Appleby Castle

My husband and I stayed in the castle for two nights. Our experience was wonderful! This place is full of history in every corner , I couldn’t believe I was reading my book in the great hall where Lady Ann Clifford used to walk. Our room had 17th century beds as well as tapestries! Of course it has uneven floors and old features, but it is the charmed of this place. You are not buying a luxury stay, you are buying the experience of staying in a real medieval castle. We have stayed in other castles in the past , but this one is definitely the most authentic one. The food was very good , the staff very friendly, Craig in the restaurant/bar was great. We also highly recommend to visit the Norman tower , it is a very interesting museum where you learn more about the history of the castle. The owner of the hotel , Sally is wonderful! Full of energy and a great hostess. We really enjoyed our chats with her and we wish her all the best! We recommend this charming place if you want to be back in history!

Tired and not fit for hospitality or accommodation.. book it if you dare .. staff on check in are creepy and intrusive. The guy who took our breakfast order and I suggest cooked it too was in a disgusting state with grass all over his jumper and long dirty finger nails I couldn’t eat here .. the shower room was dangerous with a slanted wooden floor that would be dangerous if it was wet .. I’ve never wanted to call environmental health before but I did want to here .. not great even for the price .. spend a bit more.. won’t return here

Moved our room without telling us in advance, blindsided us with it on arrival because there was a carbon monoxide gas leak so the gas had to be turned off. We were moved to a room we didn’t book and actively didn’t choose because we didn’t like it. Didn’t have the bed or view we chose. Restaurant wasn’t open despite being sent an email after booking with the menu encouraging us to book. I understand they did what they had to do to ensure we were in a room that had hot water. But we wouldn’t have spent all that money, which was a treat for us, if we had known we weren’t getting the room we had booked as per the contract of booking and paying. I checked my emails every day in advance of arrival, as we were arriving by foot and arrived in the evening so once we were there we had no choice. The room wasn’t very clean - dead flies on surfaces, I found a wrapper on the carpet indicating it hadn’t been vacuumed, and the bed frame was dusty. I’ve emailed them to try communicate my disappointment but haven’t had a response and it’s been over two weeks, so I’ll be seeking support.

If you’re thinking of booking this hotel please don’t. Got here an hour or so early, very misleading parking signs for the castle. It took us 3 telephone calls to reception to get the correct directions for where to park which included opening double gates to get through. We eventually got in and a man opened the castle to let us see it. Takes all of 5 minutes to view. Very disappointing When we went to check in we waited 5 minutes at reception with no one there and no way to alert the hotel you were there. I the had to go and find the receptionist in an upstairs office. Got our keys and were shown to our room, on first glance it looked like the website picture. Unfortunately that's where it ended. No hand wash in the bathroom, no water and the room itself had numerous dead flies and wasps on the carpet and window sill. The floor was also covered in white fluff/debris. Absolutely no way had the room been hoovered today. The room had absolutely no view, just a tree. We spoke to the receptionist to raise these issues and he asked for our room key so that he could check the room. He agreed with the points we had raised and said he would get it attended to. We decided to go a walk into the town only to get a telephone call to ask us if we were still in the castle grounds as he needed our key to access our room. Now I know it’s a very old castle but surely you have more than 1 key to each room. We returned to the hotel around 11ish and we were locked out of the actual grounds despite asking before going out if we returned late did we need a front door key we were told to ring the bell at the front door. Hard to do when you can’t get to the front door. After making some noise we were met by a man with barking dogs who let us in. Didn’t shower in the morning as the shower floor was covered in dead flies. Breakfast was hilarious, we arrived in the dinning and the lady asked “what would you like to eat” no menus so we asked “what do you have?” Her reply was “I don’t know I will ask the chef” , priceless . Anyway, very disappointing as I have said. The buildings have massive potential but definitely needs investment. For over £200 a night I would expect so much more. Historical yes, but service etc abysmal.

Paid to go around the grounds. £5 each. Could not go down some of the paths as they were overgrown with bramble type plant or stingers. The whole area is overgrown with stingers and leaf debris of the path. Is this place unoccupied? Total lack of management of the grounds, so why am I expected to pay? Maybe VISA can get me a refund!!!!