Lumley Castle Hotel

reservation chaos

the hotel is fine - actually very nice and the staff generally are very friendly,. But you need to get your reservations in the restaurant and on line sorted - the shambles quite spoiled the stay. In booking the hotel I booked dinner on line for both nights. While on hoiiday (staying in hotel on way back) I was bonmbarded with e mails from Countrybreaks asking me to update benefits on my stay. A sixth sense told me I needed to check the dinner reservations, so I e mailed back THREE times asking for confirmation and got NO reply at all. And, yes, arriving at the hotel there was no dinner reservation nor breakfast, so they sorted that or so it seemed. First night then went OK but the second night we were told we had no reservation and the restaurant was full. After an argument we eventually got in but again at breakfast we werent' on the system. THis was stressful and absolutely hopeless

Stairs

We were in a room that was up one large set of stone stairs and then 2 spiral stone flights decreasing as we went up. Just a rope on one side which you had to hang on to to negotiate the stairs. No offer of help with luggage and no lift. Almost impossible to negotiate and in our late 60s/early 70s hugely difficult. Receptionist at check in gave no warning and insisted on us deciding a time for breakfast and dinner on both days of our stay. There was one tiny window we could open so very little air or light in room. We had booked a superior room. Whilst other staff were friendly and helpful the frosty greeting at check in did not make one feel welcome. Would definitely not return.