Gilpin Hotel & Lake House

Overall we had a fantastic time at the Gilpin with only two significant gripes. Firstly, we reckon the garden suites are overpriced by around £100 per night. Don’t get me wrong, the room was lovely with a nice big bathroom and the hot tub us great, although the sofa is a rather rickety and uncomfortable to sit in, sofa bed. But, £580 a night, I don’t t think so. Secondly, the TV in our room (Dollywagon) was faulty and drove us nuts. Impossible to switch on without fiddling with the skybox behind it, the remote didn’t work and on one occasion we couldn’t switch it off without unplugging it. We reported it twice and again on checkout so hopefully it gets fixed or replaced. Having said that the food and service were superb. We dined in Source on the first night and had the 10 course tasting menu with paired wines. Fantastic with flavours to die for. Second night we were in the Gilpin Spice. A completely different experience but again the food cannot be faulted. Full English breakfast was great although strangely the service on the second day was slower when the hotel was less busy than on on the first. All in all a great experience although next time we might try The Samling, where rooms are ＞£100 cheaper minus the hot tubs, and eat at the Gilpin.

Great staff, fantastic food, hotel/lake house beautiful setting, the afternoon teas were always in the main hotel, but now at the lake house, but just as lovely as the main hotel .. we have been coming to Gilpin for years, never disappointed!

A magical break in superb surrounds, staff were amazing, Spa suite stunning and food outstanding. Spa treatments were simply the best and felt so relax at departure. Such a magical find we will definitely be back. We had the 10 course taster menu with wine pairing in Source and it was absolutely stunning! The staff were so friendly, attentive but not insincere or aloof. Can't recommend this luxury break highly enough. Thank you to all at the Gilpin for making this such a superb break - simply magical on every level from afternoon tea to breakfast, stunning spa lodge to amazing back massages, Nothing is too much trouble. Attention to detail is simply wonderful.

Wonderful visit with family for a weekend break. The hotel is clean modern a staff are attentive. The advantage of a number of restaurants within the grounds to choose from all exemplary. I would highly recommend a visit to any one reading. Will book agin this year.

Sadly, I would not call this hotel a 5 star hotel. Positives: Friendly staff Clean Nice location Negatives: Unorganised - staff didn’t seem to know what was going on. Reservation was not what we requested. Restaurant bookings were also not what we asked for. Don’t put people on the chefs table unless they specifically want to be there. Tired rooms- our room was clean but so tired. Worn carpets, chipped walls, scratched furniture, mildew and dirty grout. The halls were also very tired. Breakfast - took over 25 minutes for cold eggs and almost burnt toast. Waiter forgot coffee and when reminded TWICE, brought tea. Also, step into room is dangerous. Service: although staff are friendly, we had to ask, sometimes more than once, for basic things. For example for water to be replaced in room and for our order to be taken at Spice. The ratio of staff to guests seemed awfully low for a 5 star hotel. We couldn’t find a member of staff at one point. Bill: this was incorrect. We were charged for things we shouldn’t have been. Feel like things are overpriced considering the current condition of the hotel. If it wasn’t for a Michelin starred restaurant, this hotel would not be 5 stars. And even then, I think they’ll do well to hang on to all 5 for much longer.

This is our second trip to Gilpin. The first was a catalogue of bad customer service but as our complaint was resolved by management I did not write a review. So why a second visit? We were bought a voucher by a client as a treat. Choosing not to stay in the hotel we booked Gilpin Spice and secured the booking with our voucher. Arriving early for pre dinner drinks we informed reception of our restaurant booking. Service was slow in the bar and then on leaving we were chased to settle the bill as though we were doing a runner! They were unwilling to charge to our restaurant bill and embarrassed we paid by card. We had a lovely meal but our bill was under the amount of our voucher by £60 - almost exactly what our bar drinks had been. The staff in Gilpin were fabulous and we did leave them a cash tip but they couldn’t do anything about our soon to expire voucher apart from amend it to the amount left to spend. Yes I have raised this with management and given them chance to rectify. They promised a refund but I am still waiting.