Lumley Castle Hotel

It s something different

I bought a package for one night and paid 225. The package stated that it offered the following:- Lumley Castle - Romantic Lazy Break - Castle Superior Room
Stay 1 night in a Castle Superior room and receive:
A complimentary bottle of chilled Prosecco in your room on arrival and chocolates
Dinner for two each evening in the main restaurant from the a la
carte menu ( 60 allowance per couple).Due to a limited number of tables in the restaurant, you must contact us or the hotel to book your dining time in advance.
20% off wines by the bottle
Full breakfast daily (served in room if preferred)

When we arrived, at check in, I booked a table in the restaurant for that evening and asked for the breakfast served in the bedroom, however, was informed that the breakfast served to bedroom was not possible.

The room was lovely, some stunning features, bed was comfy, nice and spacious room in general.

The purpose of the stay was a surprise birthday night away for my partner. I did email the hotel prior to going that it was for birthday and asked if there were any additions available in the room upon arrival, however, was told to ring reception and discuss. After 3 separate occasions and waiting over 10pms per time, I lost the will and gave up on that idea.

Upon attending the restaurant in the evening, the food was very nice, staff were friendly, however, what did annoy me a little was that there were other groups in the restaurant who had a birthday that night, the staff brought out a surprise birthday treat with a fancy happy birthday message on the plate. The member of public asked how they knew as no one else at the table told the staff about the birthday celebration.

One particular member of staff said the words we make it our business to know who has a birthday when here and we do this for them, we do not miss a thing

That got me excited at the thoughts of this being done for my partner as I had already emailed in and made it clear why we were there etc (although not expected to be done for us as I didn t even know this was a feature they did). Sadly, no happy birthday surprise for my partner and when I said to the member of staff you ve let this birthday boy slip through the net, if you never miss a thing she did not acknowledge this and proceeded to get us the bill

Upon getting the bill, the 60 allowance was not taken off, so I had to ask for this to be done, not a problem in principle, however, I don t particularly like disputing a bill in front of others in a restaurant as it can be embarrassing.

Upon checking the second bill, there was no 20% discount on the bottle of wine we ordered (as per the package I bought and paid for) however, with that, the credit card machine was in our faces with the amount typed in and a clear feeling of rushing.

I didn t query the 20%, which I accept was my own decision, but I didn t feel comfortable querying a second time as the staff member was loud in her mannerisms and didn t want any further attention drawn to us.

Breakfast was ok, nothing special, but served it s purpose, the only other thing is that the restaurant itself is a nice spacious room, however, both at Dinner and Breakfast, they sat everyone right next to eachother at various tables. Certainly with the Covid situation, I would ve felt more at ease of everyone was spaced out. It wasn t particularly busy on either visit to the restaurant to prevent spacing people out.

Overall, visit was OK. The castle itself is certainly impressive and worth a visit. Just improvements needed on service. Disappointed with that.

Beautiful Castle and location

Well done OPL in finding this gem of a hotel. The castle and location is very beautiful. We stayed in a courtyard room which was luxurious and comfortable. The staff were very friendly and helpful, nothing was too much trouble. The food and service was excellent. We look forward to a return visit.

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