Rothay Garden Hotel

, Ambleside, United Kingdom
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Rothay Garden Hotel

, Ambleside
3 star

Rooms: 19

Broadgate - Ambleside - England - LA22 9RJ - United Kingdom | 44 01539435334
249 Traveller

Reviews - Rothay Garden Hotel

Historical Traveller Reviews of Rothay Garden Hotel

Lovely Hotel

from MartOnHoliday
We enjoyed our weekend break in a spacious ground floor Grasmere room with settee, large comfy bed, large TV, bathrobes, small but clean bathroom & a great shower. Rooms vary in size & quality like many hotels & Im glad I paid the extra. The hotel is in a quiet location just to the north of the village with 2 acre garden & decent parking. Its a friendly place, staff were efficient & polite, seems well run, breakfast & 5 course dinner nice, conservatory restaurant very nice. It has 2 AA rosettes for the food and is a far better dining experience than the similarly rated Wordsworth. Lounge areas were pleasant, theres also a drying room for walking gear. Having looked at other reviews on here my advice is to try and book a decent room, the hotel should be able to advise you. Also yes there are some foreign staff - its the Lakes after all - but we had absolutely no complaints. All in all an enjoyable experience and we would definitely stay again. Oh and Sunday lunch was included and we were able to keep the room until midday (if you ask nicely).

Almost perfect

from 1644
The food at this hotel is exceptional but the service left a little to be desired. The staff are abrupt, slightly forgetful and unfortunately most appeared to be eastern european who could speak alittle English and tried their best to communicate. Our room was nice but very tired and unfortunately had a very stronge smell of smoke and we are non-smokers. To be fair to the hotel the room was booked by a friend and he had booked several rooms of which ours was the only smoking room and this had not been pointed out to him when booking. So make sure you ask when booking! The bathroom was large with a massive jacuzzi bath which was very luxurious but was not cleaned properly as empty toiletries bottles had not been cleared away so we can only assume the bath had not been cleaned.
Overall the standard of food in the hotel makes it well worth the stay but with just a bit more attention to detail this could be an excellent hotel

tired room

from ime
We booked a one Saturday night stay though Superbreak having been given a one of their leisure vouchers as a gift. We paid £144 for a double room bed /breakfast and were expecting a good standard of hotel. We checked in and were shown to our room up two lots of stairs the second flight were narrow and a little steep ,not good if you have a problem with stairs.On the way down you are warned to "mind your head". These rooms are on the top floor in the roof space.The room was very small with a sloping very low ceiling ,dated wallpaper on walls and ceiling .I am 5'1 and could touch the ceiling easily! A very small tired and dated room. The ensuite was like going into a cupboard. Again low ceiling sloping roof. The bath was scatched and chipped ,no proper shower only one attatched to taps and the handle of this was broken.The worst thing was carpet on the floor! The bedding was crisp white sheets and could not be faulted .We did enquire if the hotel was full as we we'nt happy with the room but it was,so not to spoil our break we went to the restaurant for dinner hoping we would not be dissappointed.This lived up to expectation .Good food ,well presented,in a pleasant 'conservatory' restaurant. Likewise the breakfast was well presented and freshly cooked to order and could not be faulted.On departure we expressed our opinions to the manager, who told us the top floor were the smallest rooms and if you book with Superbreak you pay premium rate for a one night Saturday break and get those rooms. Explained it was a gift so what would the price have been if booked direct with hotel. Reply was 'the same' !!!
To sum up, the room was certainly poor value for money it reminded us of guest houses , but the restaurant was excellent ,
Would I stay there again NO there are plenty of hotels serving excellent food with far superior rooms for the price.

Nice Food

from Recrema
An average hotel pretending to be something it isn't.

Food was very formal (even stuffy) and to be honest the standard was good but after that the hotel really wasn't that special. We asked for a bar snack one night rather than go through the formalities of the meal and they wouldn't serve us. The customer is king.. not here !

The room we had was very tired, although it was obvious that an upgrade was going on and some rooms were a lot nicer than others.

All in all very average..

A lovely hotel in a great position

from A TripAdvisor Member
My wife and I spent two nights (11th & 12th September) at this hotel and we really enjoyed our stay.

We had room 22, which is on the ground floor and has french windows that open onto the side of the hotel close to the river Rothay. It was a very large room with two double beds, sofa, TV etc. a large bathroom with a corner spa bath.

The food in the restaurant was nothing short of superb and beautifully presented. Dinner was five courses for £31pp. There was a seasonal menu and another which changed daily. The breakfast was also very good with several choices. The owner, Chris, was extremely friendly talking to his guests in the dining room and also serving meals. We found him a charming host and we found his staff (mostly Polish) very efficient and friendly. How anyone can say this restaurant is mediocre and the attitude of the staff rude & arrogant is absolutely beyond me!!

Our bill for two nights dinner bed & breakfast was £297 - which I think is good value for a lovely hotel in a lovely location. Our wine was £15.85 a bottle.

We would most certainly stay here again.

Lovely hotel - superb food.

from smpuk
We stayed at the Rothay Garden in May and had a marvellous time. We had one of the Grasmere rooms with french windows opening straight out onto magnificent gardens. Room was large and comfy with nice touches such as chocs, robes and spa bath.

The location could not be better – for walking fans there is no need to drive anywhere, with a good selection of walks starting right in Grasmere. For non-walkers the pretty village with shops, bistros etc is on the doorstep. The hotel is very walker friendly, with a drying room for boots/coats.

Although there is a selection of attractive little places to dine in Grasmere, it would be a shame to go to the Rothay Garden and not experience the restaurant. The food is fantastic – imaginative and beautifully prepared, without being too self conscious. Diners can mix and match choices from two menus (one changes daily) – a really good idea. The owner clearly knows his wines; there is a wide selection ranging from the reasonably priced to the expensive. We opted for one of the more reasonable ones and found it extremely good value. Dessert wine is available by the glass to complement the very moreish puddings.

Breakfast deserves a whole separate write-up, great choice (including kedgeree) beautifully prepared. The Cumbrian Grill is a must for anyone planning on scaling a couple of peaks.

We found the staff very professional and helpful. We had initially booked for three nights (via an internet booking site) however, when we got there and decided to stay on for a fourth night, the hotel kindly extended the special rate, despite the fact that they were booking up fast and could undoubtedly have got rack rate from someone else.

Conclusion – a great location, very comfortable and welcoming, superb restaurant. If you’re planning on visiting Grasmere, I would definitely recommend the Rothay Garden, and don’t leaving dining in until your last night, you may want to sample the menu more than just once.

Wonderful Hotel Shame about the attitude

from hotelbuff
Hotel was lovely, restaurant was mediocre and pricey for a three star hotel- My wife and I stayed in the grassmere rooms at around £100 per night for B& B. You would expect something good for this price and and whilst the room is dated, despite recent refurbishment it is still clean and relaxing and not worn apart from the aging sofa beds. My only problem is the attitude of most of the staff - apart from the waitresses the rest of the staff are rude and in some cases quite arrogant if only the owner spent as much time on being a host as he does with his tablecloths - people might return more often

Quality throughout

from Bobster71
This was our second visit to the Rothay Garden and we were not disappointed. We opted for a 3 night stay from Friday to Sunday. The room was clean and warm with all the standard facilities that you would expect. It is perfectly located for walking around the Grasmere area be it Helm Crag or Easdale Tarn and onward to Langdale. We ate in the restaurant on the Saturday night and the food quality was outstanding. Three courses plus an appetizer. Luckily we booked with Superbreaks as they allow you to dine for £20 per head in their restaurant and this represents excellent value for money. Afterwards you can go and take coffee with truffles (included) in the lounge with a wonderful log fire. Highly recommended!

Restaurant excellent

from philnash
Didn't stay at the hotel but had dinner there and that was a pleasurable experience. The food was excellent, very well presented and balanced - superb beef en croute preceded by imaginative salmon combinations. We found it an added bonus to have enthusiastic, polite and charming Russian and Polish waitresses. The wine was also very good value with a mark-up well below the norm - £29 in the restaurant for a wine costing nearly £19 on internet buying. In the context of this, any minor irritations in the bar were soon forgotten.

Fine dining, lovely staff

from A TripAdvisor Member
Spent two days in the rain in the Lakes (what's new!). Hotel ideally placed to walk in Grasmere. We parked the car outside the front door and didn't get in it again until we had to leave which is an important issue when trying to find a car park in popular areas. There were enough walks in the area to suit almost anyone at any level of fitness.

The hotel was smart in public areas although our "Grasmere" superior room was in need of refurbishment by comparison but a good size.

The food was excellent with the five-course menu sufficiently varied to have coped with a longer stay. This is not a hotel for B&B; you really must eat in for the experience of fine dining.

The staff were smart and efficient whilst also appearing relaxed and friendly (even when the area suffered a power cut during dinner on our first evening! - the first in over 8 years apparently).

This is a hotel geared up to walkers (they even have a drying room for those wet boots and coats you never know where to put in your hotel room for fear of marking the furnishings!) but smart enough for those wanting to spoil themselves by relaxing in the garden or hotel lounge and taking it easy.

We'd be happy to make a return visit.

Top Local Tips for Ambleside

Walking in the lakes We did the Coffin Trail then round rydal and grasmere lake taking in Loughrigg Terrace. It was a beautiful walk there are maps sold in the shops in grasmere showing you the way it is a truely beautiful walk with great views.

Eating out in Grasmere If you can brave going back out into this year's summer rain - DO experience the wealth of eateries - dont dine in your hotel every night. Make sure you book in advance : The Jumble room and The Villa Columbina are a must to eat at. You will not be disappointed unless you didnt book in !

Indulge! spend a little extra on the fantastic choice of fine wine, the food is amazing!!!!

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Other names for Rothay Garden Hotel

  • rothay garden grasmere
  • hotel rothay garden
  • Address: Broadgate - Ambleside - England - LA22 9RJ - United Kingdom
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