Urr Valley Country House Hotel

We went just wanting a nice peaceful nights break, and got exactly that. Hardly heard any noise, and we had the windows open all night. We took our spaniel with us, and all the staff came to greet him, and us. All were chatty and friendly. We enjoyed our evening meal and breakfast.

Lets start with the positives. Location great, proprietor friendly, plenty of parking available, room was warm and bed very comfortable so that's the 3 stars accounted for. Negatives. The room we had was a bit run down, like it's never had anything done since 2018 when I believe the hotel came into the present occupiers ownership (so we were told). The toilet was broken, not anchored to the floor and tilted rather alarmingly while sat on it, the painted walls in the bedroom were badly stained, large stains, in multiple places the ceiling was the same. The breakfast!!!! now here we have a unique experience. We have stayed in multiple bed and breakfast and hotels and continue to do so about four times a year, only once before have we experienced a breakfast like this. We ordered the full "Scottish" and it was certainly an eye opener. ONE piece (YES ONE) of bacon ONE sausage the smallest spoonful of chopped mushrooms that you could lose under the one rasher of bacon HALF (YES HALF) a tomato, I think a tattie scone (scottish folk will know) which had been fried in some disgusting fat which tasted awful and we could not eat, one piece of black pudding, and an egg. Terrible. Spoke to a couple who had been there few times before, the last time was early 2000, they told us the place has gone "down the pan" and the rooms needed some TLC nothing seems to have been done and they too had a run down room, doubtful they will return, we certainly won't. We sampled another different breakfast the next day steering away from the "full scottish" this time we got a cup of tea and ordered toast and cereal, nothing happened, the waiter didn't understand english or know the difference between marmalade and toast, failed to bring us any food we had to repeatedly ask for it and got it in the wrong order. It was a complete shambles. In a nutshell it seems the saying "why give the maximum if you can get away with the minimum". The paying public require good value for money reflected in what you pay, this is not the cheapest hotel and we've had better at cheaper. They can't keep relying on location alone to bring customers in because soon those customers will disappear.

Outstanding food served by delightful staff. Pleasant room and the hotel location is another positive. The hotel is clearly well managed - and seems to be an asset to the region. Excellent, knowledgeable assistance is given generously to travellers.