Windermere, Applegarth Hotel & Restaurant

Having spent two nights here to celebrate a honeymoon, we were hugely disappointed by the so called luxury room that stayed in. The bedroom. Was very small and had no features that justified the luxury label, unless you call an election kettle a luxury! Manager was very rude and had no customer skills. Appealing attitude, and not what you would expect of a so called 5 star hotel. The much vaunted restaurant food was very poor, and out if packets rather than freshly prepared. All in all, a dreadful place in a beautiful little town. Avoid and book elsewhere!

The owners are quite simply not up to running a hotel. They are amateurs, rude and disinterested, unhelpful and greedy. The hotel gets away with its tragic shortcommings by being well located and reasonably attractive. Nevertheless it is run solely for the financial gain of the owner and not for the service of guests. Just one example, arriving quite late after a long journey and overloaded with bags my partners bag was not carried upstairs for her. The deposit system is quite unique and in this day and age totally unhelpful. We shall not return.

APPLEGARTH VILLA AND JR'S RESTAURANT, IS A BEAUTIFUL VICTORIAN VILLA, MANY ORIGINAL FITTINGS, FOOD EXCELLENT, SERVICE EXCELLENT, ROOMS EXCELLENT, OVERALL A VERY PLEASANT 3 DAY STAY, TWO ADULTS.

I had planned to visit the Lakes in July, and after reading the positive reviews on this website, booked 5 nights at Applegarth Villas. Unfortunately, due to a death in the family, I was forced to cancel the stay and gave the hotel 7 days notice. I expected to lose the 1st night's deposit that I'd already paid but was shocked to hear that I'd have to pay for the entire stay if they couldn't re-let the room. They then charged me the full payment for the stay the same day that I cancelled when they could not possibly know whether or not they would re-let the room. If you do go ahead and book, at the very least make sure you have comprehensive travel insurance. I have travel insurance, but it did not cover this scenario.

Staff not too in your face - in fact not in sight. Management not over friendly. Didn't expect red carpet treatment but just left room key on reception desk when we left. No-one asked if we had had a good stay or not. This short break (3 nights) was booked for us as a gift, otherwise we would have left after the second night.