Macdonald Leeming House

The hotel has beautiful, extensive grounds and gardens leading down to the Lake. The view of Ullswater Lake and the mountains behind is a picture to behold and can be enjoyed from some of the bedrooms and the restaurant rooms. The joy of this hotel is the wonderful team of staff who work there, always polite, attentive, listening, engaging and helpful in the most positive and cheerful of ways. The food is excellent too. The hotel is a little tired in decor, fixtures and fittings in some places, however, we did thoroughly enjoy our stay there and we could overlook the negatives whilst there. We had booked a three night stay through Secret Escapes, two nights of which were dinner, B &B. Basil, on Reception, being most helpful to us with our booking alteration. Doreen also helping upon our departure. One of the highlights of our stay for us was the three course evening meal we had in the main restaurant. We were efficiently and warmly greeted upon arrival at the restaurant by Guiseppe, the new restaurant manager (a great new addition to the staff) . His warm welcome and noticeable experience in the dining room made our evening so much more enjoyable. Well done Guiseppe! There was quiet, soft classical music playing in the background, creating a lovely ambience for the evening which we liked. The meal itself was simply delicious, fresh, quality food, great taste, well presented and cooked to perfection and was served in a relaxed way with time to digest. We much enjoyed both meals. The evening menu had a few changes on the next dining experience too. Well done chef! Polite and unobtrusive service was provided by Laura, Abbi annd Maciek and excellent house wine well served efficiently by Matt. Breakfast was also enjoyable, made extra special by Monika and Maciek, who made us feel welcome each morning and waited on in a listening, attentive, way, everything served with warmth and smiles. The hot food is freshly cooked to order and we could not fault it. Cereals, juices, fruit salad, danish pastries, cold meat and cheese also on the buffet breakfast. Hot drinks brought to the table in teapots and cafeteria and also replenished upon request. Our bedroom, 39, was a deluxe room, spacious with a king bed and en-suite bathroom. There was a small balcony off the room to the side too. There was a TV, safe, but no fridge. Bottles of water wereprovided each day. The bed was comfortable and there was tea and coffee making facilities in the room. The bathroom had Elemis products, but could do with an update, however, it was more than acceptable. Unfortunately, the arms of the armchairs were noticeably needing reupholstering. We had a lovely view of the Lake and grounds from this room which we enjoyed. We would like to return next year and try a super deluxe room. We would like the Macdonald grouo to consider giving this hotel a financial helping hand to remedy the tired look of the hotel which would equally support the enormous efforts their staff are making with this hotel. It deserves to have the tired look put right without raising the booking rates. It’s a beautiful located hotel, but has to compete with the Central lakes hotels, so keeping it affordable is key. Hope this review helps fellow travellers and management alike!

I would have given a higher score, unfortunately Storm Amy paid us a visit. No electricity from 7pm, the staff were amazing they provided soup, sandwiches, puddings and cheese and biscuits. We were booked in for two night DBB, the electricity was predicted not to come back on till 8am the following morning, the next day we were informed that it may not come on till 8pm. It is a very dog friendly hotel and the staff are fabulous, the low score is due to no running water in the room, we could not flush the toilet. We did not get to sample the evening dinner or the breakfast. We decided to leave and find an alternative hotel only due to having no electricity. The hotel does need a revamp, the bedroom and bathroom was very tired, however it was very clean and the grounds around the hotel are amazing. Once again the staff could not do enough for us.

Comfortable hotel in lovely location. The staff were very friendly and professional. Dog friendly rooms were said to have treats and bowls, with dog beds available on request, however there was nothing in the room, with treats only being available in reception. I feel £20 a night for each dog is a bit much given there was nothing different to a room without a dog! The food was very good with slight changes to the daily menu. For those on inclusive deals I felt some of the supplementary charges were a little excessive.

We have just returned home from the most amazing stay at Leeming House. Everywhere you looked, the views, furnishings, decor, lighting, etc was perfect. The hotel staff were extremely polite and friendly, a special mention to Holly, who always made us feel so welcome. The quality and choice of the food, both at breakfast and in the evening was fabulous and the Lake and mountains views were the best we’ve ever seen. The location was perfect, with lots of fantastic places just a very short drive away (10-20 minutes). We also found the bus service really good as it was directly outside the hotel and ran on schedule. We had a full week which included visiting Aira Force Waterfall, Hill Top Farm, getting the Ulswater Steamer from Glenridding to Howtown and walking Alfred Wainwright’s suggested routes. This hotel felt more like a five star hotel and we can’t wait to return one day.

Very pet friendly. Stunning location. Friendly and professional staff

My review is the same as Darren, the same food except we had bourbon biscuits and custard creams. Cakes exactly the same. Not what I would expect from this lovely old hotel with stunning views of the lakes and fells. Very disappointing from a local resident. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Just had a one night break at Leeming House. The hotel is set in extensive picturesque grounds which lead down to UIlleswater lake. The outside of the hotel needs some TLC but inside it's more traditional and quite nicely decorated with several smaller rooms, ideal for reading/meeting for coffee and a large dinig room with viewsof the lake. We booked a Secret Escapes deal that included a deluxe room with lovely views of the garden and seating area (chairs in need of refurbishment.) The bed was comfy, and bathroom quite nice; both were clean. However, the three course dinner was a let down. The prices on the menu, in our opinion, didn't reflect the quality of the food. Starters were around £15. We chose mackerel pate which lacked flavour and was very 'thin.' Main courses (around £35.) I picked pork. This was the biggest disappointment! A good quantity of thinly sliced pork which was a little tough but the accompaniments were tasty. My husband had chicken with haggis which lacked seasoning and the portion was small. We didn't have puddings but ordered the cheeseboard. This was very enjoyable; interesting cheeses with good accompaniments. We were so glad that our deal included three courses and not a monetary amount. We do appreciate that the cost of the dishes will include the time creating different elements but could not see how,for example, the main dishes (plus ten percent service charge accoring to the menu) should come to £40 each . We were not asked to pay the service charge. Drinks were at the top end price wise. Breakfast was very nice and freshly cooked to order. Good choice of cereals, fresh fruit salad etc. All the staff were lovely and helpful.

Booked for a special celebration (getting engaged) and messaged the hotel before to say this but received no reply or acknowledgment let alone any sort of upgrade or surprise which was a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, the room we booked (Deluxe King) was very nice, large with lake view and bathroom with bath although is looking a bit worn around the edges. It was very quiet with a comfortable bed and we slept very well. Slightly disappointing that for this class of hotel these was no mini fridge/fresh milk (although the space under the tea facilities indicated there might once have been...) We were on a DBB package and the food was very good. Breakfast included an extensive continental selection plus a full English although any other option (such as smoked salmon and scrambled egg) incurred a £6 surcharge which was frankly ridiculous given the already very high room rates. The dinner menu was good and varied and changed slightly each day. Everything we had was very tasty and well presented although if you are not on an inclusive package the prices are very high (and you do not even get any complementary bread which is normal in these sort of high end hotel restaurants!) The glass of house wine included in our deal was very good (both red and white) and the waiting staff were all very helpful and friendly. The hotel grounds are lovely (although could do with a little extra tlc!) and you can walk right down to the lake where there are a few seats on the shore. There are two electric car charging points but they are nothing to do with the hotel and you have to download the app and pay separately. They are also close to the entrance so we found non-electric cars annoying parked in front of them at times! Overall was enjoyed our stay although there would need to be a few improvements before we could give it 5 out of 5.

We can't fault the room itself or the staff. The reason for only three stars is we thought it was very overpriced. We paid almost £240 for one night B&B. It just wasn't worth it. The cooked breakfast was very scarce. We ordered two decaffeinated coffees at the bar in the evening. The barman brought them to us in the lounge. At a cost of £11, the coffee pot didn't even fill two cups, very disappointing. The room was clean, the staff are friendly and the grounds are nice. We just didn't think it was worth the money.

Stayed here on a Saturday night with my wife in room 6.Smart hotel,our room was a suite and was clean and tidy with an amazing view of Ullswater.The bathroom was very clean and spacious,the suite itself was very pricey but the view makes up for it ! We stopped for dinner also which again was pricey but was absolutely fabulous,we had the steak and I must say mine was probably the best I’ve ever had! All in all we really enjoyed our stay,both of us had no complaints in the hotel or the service afforded to us.Nice place to stay for a quiet experience.