Castle Lodge Guest House Gatwick

It is basic accomodation in a very large old house. The rooms were a good size but looked old and drab, and the bed could have been replaced quite some time ago. I stayed two nights and this didn’t really matter as I spent little time at the B&B, and it was comfortable enough. The continental breakfast was more than adequate, and the hot water in the ensuite shower was good. A big positive with the B&B over the expensive establishments at Gatwick is that it is in the delightful small village of Horley. The B&B is a 5 minutes walk from the railway station, and the train to the airport takes 5 minutes at a cost of £2. You can also take the train into London from Horley, or go back to Gatwick where there is an express train that takes 30 minutes. In Horley there are some good pubs, restaurants, take-aways and shopping. Some of the reviews of this B&B seem to have been unfair, from guests who perhaps had unrealistic expectations or lost sight of what travel is all about. I found the owner to be a friendly and caring man with a wealth of experience in hospitality.

Turn off the lights… or else! Extremely arrogant and aggressive owner with false claim of a shuttle service gets this place my first “1” and worst rating! What we experienced in this establishment is somewhat unbelievable for me but in reading the experiences of others, I now realise our experience was not an isolated incidence. For me, “1” represents a collection of bad experiences followed by poor or unacceptable action on behalf of the service provider. It also indicates that I would personally never return. Transiting through Gatwick Airport, we sought a room in a nearby town. The main criteria was that they had a shuttle service. Gatwick Castle B&B indicated a shuttle service was available for a fee. So, we made the booking. After arriving at Gatwick train station, I phoned the property to arrange the shuttle but was told by the gentleman that answered that there WAS NO SHUTTLE! However, he indicated that he could call a taxi for us and that it would cost around £18.50. As I was standing in front of the taxi stand, I just took my own cab. Upon arriving and checking in, we did not receive a room in the main house but were led to a door off the alley on the side of the house. Upon opening the door, I realised I had made a mistake in booking this property. The room and bathroom were very small and after bringing in our cases, it was a difficult to move around. While the room was well cleaned, it had a smell of what I can only guess was old, dirty or wet carpet. The double bed had indents (see photos) that indicated they were LONG overdue to be replaced. Their was a door in the room that lead to the rest of the house but it was locked and only accessible from the other side. We rested before heading out to supper but were a little unsettled by the door knob rattling. Not knowing if it was the wind or someone trying the knob, we decided to set up a system to detect whether someone entered our room. Before leaving we also turned on the television to make it appear we were inside and turned on the light outside the door to facilitate the return to our room off the dark alley. Upon returning, we realised that someone HAD entered the room. My spouse confronted the attendant who later identified himself as the owner. After she was gone a long time, I followed and picked up the discussion. This discussion lead to a shouting match between me and the owner on the front steps of our property. His main concern was that we left the fluorescent light on outside our room. Yes, you read this correct, we left a security light on. While we were out, he informed us he had knocked on our door to tell us to turn off the light. I was told in no uncertain terms that I had a “responsibility” to turn off the light. He pointed out that there was a motion sensor security light but we didn’t know this. After an hour of trying to reason with him, we realised it was futile and went to bed. Once in bed, someone started banging our door. We refused to answer

I was on business and not using the B&B as a stop for Gatwick. The owners/staff are lovely but they need to improve. The location was chosen for me to get into work and the train station. My room door handle was forced a few times as people tried to access the room, so as a single female traveller I felt unsafe. I was terribly scared and nearly called the police. It was noisy as an old building, people are using this as a stop so coming and going all night. The rooms are dated, with no tea/coffee/hair dryer/iron etc. It is clean but my bed had stains on the headboard. I had a jug of water, how is that acceptable? The worse is the Breakfast, instant coffee, a kettle, sugary cereals, plastic cheese, pile of cheap bread and croissants you get for a pound in Tesco (they left the packages) some crackers and tiny muffins. It was appalling, for £100 my company paid, I had to find a cafe to get some food before work. I would advise going to Spoons for breakfast and not pay! Its not worth the money Travelodge, Holiday Inn and Premier Inn are all clean, modern, with decent hot breakfast. If you are needing to park the car and go on holiday fine but any other purpose avoid. I will not be coming back