Burn How Garden Hotel - Bowness

AN HONEST REVIEW I will be as detailed as possible of my review of this hotel. On the first day we were met with a lovely receptionist, Malinda I believe, on Wednesday evening who helped with check in and booking us in for breakfast each day. We had booked breakfast everyday so I will be leaving reviews of this mostly. The rooms themselves were standard, we had two adjoining ground floor rooms as we had adults with special needs in our family. I did have to remove a few spiders and cobwebs and the room needed a thorough vacuum. But all in all average (we paid over £1350 for 3 nights so expecting a vacuuming isn’t far fetched in my opinion). In terms of room cleaning the first day it was cleaned as we left the ‘please clean the room sign outside’. The second day it was not, when I flagged this with a staff member she said there was a ‘problem with the housekeeping staff’ not sure what this means but she did say none of the rooms were cleaned except for new check ins. This was not true. As I mentioned we had 2 adjourning rooms and the first room WAS cleaned so not true. I was travelling with adults who had special needs, one of whom wears adult diapers so having empty bins was a necessity for hygiene purposes as well as fresh towels for daily washing. The staff member did bring fresh towels and a black bin to remove the rubbish so that was nice of her but again if the room was cleaned it would not have been necessary. Now the breakfast, I would say had good options but limited for vegetarians. Now, I had enquired about halal food prior but was told they had vegetarian which is not a problem at all. What was a problem was the attitudes and behaviours of some of the staff. We are a VISIBLY brown family so difficult to assume race was not a factor. There are few tables so I can see how almost everyone else is treated compared to us. Day 1- treated fairly okay, given tea and coffee and toast immediately JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. Hot food order taken without prompting. At no point asked if we needed a refill. Nearly everyone else seated was asked multiple times in terms of refills and if they needed anything else. I had to prompt a few times for bread and other items. Day 2- the attitudes were fairly abysmal to be quite honest, we were placed on a table at the far end. Other people were seated afterwards and had their hot food orders taken almost immediately. After 15 mins of waiting and ALL the staff completely ignoring us, I had to flag one of the older staff members - Dorothy to take our order and perhaps get us some tea and coffee?? I must say Dorothy was quite rude and acted like I was being difficult or asking for something outrageous. I simply asked if someone can take our order. And when I was providing details for the order she didn’t know that I could also read the menu and argued some of the items were not available to us. I had to argue back and say the menu clearly states that some of the items are interchangeable. I assume she has been working here a long time (I might be completely wrong) but would have thought she would know the menu much better than myself. No problem though got the order. Although parts of the order were missing I.e no beans as part of the vegetarian breakfast and the muffin which again I had to ask for separately. Again felt like we were the only family who had these issues. Day 3- hot food order taken without prompt. But we were told by Dorothy they were exceptionally busy (most of the tables were empty…) and the wait is 20-25 mins, which is fine. Toast and tea provided approximately 10 mins later- fine. I give one example of a family of 5 seated over 30 mins after us who essentially were treated vastly different. Again hard to not think race did not play a part here. They arrived at 9:36, ordered hot food immediately which arrived at 9:41. I say this with detail because I started making notes of times, my Mum did mention we were being treated differently and I thought this wasn’t true until I witnessed it with my own eyes. Now anyone with a special needs person/people in the family understands the importance of being treated with respect, care and dignity especially dealing with the difficulties we have. I make note of everyone and everything in detail as I do not want innocent members of my family treated poorly. I felt we were treated unfairly, poorly and disrespectfully AT TIMES and RACE did play a factor. I informed my thoughts to the reception lady on check out and she was apologetic. But apologies only go so far. Do and be better.

The Hotel is in a beautiful garden setting. We stayed in one of the motel style units on site and to be fair its a bit dated and in need of a refurb. But room was large and bed comfortable. The cleaning staff are clearly doing their best but it must be frustrating when so many things need updating. We spoke with them a couple of times and they couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful. The dining room was nice and reception staff were easy to deal with and professional. Parking was right by our unit. The hotel is only a short walk into Bowness where there are plenty of bars and restaurants etc.

Stayed recently in garden chalet number 4. The room was absolutely spotlessly clean, Large comfy bed with nice soft pillows. Lovely clean shower room. The chalet rooms are particularly lovely as it’s like bribing the outside in, they face onto the garden area with opening sliding doors to the outside. Like a little private oasis but in the centre of the town. Breakfast was really delicious ample to choose from, and cooked breakfasts very fresh hot and well cooked. My eggs Benedict were perfect both mornings. My daughter was over the moon because they even had babybels on the buffet! All the team at the hotel were so friendly and welcoming , couldn’t fault anyone. It’s a really lovely hotel away from all the hussle and bustle of the world. The gardens are beautiful too. The owner Michael is a lovely man, and particularly charming and so nice to speak to.