Not even squirrels would stay here - even if you bribed them with nuts (Squirrel Lodge Guest House (Keswick))

Member Name: kate2009

Product:	Squirrel Lodge Guest House (Keswick)
Date:	19/06/09 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Location

Disadvantages: Bad decor, poor service

I stayed at this Bed and Breakfast for 3 nights over the bank holiday weekend 22nd August - leaving on 25th August 2008.

I have often stayed at several Bed and Breakfasts in Keswick over the past few years and all have been to a good or very good standard.

I did look on my favourite travel website, Trip Advisor, to see if I could find a review on Squirrel Lodge before I went - but unfortunately there were none, and so I was not aware of what to expect. However, thinking this B&B would be similar to the most other's in Keswick, I did not anticipate any problems.

Upon arrival the property looked reasonable from outside, with lots of attractive flowers and garden decorations. As I walked inside however, I was greeted by a slightly unpleasant odour - I'm still not sure what that was but it did not make for a good first impression. It reminded me of wet dog mixed with curry powder.

The decor was shall we say, not good. The bedroom colour scheme was an embarrasment to modern society - instead of nice, fresh, neutral tones which would have made the room feel nice and airy (particuarly as it was a small room) the walls were a blue colour. The bed spread clashed completely as it was purple with a hideous zig zagged pattern on, and there was a chair with a blue checked cushion, whilst the bathroom was painted a bright turquoise colour! Those colours could have penetrated even the most hardwearing UV Sunglasses and I was concerned for my health.

On the bed was a child like fluffy and matted purple heart shaped cushion. I know it's not big and it's not clever - but I couldn't help thinking, 'how many people have either slavered on that pillow or done indecent things with it?' In any respect, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. In my mind I had an image off the woman from Channel 5's 'Hotel Inspector' turning up at Squirrel Lodge and giving the owners a shake, shortly before shutting the place down for the sanity of their customers.

What really annoyed me during my stay was the less than adequate service. During a 3 day stay you would expect our towels to have been changed at least once. However they were not. One day I even came back from a long walk in the hills to find that our towels had been hung back on the door and they were still soaking wet. At other B&B's they are usually changed every day. Particuarly if you place them in the shower to be changed like we did!

Breakfast was also poor. You had to have breakfast between 8.30 -9 which I didn't feel was much of a time scale. There was no friendly greeting other than a begrudging 'hello' and 'what can I get you.' There was no interest taken in what people were getting up to that day or advice given on walks like in other B&B's I have been to - not even a question about how we were enjoying our stay. On the menu we were supposed to be given a choice about what type of tomatoes we would like - but we weren't even asked this - plum tomatoes were just routinely provided. Portion sizes were not that big and I couldn't even eat my cumberland sausage as it tasted brittle and awful. Toast was brought out as soon as you sat down with the result being that it went cold. Finally I had a dirty cup twice during breakfast - when this was pointed out we got no apology.

I could not believe this place was rated 4 stars - more like 2 in my opinion! I looked in the guestbook one night - bizzarely all the enteries appeared to be positive (although there were not many entries!) - which I found suspicious. I hoped to leave a comment but on the way out the owner was 'conveniently' resting her hand on the book so I was not able to write in it!

This place can only be improved with a cosmetic makeover inside - there is too much clutter everywhere and the decoration is horrible. At breakfast there was a dining chest, with what I can only describe as 'evil' looking dolls hanging off it, and there was even a goldfish bowl covered up with cards - the water had turned so green and grimy we did not realise there was a fish in it until the last day! Not pleasant to have to look at head on whilst eating your breakfast!

The owners also need to improve the service so that people feel that they have spent there money well and are getting a more personal touch.

**Summary**

The Location of this B&B is reasonable, being close to Keswick town centre.
However, for me - I would not currently recommend this place and I would not go back. There are far better B&B's elsewhere in Keswick for similar prices.

A similar review written by me is also on Trip Advisor.

Summary: There are many other, better bed and breakfasts in Keswick than this one