The Devonshire Arms Hotel at Bolton Abbey

The staff just make this beautiful hotel. From the rooms to the surroundings this place is my favourite! Food fantastic. Breakfast fantastic. It's simply stunning. I really can't recommend it enough. Gorgeous everything!! No stuffiness just fantastic all round .

The Devonshire Arms Hotel at Bolton Abbey is lovely, and we had a generally pleasant stay there over multiple nights while hiking in the area. The accommodations in the old section of the house were comfortable, and the hotel offers numerous cosy areas to sit and relax. The grounds and trails are superbly maintained. The hotel spa is excellent, and a visit to the sauna, steam room, and pool after a long day of hiking was a real treat. The staff, for the most part, were pleasant, accommodating, and responsive to our requests. Overall, we enjoyed our stay with a few caveats: While the beds were comfortable, the pillows were not. At this price range, I expect a choice of pillows, ideally of high quality and designed for maximum comfort. Most hotels in this category will provide feather/down pillows in a range of sizes, at least on request, if not as standard. However, we did not find feather or down pillows available anywhere in the hotel. The pillows provided seemed to be polyester fill, designed for firmness and loft rather than comfort. When we asked for alternatives, we received a slightly flatter option of the same type. The hotel offers two dining options: the Brasserie and the Garden Room. We ate at both. Our dinner at the Brasserie was very tasty and the service excellent. The atmosphere, however, was quite lively and leaned more toward a pub-like setting than the quieter dining experience one might expect at a luxury hotel. While we enjoyed the meal, it was not the most suitable venue for a relaxing or intimate dinner. We also had several meals (tea, dinner, and breakfast) in the Garden Room. Our experiences there were mixed. The Garden Room menu is limited and doesn’t seem especially well-suited for evening dining. Overall, we found the food at the Garden Room not quite on par with that of the Brasserie, which was surprising since the dishes presumably come from the same kitchen. On our first visit, we had been referred by the front staff for a slightly late tea around 4 p.m. We sat in an empty room for quite some time before the maître d’ arrived, looking at a schedule and remarking that he wasn’t aware of any dinner bookings at that time. Once we clarified that we were there for tea, he seemed a bit flustered, which left us feeling like we had inconvenienced the staff. While the menu listed a choice of teas, we were not asked for a preference and simply given a pot of tea. That said, the scones were delicious. Breakfast is also served in the Garden Room. Regardless of whether you order something light, like yogurt, or a full English breakfast, the flat price is £20 per person. This felt a little steep, particularly for guests who prefer a lighter start to the day. A sliding scale or alternative pricing could make breakfast feel more in line with the value provided. Lastly, we found the coffee throughout the hotel underwhelming in both quality and flavour. The pod coffee in the rooms was bitter and thin, with a taste reminiscent of

Our stay at The Devonshire Arms was exceptional. Everything was as near perfect as it could be. The positivity, professionalism and passion of ALL the staff we encountered was a credit to the group. From check in to departure we could not find fault with any single aspect. When we booked we baulked at the americanisation of tipping in advance but on reflection found it to be a sensible solution to a complex situation. We had not realised that guided tours were on offer and had planned our day around exploring independently so when the opportunity to be taken around the estate by Jane presented itself we snapped it up. To find out we were the only ones only added to what we both described as a thoroughly entertaining and informative three hours. Jane typified all that was good about your hotel. Her friendliness, passion, depth of knowledge and positivity were a delight and certainly the highlight of the trip. Well done management and staff of the Devonshire Arms Hotel and Spa

From the moment we walked through the door we were made to feel like an imposition rather than guests at this hotel. Everything was just a bit hard and instead of having a luxury break we came away underwhelmed by the whole experience. The deluxe room that we booked was small and dated, the old built in furniture had been painted to give it a bit of life but the paint was all scratched and just looked uncared for. The room has since been rebranded as comfort which is a more fitting description. We had two meals, the tasting menu on the Saturday night in the garden room and a Sunday night meal in the brasserie. The tasting menu was lovely the pairing wine was a nice addition and overall we had a lovely evening. The conservatory is a nice setting and I would have been disappointed if we had been given a table in the middle area as it’s dark and lacks atmosphere. The experience in the brasserie was poor on the Sunday night. The kitchen closed at 7.30 so we were left having rushed our meal. Overall, it’s just too pretentious and therefore makes the experience just a bit too hard. There are lots of hotels that balance this well and guest leave feeling like they have had an individual experience. This just wasn’t the case at the Devonshire! On a positive note, yes the spa is small but the staff in this area were lovely.

Amazing spa day. The tents are excellent, fun and private. We sat outside in the sun and had lunch - really beautiful. The spa is really nice - never too busy, luxurious and beautiful. We had massages, which were really good and relaxing. Fab day - warm service, beautiful spa and grounds, great treatments and lovely food and drinks. Been a few times and will definitely return again.

Good steam room, pool is really a very large warm tub with pressure jets; nice treatment. Very nice staff Sab, Olivia, Alex and Libby. Didn't really understand the reason for the tents! Although the space was quite limited inside the building.