The Swan Hotel And Spa

“Lovely spa worth a visit”

I recently visited this spa and had a wonderful experience. The combination of both indoor and outdoor facilities makes it a particularly enjoyable place to spend the day. Although the swimming pool is relatively small, it extends seamlessly between the indoor and outdoor areas, creating a much mor… more

I recently visited this spa and had a wonderful experience. The combination of both indoor and outdoor facilities makes it a particularly enjoyable place to spend the day. Although the swimming pool is relatively small, it extends seamlessly between the indoor and outdoor areas, creating a much more spacious feel. The large outdoor hot tub is an excellent feature, and the beautifully landscaped gardens, with their well-maintained lawn, attractive planting, and stunning views towards the Lakeland hills, provide a peaceful and relaxing setting. One of the highlights of my visit was the poolside drinks service. Being able to enjoy cocktails while relaxing in the pool, without having to leave the water or visit the bar, was a fantastic touch that really enhanced the experience. The staff were warm, welcoming, and attentive throughout my visit, contributing to the overall high standard of service. There are just a few suggestions that could make an already excellent spa even better. Firstly, as I was visiting as a day guest rather than staying in the hotel, I was unable to open a bar tab. It would be much more convenient if day visitors could link a payment card to their wristband, as many other spas now offer. Secondly, the gentlemen’s changing area felt rather compact. The half-frosted window may make some guests feel uncomfortable from a privacy perspective, and the very low sofa could be difficult for some visitors to use comfortably. Finally, the addition of a swimwear spinner dryer would be a simple but very welcome improvement, making it easier for guests to leave with drier swimwear. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and would happily return. The excellent facilities, beautiful surroundings, attentive staff, and relaxing atmosphere make this a spa that I would highly recommend.

less

“Room for Improvement”

Frustratingly Disappointing. We have visited this hotel several times. Each time we find issues which could be easily addressed to improve the guests experience. We only return because it has a good location, generally pleasant staff and a good accessible spa. Our daughter is disabled and the s… more

Frustratingly Disappointing. We have visited this hotel several times. Each time we find issues which could be easily addressed to improve the guests experience. We only return because it has a good location, generally pleasant staff and a good accessible spa. Our daughter is disabled and the spa in particular suits her needs very well. After her last visit in October 2025, my daughter found the gluten free offerings on the menu to be very limited. She mentioned this to staff at the time and followed up with an email. We decided to book for this summer early in the year. Prior to booking in January, our daughter contacted the hotel to ask if there would be any improvement on the gluten free offerings. She was assured by Kayleigh who I believe is the head receptionist, that ‘ we would love to welcome you back and make sure your dietary needs are better met’ We booked and in May our daughter emailed Kayleigh, reminding her about having gluten free options available. She also phoned about a week prior to arrival. Sadly, there are very few gluten free options in the menu, particularly on the dessert menu. There is a chocolate mousse which she tried which is just offered without the biscuit or ice cream or cheese and biscuits. The chocolate mousse was very unpleasant and had a strange texture and when mentioned to the waiter, he suggested it was just a bad batch! My guess is that it was some sort of packet mix. We spoke on several occasions to Yasmin, the customer relations manager who said that the chef would come and speak to us, but he never did! She did get some gluten free sticky toffee pudding in and we appreciated that. There are so many things that you can offer in the way of desserts which are gluten free. The chef clearly has either no interest in this or no imagination! The labelling on the menus is also very poor. On the adult menu it says sticky toffee pudding contains gluten, but the same pudding on the children’s menu doesn’t mention this. The ‘ plant based menu’ contains eggs ! This hotel needs to sharpen up on such things. We had other issues with the restaurant. The service was extremely slow. We usually waited an hour to get any food and even when we had asked for water we ended up getting it ourselves. My husband and another member of our party had locally reared pork chops one evening. The pork was like cotton wool with an extremely unpleasant texture , like a paste. We have asked Yasmin to investigate how this pork had been treated to end up like this! We were supposed to receive feedback , but we are still non the wiser. My guess is some sort of treatment with enzymes of poor freezing and thawing practices, even though I believe it should be fresh. The prices are high in the restaurant for the quality received and you often have to pay for extra sides to make it a meal. Although Yasmin is very charming and listens to what you have to say, I believe that a hotel manager should be available to talk to. There doesn’t appear to be such a person and I think this is where the hotel fails. On a positive note we found the spa to be cleaner than when we have previously visited and we enjoyed what was on offer. Most of the staff are very pleasant m though some are clearly untrained. We had a waitress serve us who hadn’t a clue what the dishes were. I felt sorry for her. Our room was definitely in a better state than the one we had last year, although the grout in the bathroom still needs a good clean as did the floor. The air conditioning actually worked which was a plus too. However, you need to be aware that if you don’t put a hanger on your door asking for the room to be refreshed, then nothing happens. The word refreshed is interesting as we found it to mean, new towels if you placed the others on the floor, the duvet being pulled up without anything happening to the sheets beneath and if you were lucky some water. I asked housekeeping if she could change the mugs after tea had been made in them. The answer was that you had to rinse them out yourself! This is not a great idea as nothing is provided to wash them with! Hence you end up with an unclean mug for as long as you are staying. I queried this with Yasmin, but didn’t get a proper answer. It is clearly bad practice. We stayed for five nights and never had clean glasses or mugs. We were told that the sheets would be changed after three nights, but they weren’t. Housekeeping is very poor and no one seems to monitor standards. Another bad practice which alarmed me was the fact that the housekeepers carry an open toilet brush with them and take it from toilet to toilet. A sure way of spreading germs. We ended our holiday by finding out that for newer bookings if you booked for more than three nights you got a 20% discount. Very frustrating and annoying for loyal guests who get charged the full amount. When I cam e to pay I had the only grumpy member of staff that I came across. I mentioned this to her , but said we would obviously honour what we had agreed to pay. Her response was, what are we supposed to do, have no offers. She then charged me for the sixteen nights plus our restaurant bills which came to a lot of money. Not once did she say thank you or asked if we had enjoyed ourselves! She is in the wrong job and lets down the rest of that team. I have written this very detailed review to inform you of what to expect at this hotel. It could be so good, but desperately needs a manager to improve standards and pull everything together. It just comes over as a money grabbing business, if they can charge extra for anything, they do.

less