After our first enjoyable visit two years ago, we returned with high hopes. In part, these were fulfilled, not least by the improvements to the hotel. A new entrance and reception really do enhance the initial impression. A ‘through’ fire now heats both the lounge and the ‘old’ conservatory, the latter having shed it’s previous old folks home guise. Both are now thoroughly modern, contemporarily furnished and decorated and extremely pleasant rooms to sit and have a drink, chat or just read a book.

We were booked in to an ‘occasion’ room, the ‘Wordsworth’ which is situated in an annexe. This has been recently refurbished in line with the rest of the hotel. The beds are comfortable and the bathroom nicely presented with calming colours, quality tiling, a stand-alone bath and large walk in shower. Add mood lighting and there is even a tv on the wall to watch whilst you enjoy your relaxing bath! This room also has quite a large balcony that gives a lovely view of the lake and in the summer will be a real sun trap. Unfortunately, the bath in the ‘Wordsworth’ room leaked and the hotel offered us a switch to the ‘Coleridge’ suite across the corridor. Again, the same facilities and a really nice room which also had a lounge.

Now for the difficult part of the review and it really does pain me to have write this. Before I say anything else, the staff are lovely and can’t do enough for you. So what are the problems? Undoubtedly when we visited a couple of years ago, the food impressed. During our latest visit it was very disappointing and not helped by the disarray at breakfast times. On our first day, we arrived just after half way through service to find no cereal bowls available and the orange juice almost ‘dry’. Our ‘cooked to order’ breakfast arrived (very quickly) and we sent this back because the bacon, sausage and black pudding were all dried up they had obviously been sitting under a heating lamp for some considerable time) and lukewarm beans. Our second day, we decided to eat a little earlier, the cooked breakfast was better but unfortunately, half way through service, no cereal bowls (again), the orange juice had run out again and there was no fruit salad. Bowls then arrived red hot from the dishwasher which is not satisfactory when eating cold milk and cereal from them. No real problem but the extra coffee we ordered never turned up.

This does however lead me on to comments regarding overall table service. A pet hate of mine is sitting down to a meal and being rushed through this. Main course plate taken with one hand, sweet menu handed with the other. Unfortunately, we did experience this. If service is between set times, then it’s quite unprofessional to be rushing people through to close the restaurant as soon as possible. This happened at both breakfast and dinner and whilst I know the servers work long hours this just doesn’t sit well with the paying guest. I wonder whether this happening in the evening contributes to the lack of apparent organisation at breakfast? Come on guys this is basic organisation, preparation and service.

On our second evening, we decided to order fillet steak. One rare and one medium rare. These arrived as medium to well done and well done. The restaurant was busy so we weren’t asked how our meals were so we did actually eat the steaks. I did save a little to show to our server since I never want to leave a restaurant without letting them know if there is a problem. We were refunded the ‘supplement’ and word came from the kitchen that the chef was ‘very,very sorry’. Unfortunately, it was the ruination of two very nice pieces of meat. Again, this is basic cooking, rare to medium rare can be excused but rare to medium well done is unacceptable. Worthy of mention though is the dessert menu, this is the highlight of the food and absolutely no problem here!

Minor niggles, we were offered a morning paper, this never turned up. A couple of basic items out of stock, no ham for sandwiches on Monday lunchtime, no Bacardi for cocktails on a Wednesday.

Overall impression, loved the refurbishments to the hotel, really does enhance the experience. If this could have been teamed with the quality of the food from our first visit to the hotel the result would have been a very pleasant experience. The current food offering particularly and to a slightly lesser extent the service problems we experienced at breakfast have coloured our opinion of Hillthwaite and regrettably we are unlikely to return.

Its not rocket science if you wan't a top of the range first class luxury bedroom you will have to dig deep.
We upgraded to a "Superior Room" at £150 per night which included a three course top class dinner for two people & very good cooked breakfast.
Ok i realise everybody is keen to save money but as we were celebrating our Wedding Anniversary & being together for 25 years sometimes we just say
"why Not"? its only money & you can't take it with you.
It all worked out as you would hope it would.
The room was perfect. The breakfast & evening Dinner was perfect. All the staff were on top form & very pleasant etc. We could not ask for more & yes it was worth paying more to get a better room etc in my book.
Pros: Top quality matrass & bedroom, top quality food & service all set in luxurious & opulent day rooms & grounds.
Cons.
The cheapest bottle of wine was £21.95.
Parking is hard work as the hotel in on a hill & parking is almost an after thought.
We prefer to sleep in a cool room, It is difficult to turn the heating of altogether.
The sauna was set to 60c which wasn't hot enough to raise a swet.
All in all we will definatly come back to this hotel & recommend it to our friends, family
& you.