Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa

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The Macdonald old England is a very tired hotel in desperate need of refurbishment, it certainly lives up to its name of “old”. The staff look tired and fed up. I requested a cot for my room in advance and was told via email that a cot would be provided but no cot in the room when we arrived. When I asked at reception the staff member almost rolled his eyes and reluctantly said he would try and find a cot, the attitude was unhelpful. The elevator is small and smells awful, like literal garbage when you step inside. The breakfast was average at best, a small portion of cooked breakfast and a small selection of underwhelming pastries and cereal. The only positive was that the rooms appeared well cleaned as was the rest of the hotel. Overall, disappointing.

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.