Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa

Top quality hotel in a brilliant location, absolutely loved it here. We didn’t find a better bar to have a drink in or a better restaurant to eat in, all perfect… with a wonderful view over the lake too! The leisure facilities really helped too, the pool was a proper pool you could actually swim in! My only (very slight) observation might be that it did look a bit tired in places, with a bit of paint peeling off here and there.

If your travelling with kids and want to use the pool be aware of the opening times! Check in is 1600, pool time for kids closes at 1700. Check out is 1100 and kids opening time is 1000. Really poor if you are here for the one night and were planning on using it. Car park is £25 to use however we saw multiple of the local businesses punching in the code and parking their cars. The council car park across from Beatrix Potter was £11 for over night parking. Breakfast has a limit option on the cooked front and the continental was pretty much empty by 0900, toast in a basket is three bits of toast cut up and it came cold. Premier Inn breakfasts and service majorly trumped this. Hotel really does need a revamp and brought up to modern times, i guess the "Old" in the name lets you get away with it. Disappointing stay and value for money only felt on the location point albeit park your car 5 mins walk away.

Just ok all round..

Very comfortable and clean… beds really good but hotel needs a refurb… still enjoyed our stay.

Hotel location was A+++. Staff were fantastic. Would highly recommend!

Excellent location. Room and bathroom were basic but clean and the rooms without lake view were very dark. Staff were excellent but overworked as hotel was clearly understaffed. Special mention for Ahmed at front desk and Matthew at bar and chamber staff who were very accommodating despite the limited resources. Breakfast was underwhelming, badly organised with little variety and laughable choices of pastries and an abundance of cereals at the expense of any other option. The fruit basket had the same three pieces of fruit throughout our stay. The cereal bowls were either wet or had the previous day’s breakfast stuck on them. Any orders for eggs had to be requested and some were subject to an extra charge which is unheard of when breakfast is included in a high class establishment. The windowsill in the dining room was a feast of dead flies, the carpet full of crumbs from the previous night and most of the upholstery on the chairs was stained and because of the staffing issues breakfast orders were extremely slow . The carpet throughout was dark and dusty and there was a musty aroma on all floors. The best maintained area of the hotel was the Elemis Spa. Management were obviously cutting costs into the wrong places: only offering us one key card per room, the lack of extensive amenities in the bathroom (by request only), no slippers in the rooms and the absence of room phones and inability to call front desk. Overall could have been more consistent.

Morning awaking with a visit from two doves. Don’t leave the window open.

We booked this trip and paid good money for a room with a balcony. On arrival we was told that the hotel car park was more then likely full due to the weather even though we didn't need to pre-book, not the best start. The que on reception was also extremely busy and only 1 member of staff on. We asked to reserve a table in the restaurant and was told it was full due to the weather (yes it was the best of the year so far) surely the residents should receive priority after booking, we didn't. We used the bar for drinks again this was sometimes a 20-30 minute wait and again poor from the staff with no cohesion as to who was next and waiting first, the communal areas are a little dated and shabby but this could be so much better with some TLC and staff who are much more approachable. If it wasn't for the weather this would have been one of the worst trips of 2026 for us.

The room was spacious, very comfortable beds and armchairs. The staff were all friendly and helpful.

Whilst the hotel bills itself as 4* in our view it's living on past glories. Our Delux room had only a velux roof window which could only be opened by standing on a chair so you had a better view of the sky only. At breakfast the only coffee choice was a cafetiere so espresso or latte luxury was not an option. The should rename it a Velux room, definitely not a Delux room

Our room (325, King bed with lake view) was clean, spacious and comfortable. Hotel location is excellent, a couple minutes walk to the ferries, good restaurants, shops and even the Victoria Wood theater (fun show!). The staff was courteous and unobtrusive. The breakfast was plentiful - and “unhurried” to get a table and to get the cooked food. We hope to stay again someday.

Lovely hotel close to the lake and very convenient for the shops, theatre and main attractions. Staff at Reception and at breakfast were all really pleasant and helpful. Arriving in a car is a bit of a nightmare: the entrance is in a very tight and busy street, so finding somwhere to wait while paying for the hotel car park and getting directions was difficult. If we could have paid for the parking in advance and driven straight to the car park, that would have been much easier. Breakfast was cooked to order, but really nothing special: one piece of bacon and one (very ordinary) sausage in the Full English breakfast, but a nice spread in the buffet selections. For such an expensive hotel, charging extra for the avocado and other 'special' breakfasts seemed to be taking a liberty.

Great food, lovely staff and great place and location to stay,

Great location close to all amenities. Large spacious rooms and clean.

Hotel showing its age but lake view rooms very nice. Clean and tidy but older part of the hotel could do with full refurbish. Breakfast lovely and evening meal reasonable. Drinks very expensive.

Nice breakfast and wonderful view across the lake.

Our view was awful from our room . Ground floor rm 12 . Looked out on to pub that’s was closed. Renavation work . A big pile of scrap . The room it’s self was lovely .

Breakfast menu had sufficient choice and everything you would expect. However the breakfast buffet selection was limited but not poor. Probably lacked more options like more fruit, cooked meats, croissants, etc.

Walls paper thin, could hear everything in the rooms next to us. Tv didn’t work because of the signal. Could not sleep because of the noise.

This hotel is at the prime location.We could reach any place from the hotel without car. Though the proprty is old style, however, the room was spacious with all the facilities. Staff was quite friendly and helpful. Would definitely like to stay here for my next visit