The food was just average and did not reflect the price being charged, a few more dishes to choose from wouldn't go amiss.

My husband surprised me with a two night stay on February 10th and 11th 2012 for our wedding anniversary, when we arrived at the hotel only then did I discover that it opened it's doors to muddy boots and dogs.
We presumed ( wrongly ) that it implied the animals were welcome in the bar with their owners.
This we understood, as we were in an area where there were lots of walkers some with their dogs in tow and one would suppose that they would be the main source of clinentele.
We are not anti animal lovers and didn't mind that the dogs ( who were very well behaved )were allowed in the bar but I was horrified to find that they were allowed upstairs to sleep with their owners in the bedrooms.
I had been unwell the week before and as an asthma sufferer had I known this in advance I would have opted to stay somewhere else.
The room recently renovated and similar in style to that of a Travelodge or Premier Inn had some damp patches on the ceiling which looked like it had been repaired and just in need of touching up with paint, was clean and the bed was comfortable and in truth I could not say that there was any smell of dog ( but then I have temporarly lost my sense of smell ) I did however find a couple of strange looking hairs in the bed.
knowing how much people love their pets I can only imagine that many of the pets have also occoupied their owners bed and as for what might be trapped in the fibres of the bed and the carpet, that was not a comfortable thought for me.
The staff were pleasant and accommodating and supplied extra pillows on request.
We had a nice breakfast each morning and we had our evening meal on both nights of our stay, but in my opinion the portion sizes are poor and do not reflect the prices charged, we had no choice but to eat there as there were no other places nearby.
My advise to anyone who like me suffers from Asthma or other related respiratory illness would be not to stay there.

We passed the Cuckoo Inn on our way to a nearby car park for 6hrs of walking.

On our return we noticed the sign stated outside, muddy boots and wet dogs, do we popped in.

Lovely clean bar, double sided fire place roaring away and very friendly staff, even the Chef had a joke with us.

Food was prompt, hot and delicious, my wife stated she could eat the rhubarb and ginger crumble every day! Ales were good and staff friendly.

Would we visit again, yes tomorrow after another walk! This time the wife can drive so I can taste more ales!

Visit the place, ideally located after a walk or enroute.

The recently refurbished hotel has comfortable rooms with good facilities and is ideally placed for exploring the Lakes. A warm welcome, log fires, a friendly bar, good food and helpful staff enhanced my stay. Recommended.