Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa

“Dated & wouldn’t recommend”

Stayed here for a weekend break as a couple, and picked the hotel due to the location. Location was fab, right on lake Windermere and near shops/bars/restaurants. Parking available at £20 per night, which does help as parking in the area is limited. Hotel itself was dated. Bed was very uncomforta… more

Stayed here for a weekend break as a couple, and picked the hotel due to the location. Location was fab, right on lake Windermere and near shops/bars/restaurants. Parking available at £20 per night, which does help as parking in the area is limited. Hotel itself was dated. Bed was very uncomfortable. We were put into an accessible room which backed on to the local busy bar behind. Gym facilities were okay for a hotel gym, free to use for hotel guests. Pool was good - very busy with children, due to weekend. Sauna was brand new. There is spa facilities available but we didn’t use. Breakfast was not up to par, poor quality. was included in the room rate. Wouldn’t have paid for it if not. Another Couple on leaving said they were waiting 1.5hours for breakfast, which is not good enough. Overall, wouldn’t stay again. Nicer hotels and b&bs in the area.

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“Average hotel, expensive”

This was our first time to the Lake District and I would say the hotel is in a good location, in the town centre which has a good variety of shops, restaurants and cafes. It is only a minute walk to the lake and activities. The car park for the hotel is a 2-3 minute walk away. They charge £20 per n… more

This was our first time to the Lake District and I would say the hotel is in a good location, in the town centre which has a good variety of shops, restaurants and cafes. It is only a minute walk to the lake and activities. The car park for the hotel is a 2-3 minute walk away. They charge £20 per night for guests to park which seems very expensive! On the upside, there are EV chargers there (at an additional cost). The hotel was pleasant, staff were friendly. We had room 141 which was a king deluxe. The room itself was spacious and clean, the bed was very comfortable and there was bottled water and tea and coffee making facilities. Bath robes were also supplied. The outlook was disappointing, the window overlooks a flat roof which is covered in weeds and the back of a pub with broken windows which blocked out Most of the natural sunlight. The swimming pool was nice but very cold so we didn’t spend too long there which was a shame. Breakfast was average, nothing special and service was slow. We didn’t eat in the restaurant as the prices were too high for us . £30+ for a main. After looking at the in room and bar menu left in the room, which was advertised as available until 9pm., we decided to go down to the bar in our first evening at just after 8pm to be told the kitchen had closed as they were now on winter hours. It’s a shame they hadn’t updated the menus in the rooms and on the bar or that we weren’t advised of this on check in. The bar is lovely and very festive looking at the moment. However we were the only people in there and could hear the barman complaining that he wanted to go home and ‘I’m too ill for this sh*t’. Not really what we wanted to hear. In summary, good location, average hotel with high prices. lacks attention to detail. I wouldn’t go back.

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