The Coniston Hotel And Country Estate

“Exceeded our expectations!”

We decided to spend a few days in the Yorkshire Dales after visiting friends and relatives in Cheshire and West Yorkshire. The Coniston exceeded our expectations. The location is lovely, even if the weather wasn't that great for our visit. The staff were excellent - Reception, Restaurant, Room Ser… more

We decided to spend a few days in the Yorkshire Dales after visiting friends and relatives in Cheshire and West Yorkshire. The Coniston exceeded our expectations. The location is lovely, even if the weather wasn't that great for our visit. The staff were excellent - Reception, Restaurant, Room Services, etc - everyone we interacted with was friendly and helpful. The spa isn't large, but is very pleasant - with two outdoor 'bubble pools' as well as the usual indoor pool, sauna, etc. It was fairly quiet during our (mid-week) stay, but I imagine it's busy at weekends - they are a popular wedding venue (understandably!). However, they do have a booking system, no doubt to prevent overcrowding. Again, the staff were attentive and friendly - with cocktails and other drinks available on request. The food in the aptly-named View restaurant was consistently good over our 3-night stay. I would describe it as mostly modern takes on traditional British food - good food; cooked very well (I can't speak for the pizzas - we didn't try those!). The photos on the hotel website do not exaggerate and every dish we were served was delicious and the staff were again excellent - on the morning of our departure neither of us wanted a large breakfast - we had a 250 mile drive ahead of us - so the restaurant staff made us sandwiches for the journey - so thoughtful! We stayed in one of the Dales rooms, which was very spacious and comfortable. The infrared wall art was a clever feature and very useful on a chilly September evening! Very difficult to find anything to criticise... there were strangely no tissues in our room - considering how well otherwise it was provisioned - from bath robes to a coffee maker. I'm quite sure they would have been provided if we had asked, and it wasn't a problem, just strange (maybe a small oversight?). We have already decided to return next year. If the weather is good it makes an excellent base and if the weather is poor it's a lovely place to be!

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“A great hotel in a beautiful setting”

This is a great hotel in a beautiful setting with fantastically friendly and helpful staff. My husband enjoyed the excellent spa experience but it is quite expensive at £40 for 2 hours at the weekend (£30 midweek). He thought the combination of swimming pool, infinity pools, infared room, himalayan… more

This is a great hotel in a beautiful setting with fantastically friendly and helpful staff. My husband enjoyed the excellent spa experience but it is quite expensive at £40 for 2 hours at the weekend (£30 midweek). He thought the combination of swimming pool, infinity pools, infared room, himalayan salt sauna and other saunas/steam room was wonderful. We had dinner both nights, once in the main View restaurant and once in the Macleod bar. Both were very tasty and to be recommended. They take allergies very seriously, too. What let the hotel down was the quality of the towels, bathrobes and bed linens which were greying and probably more than a little bit past their best, especially considering the luxury positioning of the hotel. The bathroom also wasn't as clean as it should have been, so maybe housekeeping is an area to work on. We would definitely visit again but choose midweek to avoid the breakfast rush caused by wedding parties. Overall, it was a great stay.

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“Poor service. Which is such a shame”

We visited for a friends hen party for two nights. Unfortunately the service levels we received were poor. Amongst our problems were: The room wasn't serviced, only the bed made and one towel left and this was at 3 in the afternoon. No replacement water or biscuits, teabags. One cup left instead o… more

We visited for a friends hen party for two nights. Unfortunately the service levels we received were poor. Amongst our problems were: The room wasn't serviced, only the bed made and one towel left and this was at 3 in the afternoon. No replacement water or biscuits, teabags. One cup left instead of two. We had to find a trolley in the corridor for toilet rolls as none left with us, and upon arrival we had only half a loo roll... Complained to reception but they just said to fill in a questionnaire when we got home. Please watch the drinks in the spa. Most of our party had drinks on the bill we didn't have and the service for drinks is at a snails pace. We ordered drinks that took nearly 30 minutes to arrive. Service in the restaurant was extremely slow. Puddings took an hour! Think they have staffing issues. The bills we had were incorrect and had to be reissued twice. An automatic 10% is added on the restaurant service upon checkout so be aware not to tip twice. It's such a shame as the hotel and grounds are stunning. And overall we had a great two nights and the staff did work very hard, it's just there isn't enough of them.

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