Lumley Castle Hotel

Lovely building but everything else is basic

Staff not trained to a high enough standard to complement the building. Food average and expensive, lacks service a wow factor from the menu. You cannot charge top dollar for what you provide, we were very underwhelmed, the breakfast is undoubtedly the best part of what you have on offer.

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Welcome experience was poor ( box of chocolates not delivered ) - Food was excellent - Food was very expensive - No set menus available - Toiletries pinned to wall ! - No goodie bag of toiletries - No heritage information or map available of the castle - No courtesy cars available ( to Durham ) - No spa treatments available
Room for improvement !

Disappointing

I booked this break as part of my fianc es 60th birthday present. I also opted for a bouquet of flowers to be in the room on check in. We arrived at the room, to find there was no bouquet. I approached Reception to complain, and was told the flowers had already been delivered but had been rejected by Hotel staff as they were "half dead", in their words. We were told the flowers were being replaced and would be 30 minutes. They duly arrived, 1 hour later. Yes, they were nice but the surprise was ruined. We also got the impression the flowers hadn't been ordered in the first place, but maybe we're just too cynical. The box of 10 chocolates included in the package (a 10 "extra" if booked through the Hotel), were truly horrible and the wine was only average, nothing special.
The actual room was unbelievably dusty. I believe the Hotel (Castle) is 400 years old - I guess some of the dust dates back to the original inhabitants? We were also told we could opt to have breakfast in our room. We foolishly decided to do this, indicating we wanted our breakfast during the last slot (8.15AM - 8.30AM). The breakfast arrived an hour late - and was cold. Maybe the Castle runs at Central European time - this would explain the hour discrepancy for seemingly everything?
The Hotel has a tag line "Like No Ordinary Hotel". This truly was like no hotel I've ever stayed in, sadly for the wrong reasons. Needless to say, I won't be staying again. Incidentally, I emailed the Hotel with my thoughts / concerns. To date, I've had no response whatsoever. I wonder why? P.S. - 1 pint of Coors larger and 1 ros spritzer came to 16. Yes, that's 16. The Restaurant prices could only be described as eye watering. 38 for steak - chips were an extra 4.50. Diane sauce was 5.95 if memory serves me right. Come on, Lumley Castle - you're having your guests pants down.