I booked this hotel for my husband's birthday treat. I chose the Lymehurst because of it's 4 star rating and the reviews of the restaurant and welcome.
First thing we noticed was how narrow the parking spaces are! With a car parked either side of us we could hardly open the doors and had to squeeze out of the car.
Welcome not particularly welcoming. The lady who greeted us did not give her name. She spoke in a peculiar half-whisper and was quite gloomy. We did not feel welcome and were a bit unnerved.
We were shown to our room the Kirkhead. This is billed as a superior double and the website describes it as having a settee. I would hate to see a basic double if this is a superior! The bed is a double bed but seemed quite narrow. The room did not have a settee. The room is long and the ceiling high but it is quite a narrow room now they've put up a stud wall and fitted a bathroom. The wardrobe was very small for a couple: we were unable to hang up all our clothes for the weekend and had to fold some tops/trousers. My partner is tall and he noticed dust on all the high surfaces: tops of mirror, tv that made us cheekily run our finges across the top of the door frames and we found heavy dust there. The hairdryer was not working properly: it would only blow air if I kept my thumb pressed hard to a button on the front of it. As a result it was uncomfortable and no good for styling hair.
The furnishings could best be described as pleasant there is nothing plush about this room and it certainly wasn't conducive to a romantic getaway.
The room was rather hot and stifling. I tried leaving the window open but had to get up and close it at 2am on the first night because of the noise from the terrace directly below our window.
The bathroom was cramped. When we had a bath we realised the bath is not just shorter than average, it is also shallower. Also, we could see the stud wall at the bottom corner of the bath where it had not been properly fitted. And the hot tap on the sink is loose.
A major flaw is that the floor is NOT non-slip! We had a couple of hairy moments after bath/shower when we both slid on the wet floor. Oh, and the bathroom door sticks after a shower/bath and was pretty hard to wrench open.
The soap/shampoo/conditioner provided is a sort of all-in-one that smelled really quite masuline. I'd advise bringing your own.
The overall impression is just of a place that had grand aspirations but neither the budget nor the will to live up to them.
Food: we did not eat in the restaurant. My partner found the menu limited (4 selections for each course) and not particularly inspired.
We did eat in the bar now this is a plus point. The bar is large, brightly lit with several areas to sit and eat/drink. The staff were cheerful and welcoming (which was something of a relief!) and the food/drink arrived quickly. Food portions here are generous and the burger/sandwich were both tasty (one minor quibble; my sandwich came with avocado. This was mashed to a paste and had turned that rather brownish green one gets when avocado is cut and then left). I can definitely reccomend the cocktails and the ice creams!
Breakfast: the continental part of the breakfast was excellent: a good range of fruits (fresh, tinned and a mixed berry compote), yogurt, several different cereals, milk, danish pastries & croissants and 4 different fresh fruit juices. Had we just had this, we'd have been very happy indeed. Unfortunately my husband chose instead to have the Full English breakfast. This seemed peculiarly stingy especially given the portions of the food served in the bar the previous evening. He got one sausage (texture: very dense. Not come across that before except in ones that have been cooked from frozen), ONE mushroom, ONE HALF of a tomato. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the HALF potato cake he got was not made in the kitchen there was a distinct impression of shop-bought.
Lounge; comfortable, although a little cramped. The hotel brochure says that games are available in the lounge. Unfortunately the night we were there the games were all in the corner of the restaurant and we were told they would be unavaiable until after the restaurant was clear. Now, in the Lakes it rains a LOT and there is quite a necessity for things to do in bad weather. To have all the board games unavailable was just another half-thought out aspect of our stay.
To sum up: This is not a hotel. It is a B&B. I don't know how it got 4 stars: I'd have thought 3 was pretty generous, based on the welcome and the room.
It (or at least the room we stayed in) was not good for a romantic weekend.
We were left feeling deflated and left very early on the morning of our 2nd night. Despite the website saying you can check out any time after 7am we were unable to find anyone for checkout, nobody answered the bell (rung twice) and in the end I left a note and the key on the stand in the entrance hall. We were glad to get away. read more