Wild Boar Hotel

Lived up to its billing. Lovely old place. Really enjoyed staying. The food in the restaurant was very good. Would love to stay again.

My wife and I booked this hotel for our wedding anniversary as we had stayed there about 9 years ago and remembered it fondly, with it's warm, welcoming furnishings, ample bedrooms and friendly staff. How things have changed! The room we were allocated was a 'house' room, which essentially meant we were stuck on the far side of the hotel in a very small room with a sliding door into the bathroom (a normally opening door wouldn't have opened more than a foot or so). The room was bare and basic and definitely NOT worth the £122 we had paid. When we spoke to the assistant manager, he essentially told us he had no other rooms and that if we had booked directly, rather than via LateRooms, we might have been allocated a better room. He told us the hotel was full, even though there were no guests to be seen (it later transpired they were expecting a coach load of Japanese tourists who came in at 11:30pm and left by 8:00am the next day - perhaps the style of room we had may have been more suitable for those wishing to merely 'stop over'?). We asked if the sister hotel, The Low Wood, had any vacancies, Keith called them, explained that we had booked 'through LateRooms' and we were told there was 1 room left at a surchage of an additional £67 and he wouldn't hold it for the 10 mins it would take us to get there! The food was OK, although the menu was not extensive, breakfast was good, although the pastries had seen better days.
It rained quite heavily in the evening and the gutter outside our room was either leaking or overflowing, the constant drumming on the plastic window cill was helped by putting a folded towel on it.
Not impressed at all by either the room or the complete lack of customer service, especially not to be told in no uncertain circumstances that if we were to stay again we should book direct and not through a '3rd party'. Thanks, but there's no way on this earth I'd stay in what used to be a quaint Lake District hotel!
My recommendation would be to save your hard earned money and stay with any one of the wonderful guest houses or proper hotels around Windemere, if you really want to experience the 'Famous Wild Boar', perhaps pop in for a drink, but avoid staying there.

The Wild Boar was a very relaxing spot to spend a weekend in the Lake District. It has a wonderful rural location, away from the bustle. We were a very late booking, so did not get the best room(in fact the minutebathroom was the drawback) but it did have a lovely suuny terrace, which more than made up. The staff are well-trained and professional and the hotel has a friendly, welcoming atmosphere.

the reception area and restuarant have an old world charm, our bedroom was to the back of the hotel in what appeared to be a more recently built wing, the room was light and airy with all amenities . the hotel is on a quiet stretch of road about a ten to fifteen minuet drive from Bowness , car parking at the hotel is not a problem however parking in Bowness can be a problem, the sister hotel is a good half houre drive away but has very good facilities and views of Lake Widermere