warn we would be late. He proceeded to tell my husband off and explain how he should have organized his entire day different to be here for 12:30 check in. He was so rude! We said are u intentionally being rude here trying to prove some point and he said yes!!!!! We couldn't believe the treatment we were getting and just walked out to go find another hotel which ended up a 3 hours search for a room, driving around completely exhausted because all the hotels in the area were fully booked. Thank u for such delightful costumer service avenue hotel!

Terrible food that's way over priced especially given the local competition. I had a turkey dinner…read morewhich was bland with both over and under cooked veg. My guest had fish and chips that was so drenched in oil it had to be sent back. ..terrible soggy batter. Give it a miss if it's lunch your after

I stayed at this hotel for 3 nights back in October and had a wonderful time. The hotel is a…read morelovely old home and our room was large, spacious, and located on one of annex wings. The room was clean and traditionally decorated. We really enjoyed the dinners in bar area (the staff was friendly and funny) and the buffet breakfasts in the morning. When you check in you have an option to purchase the breakfast and we opted out. We ended up changing our minds and the staff accommodated us immediately and even honored the discounted price we were initially offered at check in. The hotel is in an excellent location and close by to many great places to visit. I found my entire visit pleasant and relaxing. I certainly will be coming back to stay the next time I'm visiting the area.

On the outside the Dunkenhalgh looks amazing and to be fair the first impression of the rooms and…read morethe rest of the grounds seemed alright. However, upon closer inspection this was all a façade. The reception staff was overwhelmed and somewhat rude. We were told that we could check in as early as noon which was a welcomed relief since a spa appointment was booked for 1:00. Not only was the room not ready but we were informed that the room would not be ready until 3:00 which seemed a bit strange since check out is 11:00 and they specifically told us to come at 12:00. After the spa appointment we each had a small but very expensive cocktail at the bar. Still having time to kill we decided to tour the local area. We returned at 4:00 and were told the room still wasn't available. Noticing the look on my face the receptionist immediately put us in a room that was available. Next we were told that breakfast would be served until 10:00 in the restaurant. At 9:35 we went down to have breakfast with a few friends that were already eating. The very rude host told us that the restaurant stops serving at 9:30 and we could not join our friends. He told us that a buffet was set up in a meeting room where we could get something to eat. After sitting down we were told that toast and coffee would be brought out shortly. The coffee came just as we were finishing and the toast never appeared. The rest of our trip was great since we resourced the pub guide for all of our next bookings.

TL;DR - An absolute gem of a pub in the Lancashire countryside…read more My first time at the Shireburn Arms was for a friends' wedding, and since then I've been a few times for lunch. Every visit has been a near perfect experience. We drove up on a Saturday lunchtime and, given the remote location, expected it to be fairly quiet but we were so wrong. The place's reputation clearly precedes it, and there was along wait (well over an hour) for a table... but we got lucky because there was space for two and they squeezed us in! We only had a cup of tea and a sandwich, but it was out of this world. Sparky's roast pork sandwich was, in his own words, the finest he has ever eaten. I had a steak sandwich on sourdough which was also lovely, and a side of fantastic chips. Service was spot on, everyone was friendly and it's a cracking place to spend some time next to a warm fire. Dog friendly too. There are a few parking spaces at the front and a bit of a car park at the rear. It's a bit out of the way in Hurst Green but definitely, definitely worth the trip. Just make sure to book a table before you set off!

Stunning little Hotel, attended my best friends wedding in May 2014…read more The staff were extremely attentive, couldn't fault them. The bedroom was recently been refurbished and is of excellent quality, lovely new bathroom suite. The food - all excellent! And well priced.

This is a brilliant hotel i came here when my house was getting refurbished…read more I had to look for a hotel which did not charge me a lot and also was good in value as well.I managed to find this after a friend had told me this was a good place to come to.I came here and got a room straight away. The rooms were very clean here and also it had a television inside the room as well.The room overall did look modern overall. I found this hotel to be good for value and also in terms of pricing its a good hotel to come and stay over at.

I have visited this hotel / house once in my life but I wouldn't mind going back!…read more I took my mother here for a Mother's Day meal. Upon entry I was happily impressed with the class and style of the interior. All was very clean and the staff were more than helpful. The food was lovely, rich and full of taste. And not too expensive.