Castle House Hotel

Guests praised the friendly and attentive staff, spacious and comfortable rooms with added amenities, central location, and reasonable prices. On-site parking adds convenience for sightseeing.

The stay was spoilt but there are advantages. The location is very easy to find, it is next to a relatively busy roundabout but we were on the city side of the hotel so could not hear it. There is parking on site, which is a real bonus for city stays. Location, very good, you are a 5-10 minute walk from the historic centre and a very short walk from a fantastic local pub. We had the family room and it was a good size with a double and two singles. The beds were not crammed into the room and there was a cupboard for storing bags, hanging clothes which had a safe and fan in too. Beds were comfortable and clean, with nice pillows too. Tea and coffee in the room, good towels and soap in the en-suite bathroom. Bathroom had a good shower, rainfall, and was clean. So all we wanted. The room was hot and we could not turn off the radiators, but we could open one window and being away from the main road it was not too noisy. Breakfast was a good range of cereals, boxed, or granola which had a good range of berries and nuts to add. Croissants and rolls, toast on request, good range of spreads too. All we needed for the start of the day. There is a bar area and this is where we are not too pleased. It closes at 10pm and we decided to end a long day there with a nightcap. There were no prices advertised and hotel prices can be more expensive, we accept that. Although you are meant to get a 10% discount as a resident. Four large drinks, which presumably we had the discount applied to cost as much as the same drink in a five star hotel and twice as much as we had been paying nearby. I work in London so I am used to high prices, but they usually come with atmosphere, service etc. This did not and if we had known (no prices on show) we would have stayed in the wonderful pub just 3 minutes away for our nightcap. We did contact the hotel after we left to check the charge was right and apparently it is. So although the stay was good it did add a sour note to our visit. Our advice if you want to return to the hotel for a nightcap is don't. There is a really good pub nearby with music and a friendly atmosphere or take a drink to your room (the atmosphere will be no different but you can be in your pjs)

Short walk to city centre and on-site parking. But, located next to a busy roundabout. Poorly maintained building, dirty and damaged equipment in room. Moved by staff, but second room not much better. Breakfast very basic, even by continental standards.