Enjoyed a pleasant one night stay in January. We knew people that had stayed here on a number of occassions and always spoke highly about the food and general ambience of the place. We booked the room very close to departure and don't think we enjoyed one of the special deals that many reviewers refer to. All the same, the stay represented good value for money.
We stayed in a feature double room (number 26) which was to the rear of the main building and therefore very quiet. The room was decent without being spectacular. Plenty of modern gadgets and a comfortable bed but the shower was disappointing. The only real gripe was the strength of the green light over the fire exit. I know these are a legal requirement but surely they can be toned down a bit. My wife who normally has no sleep problems, was kept awake some of the night with this.
The staff were very helpful and service was therefore very good. If you enjoy good food and drink, the Wild Boar should be a pleasant experience. Very relaxing general bar area where we had lunch and a couple of pints of real ale and glasses of champagne. The only disappointing aspect of the food experience was the evening meal dessert. I am not a big dessert eater but do enjoy certain dishes when matched with a good pudding wine. I therefore selected the sticky toffeee pudding with what should have been the perfect sweet wine. However, the dessert was a very dry sponge with a sticky layer top and bottom. It did not have that moist sticky feel to it and, as such, did not match properly with the wine. That said, this is somewhere we would definitely visit again for the food.
It isn't a 5 star luxury property but then again it doesn't charge as if it was. All in all a pleasant stay at a decent price.

This is the first of three reviews of the three Lakeland hotels, that we stayed in during a week in January. We stayed for 2 nights at each over the period of mine and my wife's Birthdays. The Hotels were aware that we were celebrating.
I like to think that my reviews are honest and any criticism is (in my opinion) deserved but is also given in good faith and meant to be constructive.

I was lucky enough to pick up three, 2 night breaks through KGB offers and combine them. Our first 2 nights were to stay at The Wild Boar Inn, in Crook.

It was my actual birthday on arrival day but no 'best wishes' were reserved for me. Maybe I am being sensitive but I did make a point of telling the hotels, hoping for some sort of acknowledgement. I wanted this break to be special.

The check in process was smooth and friendly enough and off we went to our room (number 16). The room was quite small but with everything you would expect and then some. The gadgets impressed us. The flat screen TV (Samsung) with remote DVD facilities were impressive, as too were the iPod docks, lighting and decor (French renaissance). An added bonus was the fact that the Wireless wifi had been extended to be working in most of the recently refurbished rooms - ours included. Saying that though, the Saturday night weather was pretty wild and come Sunday, the wifi was lost (throughout the hotel) and remained down until we left. Nobody explained why and it might have just needed a reboot, because the phones were still working.

What I did not like about the room was the bathroom. Considering that this room had recently (?) been renovated we were very disappointed that there was mould in the grouting of the tiles. It was not just a little bit either. It was enough to put us off having a bath and not really acceptable.

Because it was my birthday we decided to eat in the restaurant.
The ambience of the restaurant is really lovely and the menu is very extensive but equally, very expensive. The quality of the food is really good (excellent in fact) but the quantity (not huge portions) and the price (close to £30 for a steak and then the extras), let the restaurant down slightly. That said, the number of non-residents covers doubled that of residents. But it was a Saturday night. I cannot fault the quality of the food and the ingredients though.

After our meal my wife and I made ourselves comfortable in one of the lounge areas by an open fire. It was lovely to have a drink and chill in front of an open fire and even pet the friendly visiting dogs. Non-dog lovers may choose to stay elsewhere! We love dogs so we are okay with them.

Our first night was very comfortable except my wife waking up in the middle of the night feeling 'a presence'. She swears that she felt somebody being by the bed and on opening her eyes, could see a shadow next to her side of the bed (have you a ghost Wild Boar?). Me, I slept like a Wild Boar.

Now, although I was a little critical of the evening meal. I have to say that the Wild Boar breakfasts are absolutely superb. I particularly liked the Granola which was very moist and freshly made with superb quality indgredients. But everything about the breakfast was lovely. The small touches like the jam jars (with homemade jams?) impressed.

The Wild Boar has so much to offer. 50 plus whiskies, nice beer on tap, a superb ambience. A superb gents loo in the bar area (which during a quiet moment I had to drag my wife in just to see it!). Friendly staff, lovely decor, nice walks nearby (with free welly loan), no phone mobile phone signals (yay! - unless you go for a walk), What lets it down a little in my opinion is the ambitious evening meal prices and lack of attention to detail in the cleanliness of the rooms. We would have been happy with the odd dog hair, but mould on the tile grouting is a no no.

Me and my girlfriend stayed at The Wild Boar for two nights in February '12 for a mid-week break away from work. Can't speak highly enough of the staff, accommodation, location, oh, and the food. Smoked salmon and sweet and sour onions with baked Alaska flambeed at the table won't be forgotten in a hurry. We upgraded to one of the luxury rooms (The Big White Room) in the hope of snagging ourselves one of the copper baths as featured on the website. We weren't disappointed. A real treat at the end of a day in Coniston and a perfect primer before settling downstairs - mind your head - for dinner. Made use of the DVD catalogue to catch up on Sherlock afterwards in bed for a lazy end to a great first day. Breakfast as good as you'd expect at a country retreat such as this, service very good to boot. Thoroughly recommended. Just like the salmon.

Just back from a weekend with friends at The Wild Boar. Most of us booked Classic Rooms having failed to notice they were not refurbished and if you like faded 70’s decor these are an excellent choice, if somewhat ambitiously priced. On the plus side they are quiet being at the back of the hotel and beds were comfortable with good quality linen and towels, but be prepared to run hot water taps for 5 minutes or so before it arrives !

Public areas have old world charm and come with old world features such as draughts, poor heating and a smoky atmosphere – it’s not just the food that gets smoked at this establishment. The staff are aware of these shortcomings and do their best, providing fan heaters but if the weather is cold put on an extra layer, or retire to your room and have a party – as we did. My advice to management is to fix the fires and fill up the bar !

The food is good - at breakfast the cold buffet may be a bit basic, but hot food is what you would expect from a good country inn. Evening meals were hearty, with nice starters, excellent mains and average deserts.

Staff were friendly, obliging and did everything they could to compensate for the shortcomings of the building and lack of investment in making public areas more comfortable. Also special thanks to the handyman who crow barred the window of our neighbour’s room so they could retire to bed – note to management perhaps you should have replaced the broken door lock after the same thing happened to a previous guest !

Ultimately, we had an entertaining weekend with plenty to talk about and sincere thanks to front of house staff who were the best feature of this hotel and to the chef who provided some excellent food.

Tips - Get a deal, go in summer, or wrap up warm.