The County Hotel, Carlisle

We had a really lovely weekend stay here. It’s a beautiful period-style hotel with a charming interior, and the reception staff were genuinely amazing: super helpful, welcoming, and accommodating. The fact that they’re dog-friendly was a huge plus for us. It’s a fairly big hotel with multiple floors, but the rooms are spacious, cosy, and warm. The heating worked perfectly, the bathroom was well-equipped (especially for a budget hotel), and everything was spotless. Honestly, hotels at this price point often cut corners on cleaning, but both the room and bathroom were impressively clean. Housekeeping also came every morning, which was great. We didn’t try the breakfast, but it’s available for £11 per person if you want it. A couple of minor downsides: the TV setup isn’t great, and there weren’t any remotes, so you have to change channels manually using the buttons on the side of the TV. The only real negative for us was the noise. This isn’t entirely the hotel’s fault, but better soundproof windows would make a big difference. If you’re on the street side, you’ll hear everything (late-night noise, drunk people arguing, kids singing at 3am etc.). Also worth mentioning: there’s no fridge in the rooms, but the staff kindly stored our medication and dog food in their fridge, which we really appreciated. Overall, we’d 100% stay again. It’s great value, comfortable, and the location is unbeatable (literally a 1-minute walk from the train station), so it’s perfect if you’re travelling onwards without needing taxis or buses.

I wondered why there were complementary earplugs on the beds when I arrived. To my dismay, I found out that night. I stayed on a Friday night and there was a live disco and seemingly live DJ from about 8pm until around 1.30am in the morning. The room looked very tired and unloved. The floors creaked so much above and below me, which added to the noise. There were two lovely big sash windows in my room but i couldn't get any 'fresh' air as the windows didn't open one bit, and it was hot in my room. All made for a miserable night's sleep. The staff at reception were very uninterested in my check in, seeming thoroughly bored. The only redeeming feature was the pleasant staff in the dining room for breakfast the next morning, which was adequate. It was a buffet so everything was pre-cooked and therefore quite sad if you came to breakfast an hour and a half after the start. Coffee was hot and fresh, always a bonus! The room looked NOTHING like the rooms advertised on the website. The price made it the only other redeeming feature, as you can't fault £55 including breakfast. But just felt a bit like the advertising was of a different hotel. Not much would persuade me to return for a night. Oh, and just to add: parking is NOT FREE. It cost me £8 to stay in their carpark for the night, which was not included in the £55 mentioned earlier.

I was instructed by the receptionist to park in the car park behind the hotel, and was charged a fee by the hotel for this. There is a car park behind the hotel (you can see it in the photo I uploaded, indicated by a P, with the County Hotel also visible). However, when I got home I received a parking ticket. It turns out that I should have parked not in the 'car park' but actually directly behind the hotel. This wasn't made clear at all, and I have since had to pay a £100 fine (the hotel, of course, have accepted no responsibity for this and have not refunded the car park fee they took from me). The location was fine and the room, although quite tired, was fine too.