Rothay Manor Hotel

A classy gem in the heart of the Lake District, everything about this hotel is beautiful and good quality, from the rooms, amenities and menu. I highly recommend staying here. The tasting menu is delicious. The staff were really friendly and accommodating.

Today we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon tea at Rothay Manor. Service was very attentive throughout, from the presentation of the menus for the tea choices to the provision of boxes for the treats we couldn't quite manage. A very tasty selection of savoury flavours in the sandwiches and home made pork pie was followed by light scones and truly wonderful cakes. The setting in the dining room was lovely, overlooking beautiful gardens, and we will definitely revisit in the future based on this experience.

We had high expectations given the supposed caliber of the hotel and that it is one of ‘The Leading Small Hotels in the World’ and were left incredibly disappointed by our stay. The rooms themselves are well decorated and the staff is lovely, however it misses the mark in multiple key areas.The main thing that lets the hotel down in the housekeeping. As can be seen on the pictures, our towels had stains on them, there was a shocking amount of mould in the shower, stains on the counter in the bathroom, the beds were not made neatly and we got to our room to find out that the complimentary snacks had already been eaten by someone. The next day we returned to the room after housekeeping had been in to find that the floor was dirty and had not been cleaned, used wine glasses (with lipstick marks and dregs of Champagne) had been put into a cupboard instead of being cleared away and what was clearly rubbish had been left on the table with a cloth messily tossed beside it. Despite bringing this to the attention of the reception staff, no replacement snacks were brought over or any effort made to make up for this. Later that evening we ordered some drinks to our room, and the member of staff who brought the drinks over (and to whom we had directed our feedback earlier in the day) gingerly asked if “maybe he should bring over some drinks if it is a celebration?”. This was a nice gesture on his part but honestly just felt awkward, and as if the idea just come to him in the moment. I wouldn’t be surprised if any gesture would have been made had we not ordered drinks and they were reminded that we were actually still staying there. In an attempt to enjoy the rest of our stay post the provision of the feedback to the hotel, we decided to use the private hot tub in our room (one of the main reasons we chose to stay in the hotel) only to find that it too had mould on the headrests, which is incredibly off-putting and to be quite frank, simply disgusting. To add to this, we were celebrating our engagement - something the hotel was aware of as it was mentioned (1) when we made the booking (2) when we made a dinner reservation and (3) when my fiancé called the hotel in advance to arrange for a bouquet of flowers for me. Despite this, we received not one “congratulations” from a member of staff throughout our stay. We also had to remind the staff that due to the way we booked we were supposed to receive complimentary glasses of sparkling wine on arrival, which on top of everything mentioned above, highlights a lack of attention that permeates across multiple areas of the hotel experience. Would not recommend.

Lovely hotel, rooms amazing, breakfast one of the best. Breakfast staff very friendly and attentive, location perfect. Sadly the evening was a disappointment, we had to ask 3 time a for the “All day dining” menu, we were left for 45 mins with nobody attending to us, we felt very uncomfortable, left comments with no reply, our summary is that the hotel doesn’t want casual dining on an evening, we went and got an amazing pizza from up the road

One of the nicest meals we've ever had and the staff were very friendly. The quantity of food was enough with the additional complimentary courses and the price was reasonable for the quality and quantity. Can't wait to go again the next time we're in Ambleside.

Amazing hotel with attention to every detail, very tidy, great helpful staff and good location in the centre of Ambleside with loads of lovely walks around the Lake District on your doorstep. Great restaurant with amazing food, both dinner and breakfast very delicious. We would definitely come back

We visited with family in July 2024 and stayed for one night. While the area was lovely, the food and rooms were very disappointing. Stay somewhere else! We arrived after a long drive, and were shown to our rooms. We then proceeded to the bar for drinks, awaiting our 7:45 dinner reservation. Although we arrived long before 7:45, we were not seated until after 8:45, and then only after multiple inquiries. The food was good, but we were all starving by the time it arrived. After finishing a very late dinner, we returned to our room to discover that we had not received any turn down service. (I’m not sure whether the hotel doesn’t provide turn down service, or this was an oversight.) In any event, upon removing the throw pillows from our bed, we discovered that the sheets were covered in hair. I raised this with a staff member, who quickly changed the sheets. No other apology was offered. We left early the next morning and, needless to say, we will not be back.

Everything about our stay was simply perfect. I don’t want to go into great detail in this post, just want to say that the food, staff, facilities and location were just what we were looking for. The meal that we had on our first night was one of the best fine dining experiences we’ve ever had. Our dietary requirements were taken care of and every dish was unique and perfectly cooked. The breakfast is again just a unique experience and the staff are very attentive and kept bringing us the finest cooked and continental dishes. I cannot think of any constructive feedback to give this hotel. It was the perfect weekend.

Last Christmas a friend gave us a voucher for afternoon tea and we booked to go last Wednesday. It's a beautiful hotel and we sat inside by a window and were served by a very pleasant gentleman. That's the good stuff. The afternoon tea arrived, 3 oblong sandwiches each, very nice except for the lump of gristle in my ham sandwich. 2 scones which, to me, were stale. With jam & cream sufficient but no more than that. 3 cakes, all very similar and sometimes difficult to handle. Yes it was ok but for an establishment of that class I was disappointed. I class myself as a bit of a scone expert and what I was served were below par and at least Tuesday's.