Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa

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Very friendly staff, rooms, beautiful, fantastic location and your food and breakfast was exceptional.

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Where to start?

Room - First. The toilet seat bracket came off on the third day of our holiday. We reported to Reception when we left to go out for the day, when we returned it still hadn't been fixed. I was furious.

We had ten spiders in Room 327, they climb the ivy covered wall and come in out of the rain. Perhaps if housekeeping had dusted behind the pelmet in the last few months, they wouldn't have inhabited the bedroom! We got rid of six and then told them they need to clean the room thoroughly.

The shower was asthmatic, literally no hot water and the pressure in the garden room extension or just or room? was so low, you couldn't really get clean down under! TMI, well it is the truth, warts and all.

I asked at time of booking for a room without stairs, the garden rooms have a lot of stairs, make sure they don't put you in that wing, if you have mobility issues.

Breakfast Buffet - only the 2nd worst of all time. They take your room no, sit you down, but while the girls and one of the male members of staff are good, two of the younger lads were hopeless. Wrong tea, no bananas. The water melon is left out with no ice under it, I got an upset stomach from it the 3rd day. Don't eat this option, it is out for more than 20 mins, non-chilled which means it will be on the turn! The cooked breakfast comes lukewarm ... no choices of coffee, only plain black with milk. The bread is thin brown supermarket quality! Absolutely horrid!

The overall choice for breakfast is appalling.

The options for cooked breakfast, there is a supplement for anything that is an extra, ie Smoked Salmon on a muffin with Hollandaise Sauce extra £6.00, there is an avocado option, again £6.00 supplement.

We have stayed at a couple of 4* hotels in the UK and although this hotel might have the facilities to make it a 4* hotel the service and attention to detail you get is very relevant.

One of the Receptionist and young lady of Asian Heritage was lovely, a blonde older lady was so very snotty, unfortunately, love I am paying your wages, perhaps you could offer a smile and some helpfulness along the way.

Toiletries in the room, having read that the rooms came with complimentary Bramley toiletries, I didn't pack conditioner, or body lotion etc. Only to find a single dispensary of hair and body wash in the room. I swam several days and to be honest with you, the spa only had one shower at the end in the Ladies Changing Area that had hot water. As our room shower was so bad, I used that shower for the remainder of the holiday after a swim, but again, only one dispense on the wall.

The food in the hotel for dinner was poor. I ordered lamb rump it was over cooked and where the chef had caught it on the pan it was burnt, he put that on the bottom. It was definitely not worth the £32.00 charged.

I enjoyed my holiday on the whole, probably because we simply used the hotel as a base, best bit about the hotel was the pool and the view. Meals in Bowness are better taken outside of the hotel.

This hotel really needs to up its game, it is trading on its location, view and previous reputation. The Bean counters of this hotel chain need to realise that there is plenty of choice in the area ... If we did come again, we will be going to another hotel we had dinner in that makes this one look like Faulty Towers ... our description for it!

What a special place! I felt transported to the setting of an Agatha Christie novel. So much character. Afternoon tea was special, the views ans sunsets beyond words and staff (especially Caitlin who went above and beyond to make our stay super special)

Fantastic location have stayed many times before and love its location Had 2 elderly people in our party this time ,did not realise you have to phone to get a room within the main hotel if you have access issues.Lady on reception was lovely and managed to change rooms so that our needs where met 😊

Booked a luxury spa afternoon with afternoon tea for 2. Spa is very basic- one pool, steam room/ sauna & ice room. Steam room was freezing and dirty. No hot water for showers afterwards. No robes/ slippers provided, no way of getting a drink (even water). Ice room had an open door leading to an electrical room- serious safety issue. No hot tubs.
Afternoon tea was very nice but price of alcoholic drinks was a fortune (£13 per glass of wine)
Unfortunately won’t be back!

We had a lovely stay at the Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa, enjoying a fantastic location right on the shores of Lake Windermere. Our room and the hotel itself have a traditional feel and, while some areas would benefit from modernisation, the beautiful setting more than makes up for it.

The service from the staff was excellent throughout our stay. A special mention must go to 'Ashima', who was exceptionally helpful, friendly and supportive and really helped make our stay enjoyable.

We stayed on a half-board basis. The food was ok, although this was not the highlight of the stay. The spa, however, was excellent and a real bonus, providing a great opportunity to relax and unwind. The location is one of the hotel's biggest strengths. Our view looked out towards the lake and yachts.

Great location very friendly receptionists

Nothing, its old but could be so much better.

Great location, spotlessly clean, spacious bedroom & bathroom. The food was delicious and so much choice and all of the staff were so incredibly friendly and helpful. The housekeeping staff do an incredible job. Our room was made up everyday and spotlessly clean. Lovely pool and spa facilities. We will definitely be back and hopefully we will manage to squeeze in a spa treatment next time.

The view of the lake, lovely gardens, lovely breakfast, comfortable room.

Friendly staff great location
Fabulous room
Great breakfast

The good points first., this is a lovely old hotel and the interior is well kept. Food was excellent and give this a 10 out of 10. Bed lovely and comfy and towels in bathroom Fab. A complimentary bottle of wine and a few chocolates left for us too. It was nice the room was on the ground floor as my husband isn’t great on his feet at times. I had a nice treatment in the spa. The hotel receptionist said “we’ve got a nice Suite room for you” on check-in so I thought we’d been upgraded. 😂
All the staff lovely and helpful and brought my husbands birthday cake out at the end of his birthday meal that I’d brought with me.
The not so good points…, we were celebrating my husbands 70th birthday so I booked a deluxe balcony room for a bit of added luxury.., that said I have to say for the price we paid I don’t feel the room we had should be called deluxe, yes it had a balcony but It didn’t lend itself to being deluxe.., yes lovely view when stood up but once sitting down on the balcony furniture all you see is the concrete balcony wall.., Maybe a glass panel could be fitted to the front of the balcony as to appreciate the views when relaxing on the sun bed or chairs.
Stepping back into the “deluxe room” from the balcony a tatty piece of left over carpet was in place by the doors to catch any mucky feet marks.., a great idea but wouldn’t a nice looking runner rug look much better than a frayed piece of carpet that kept ruching up and I kept tripping on.
The “main” portion of the room was, I felt quite small to actually be called deluxe, bedside tables and lamps ok., small table in the corner and two comfy easy chairs all seemed squashed together., not spacious. Very disappointed.
There was a what looked like a fridge in a cupboard but was neither use nor ornament as it wasn’t cold and could not see anyway to switch it on.., called at reception to say the fridge wasn’t working to be told it was probably not a fridge just a cooler.., 🤷‍♂️ as I said neither use nor ornament.
Finally was surprised the hotel bar only opened until 10pm as on the second night we sauntered back a few minutes after 10pm thinking we’d have a nightcap only to find it all shuttered up. Clearly no residents bar, would have been nice if it had stayed open till at least 11pm.., that said quite a few of the quieter pubs in the area stopped serving at 10pm too.
Wouldn’t spend the money on this particular deluxe room again.., “it isn’t what I would call this.

Just the location !!!