Lumley Castle Hotel

Lovely Lumley with occasional chaos in the castle.

Lumley Castle is a beautiful and imposing structure; staying there is a little bit of luxury in a very special part of the UK.

Our room was the Richard 2nd room and everything was in good order (including eventually finding the hidden bathroom!). The four poster bed was high up (be careful if you're less than 5 foot 6) and very comfortable but do beware the step down from the dais where the bed is as my wife fell over this when getting up in the night and sustained some bruises as a result. We did ask for the turndown service each night but it didn't happen. Nonetheless everything was clean and we enjoyed the walk through the castle to go to the restaurant. You feel history all around you!

However, the restaurant itself was chaotic. It may well be the case that it is hard to cater in old buildings but I'm sure a better arrangement of space could be made. At breakfast there was a constant queue of people trying to get to or from the separate continental breakfast room and staff had to be very patient as they waited for guests to come and go through the small vestibule where we checked in for meals. We were very disappointed that the table we had requested for our second evening in the restaurant was occupied even though we arrived on time - for all our meals we ended up in a very claustrophobic table virtually in the fireplace.

Overall I would recommend Lumley Castle to those who want to experience a slice of history but having stayed there once I think that I would prefer somewhere better organised in future.

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Excellent break. But a very long journey to get there and back.

Cheap escape in Durham

We enjoyed a two night DBB at Lumley Castle. The location is spectacular, the room was very small and no place to relax. The 'extras' were lovely though. The restaurant is delightful but the menu is dates and quite limited. Breakfast was reasonable including kippers without a single bone!!!