Bowden Hall Review

The hotel staff are very friendly and helpful, the location was good for us, being close to Hiking routes. Rooms a little noisy due to the age of the building.

It is a shame the restaurant lets the hotel down. The food at dinner was over cooked so even with the simple fish and chips, the fish was very dry and the batter over done. The chicken was also overcooked and had the texture of rubber.

Buffet style breakfast generally OK at the weekend but on the Monday morning it was cooked to order. The table next to us placed a vegetarian order but received our meat based full English and was some way through before she was informed she was eating meat at which point the staff were going to give the already started breakfast to us.

When ours did arrive, my meat sausages were cold and cutting open showed they were raw in the middle but instead of taking them away the staff member went to get a temperature probe which was duly inserted whilst I waited to see if I the raw piece I was looking at met the restaurants minimum temperature requirements. The min temperature requirement started at 65 deg but strangely dropped to 52 deg as we watched the temperature only reach just under 50.

After having waited patiently (and being embarrassed by the process) whilst the rest of the breakfast went cold she offered to reheat them, rather than replace them.

We were finally offered a free coffee in compensation, but had already unfortunately drank two cups with the breakfast.

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Shabby and very hot small rooms. No A/C. Six flights of stairs and a long corridor. No wardrobe or chest of drawers. Bathroom good. Had better rooms and Premier Inns

Filthy and rundown

The carpets through the corridors and dirty and stained and are not hoovered daily as I had to step over dirt on 3 days of my stay. Food is poor quality nearly dislocated jaw on steak. Service for restaurant is slow. All food is over seasoned so I suspect chef smokes. Reception is not constantly maned and I had to knock on office door for assistance as my door key card kept failing and they had to reboot system. Room was clean except for the bathroom as shower head covered in black mould which i had to clean and the sink drains were to retching level late at night. Staff were smiley and bed comfortable. Loads of cobwebs around windows and frames filfhy. As part of deal i was given half bottle of champagne which was poor quality and the ice bucket leaked.Will not go back ever!!