The Lodge in the Vale

Another great stay with Floria and the team. Although the hotel was full, you weren’t aware of the other guests and were able to have a peaceful night sleep. The continental breakfast was great with a variety of fruit, cheese, hams and breads/rolls and the coffee shop stepped up a gear from 1030am onwards with a delicious red pepper and tomato soup, as well as a variety of sandwiches and home baking. Nothing is too much for the staff and I look forward to a return visit in the near future.

Lovely little hotel with very friendly staff. I was trying to minimise my costs for a 3-night 'mini break' (hoping to climb Helvellyn - which canbe reached, via Sticks Pass, directly from the hotel's door!) and this ticked all of theboxes for my requirements. As there were hardly any other guests, my 'single room' booking was upgraded to a double - but maybe that was as well, because it was certainly not what I'd call 'spacious'! Very clean, lots of hot water (after initially running for quite a long while!) a heated towel rail (good for wet walking gear!) and a shower. My reason for dropping one star was the bed...... it wasnt really very comfortable..... a very thin mattress on a rather creaky wooden base - with little real 'springiness' to be felt. Pillows, too, were a bit flat and 'hard'..... I always take a pillow from home if I'm staying away - and I really needed it on this occasion. Eat-as-much-as,you-like continental breakfast was brilliant! Served in a lovely little area (which doubles up as a coffee shop during the daytime) there were about 5 cereals, croissants, bread, with make-your-own toast facilities, ham, cheese, jam, (marmite - yayyy!!!!!) yoghurt, fresh fruit - and tea/coffee (including latte, capuccino etc. from a machine.) I was able to over-indulge in breakfast and that pretty much saw me through to the evening without worrying about lunch. The eating area is available to sit in during the evening, until staff all go off duty at 9.30pm when it is locked up; there is (very) minimal space, apart from this, in which to sit (a 2-seater sofa and a couple of chairs) - so in the busy summer months, I'm not sure where guests would spend the evening if they weren't 'out' somewhere - but being solo, I didn't mind retiring to my bed to make plans for the next day. Wifi is free and connection is reliable. There are, as advertised, no facilities on-site for any meals other than breakfast. I ingeniously took a couple of 'Pot Noodle' meals with me - and was able to boil water with v the kettle in my room - so for an odd few days it would be possible to 'survive' however any sensible eating in the evening (or lunchtime) requires a car journey to either the nearby pub (also owned by the same company as the Lodge) or into one of the nearest towns. I ate at the pub (The Kings Head) on one evening and the food wasn't cheap (although probably in-line with anywhere else in the country), but it WAS very good! Overall, I had a brilliant time. I achieved my aim of climbing Helvellyn, with a 'jackpot' day of good weather (I stayed 6/7/8 November - so was REALLY lucky!) and I'd certainly stay there again, but if you are looking for somewhere with a bit of space for 'down time', or need to be able toget lunch/dinner on site, you may like to look at other options first.

If you’re looking for really comfortable accommodation with lovely friendly staff then look no further. We booked to stay at Kings Head Inn (sister pub) but were transferred to The Lodge because we had a dog. Transfer was done easily and we were absolutely not disappointed. We were upgraded to a luxury room which was very quiet with gorgeous view. We had a lovely lunch in the Lodge and superb breakfast and had our evening meal at Kings Head Inn just up the road. We enjoyed a gorgeous walk around Lake Thirlmere but The Lodge is also perfectly placed to visit Lakes in the north as well as south Lakes. The weather was not the best when we stayed but this did not affect our trip. Will definitely return and stay again. Highly recommend!

We pulled in for a coffee mid afternoon. The place was deserted. Eventually someone can to serve us, and very pleasant she was. However I think it was the driest, heaviest piece of chocolate cake I’ve ever tried. Left it. A bit soulless is probably the best description. Very clean and modern but lacks a**osphere.

Stayed a couple nights. There's plenty of parking, it's warm and comfortable, as we as its location is perfect for exploring the Lakes. Didn't speak too much with the staff as we'd checked in after the receptionist had left about 9.30pm, but they'd left our keys in an envelope with all the information I needed... the ones we did talk to seemed nice though. Only complaint was the shower wasn't very powerful in room 04, also a little traffic noise in the morning, but nothing to ruin our sleep. I'd recommend this place to those looking for a cheap room to stay.

A brilliant stay, lovely clean space, excellent, very helpful staff. Rooms and lodge very clean. Quite remote which is perfect if you want to take in the sites and travel by car to attractions. Local sister pub is also great, amazing food, staff and very friendly over all. Would recommend this to any couple/family including those with dogs.

This is my second submission of review: an edit of the first. I rated it one star on Trip Advisor. Terrible. It was not possible to rate it the minus this place works hard to achieve. I submitted it while still there. John Cleese got the idea for Fawlty Towers from observing a hotel owner in Torquay. Highly unsuited to the hospitality industry, the stuffy and snobbish owner treated guests (customers) as though they were a hindrance to his running of the hotel (a waitress who worked for him stated "it was as if he didn't want the guests to be there"). - then he moved to open this place. I stayed for 2 nights. On reflection, do I need to list again all the disappoin**ents brought about through the misleading descriptions for the business? No. So you don't just get it from me, I recommend that before you book, you do what I was driven to by Basil - read all the reviews. I read all 470 on Trip Advisor, perhaps I was being unfair. Ignore my review here. Go straight to the other 12 "Terrible" scores, I discovered. My review is not unique, just a "me too" of what is already there. Leopards, spots and all that. Then read the 2 and 3 star, they are simply forgiving reviews which are actually one star and disguise the true overall low rating. All the terrible things listed in these reviews apply exactly, including those you will find attracting your attention to the foul tempered and personally offensive, jumping to conclusions (quote from a review) performances of Basil, grumpy staff and those reviews which correctly acknowledge the place as, at best, a decently clean backpackers' hostel, not a hotel. Then, if you're looking for a quiet, relaxing hotel, book elsewhere or do you feel lucky? If you're used to hostels, the place is all right. If you're a walking backpacker, you have a walk and back along a busy A- road, to the sister-pub for a cooked breakfast and dinner. Think Lakeland rainy days. By my second night, Basil had read my review and at approx 9pm, (he could have waited untill morning) he got the Receptionist to take up the landline phone to me and put him on to me. If Basil had not taken this offensive aggression, I would have just left the first submission. Now the replacement relates Basil's performance which is far worse than the misleading description. Without any formality of introduction, he launched straight into aggressive abuse and personal insults, claiming that in all the years the hostel had been open, it had never received a bad review. Only mine. If he had attacked a sensitive person like this they would have been thoroughly brow-beaten. He kept this up for many, many minutes, repeat, repeat. I couldn't get him to stop, so I put the phone down and went to brush my teeth. When I got back, he was still at it and not noticed I'd gone. I did finally manage to ask him what he wanted me to do about it? The noisy roads through the night would still be there as would the cupboard space rooms, too small for 2 people, Basil wasn

I don't normally write reviews but this is such a huge disappoin**ent. The lovely helpful lady on Reception is let down by the construction of the place and lack of thought for the simplest things. The Lodge is built backwards. The description of The Lodge is what people go to the Lake District for, my 3 hour drive, but reality is very different. The place is yards from a roaring busy A- road which never sleeps, with another smaller one directly under the bedroom windows, so fresh air means high-speed traffic racket. The description raves about the architecture but the bedrooms are on the very noisy side of the building, when they need not have been. Although solo, I booked a double room to get the bed size but there is no room to swing a cat in it, no room to open a suitcase, if 2 people did take it they might just get a suitcase each in it but be struggling to get round them. This pokeyness is actually shown in the photos but you're not likely to be studying in that detail The bathroom is so small that towels for the room have to be left on the bed (on the grubby shoe-cloth thing , to make it worse) and there are no rails for them in the bathroom anyway. Clean room, yes but why should any hotel not be if a fee is charged. Not a wine/beer glass in the room, so drink these out of the tea cups. The no refund policy once booked before one has had chance to see the place traps the customer from getting any money back and reducing the duration of stay when they discover the shortcomings. The description does cover it, so it's not hidden but a car journey to the local pub is needed if one wants a cooked breakfast and return journey to brush your teeth before the day can start, fun on rainy days. This also means no evening meals. This took a couple checking in at the same time as me by surprise, so it's easy to read over the warning in the description. After a long drive, arriving in early evening, relaxation is still a lot of hassle away. The hotel is in the middle of nowhere so when the pub has a quiet night, it closes early, "closed the kitchen" at 8pm tonight. Nothing to commend the place.

Great budget option in the lakes. Close to Keswick, Thirlmere and Grasmere. Room was small but adequate for a solo traveller. Coffee shop has a decent selection of food and beer but I think 9 pm is closing time. It's a few miles to the nearest shop ( Keswick). Or you can get a good meal in the Kings head about half a mile up the road. The Lodge has free parking to the rear. A good price for the Lake District.