Peckfortoncastle Reviews 48

Stayed at Peckforton Castle a week ago and its a beautiful place. The castle is huge and at night its lit up, so its really nice to look at. The food is really good too, excellent quality.
The room was a bit small and basic, so its a star off for that. However I can't fault the staff: the girl who took our order in the evening was very courteous and professional. She was very smartly presented in a waistcoat and took my allegories seriously when I ordered. Also the young man who spoke to us about the tapestries and history, when he was helping us find our room, was polite and charming.
I would recommend this hotel but I think the room needed a bit of TLC and updating. Your staff are your biggest asset, I wish I knew their names so you can thank them for us.

I’m normally a believer in if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all but in this case I feel like something needs to be said.

We attended Peckforton for my sister’s wedding at the start of April and here’s a list of everything that we had happen while we were there and after we left.

Reception staff were rude and looked down on us as checking in.

When my parents booked our rooms in person back in October 2025 they requested that my brother have a bath in his room. Not only was this request not made they placed him in one of the worst rooms in the castle and won’t let him change rooms.

When my parents entered their room there was already a man in that room as the staff had given him the wrong room, and when checking out two days later the staff tried charging my parents for early check in to which my mother had to correct them about the room mix up.

My sister was in the Kelsall room her first night and had to use this room to get ready the morning of the wedding. The issues with this was it is too small of a room for the bride, her two bridesmaids, the photographer, the makeup artist and the videographer to fit in. Also there was a footprint on the wall next to the bed and some brown mark on the carpet.

After my sister had messaged the team running the wedding to replace Prosecco with elderflower juice for the children and one of the bridesmaids who is pregnant the staff still gave them Prosecco.

My sister and her husband asked for the wedding cake to be cut up and placed into bags for guests to take which was done and there was still over half of the cake left when we went to bed. The issue was when we asked for the remaining slices in the morning we were told all the cake was gone so it’s either been binned or the staff have helped themselves and the worst part is my sister and her husband didn’t even get to have any of their own wedding cake.

Similar issues to the wedding cake there was a paid for cart of pick and mix sweets for the guests to help themselves to that again was half full when we went to sleep only to find it was all gone in the morning. We were told that the supplier came and took the sweets away but I’m having a hard time believing that someone came out between the hours of 1am - 9am and picked up paid for sweets, so again like the wedding cake where did they go.

None of the staff had a clue where we could find the various items that we brought from home to use in the wedding. Eventually someone found our items dumped in a storage room and the items weren’t even put together my mother had to tell them what was ours.

GB News playing while people are trying to have breakfast, just what I asked for eggs with a side of fascism.

Lastly and the worst thing is you have accused one of the bridesmaids and her husband of burning the carpet in their room with an iron and charging them nearly £800 for repairs. This is frankly sickening considering that apart from putting their bags in the room around 3pm and putting a phone on charge at around 8pm they never even used the room till 1am when they went to sleep and then they were up and out the room by 10.30am without using any appliances apart from a desk fan and phone chargers. You claim that you have evidence that they burnt the carpet but unless you have hidden cameras in the bedrooms I guess your evidence is just the cleaners word but considering that the numerous complaints about the state of the rooms that other people have had to deal with I wouldn’t call that evidence.

I highly recommend that everyone stay far away from this castle and for anyone who has already booked a room there please for you own benefit take photos of any issues you have with your rooms incase they try to charge you for things that you haven’t done.

Not even worth 1 star but unfortunately that’s as low as I can rate this place.

Facilities for anyone with mobility problems were abysmal! There were no toilets on the first floor which is where all the reception rooms and bars are situated. There was a very rickety stairlift, definitely in need of replacement. There was no disabled parking facility for blue badge holders. I had to be dropped off like a parcel at reception whilst my husband had to take the car down a steep hill to a car park and then walk back up a steep hill to the venue.We were there for a wedding, lots of the guests were staying overnight and they had a lot of complaints about their rooms as regards their situation within the castle. There were lots of different floors and long corridors. If anyone is looking for a wedding venue and know that some of their guests will be elderly and have mobility problems I would strongly advise against this venue. Heather Martland, wedding took place 24th April, 2026.

Peckforton Castle is really gorgeous - in a beautiful setting, but once again the customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Some staff have bad attitudes, and fail to return telephone calls. Such a great shame.

Daughter bought me a voucher for Bubbles and Afternoon Tea as a Mother's Day gift. We got around to using the voucher yesterday, 17 December.
Upon arriving my daughter was told that as it is Christmas there would be a surcharge of £10. We were seated and no mention of the bubbly my daughter had paid for. We had to remind them. The sandwiches were a round of bread cut lengthways into 3 with very boring fillings. The scones were rock hard and the cakes so small one mouth bite and they were gone. There was a nice tasting slice of a small sausage roll on the stand as well. I bet one sausage roll fed about 6 people!
Couldn't understand why there was a surcharge as no-one even received a cracker.
Lovely venue but that's about all. Won't be going back.

We visited Peckforton Castle to dine at the 1851 restauarant. We had the 5 course taster menu, which was great value at £50 per person. The service was first class, provided by Holly and her colleagues. Nothing was too much trouble for them and they had great knowledge of the various courses. Definitely, worth a visit for a treat!

Whilst the location is stunning we were left very underwhelmed with the Afternoon Tea and felt it was very poor value. The finger sandwiches were very basic with a distinct lack of chicken in the coronation chicken. The bread was hard and the sandwiches had obviously been made well in advance and not been covered properly.
Although there was a good selection of cakes, they were tiny and you didn’t even get one each. We cut each cake in half but it wasn’t even a full mouthful.
We were given a large pot of tea but the water didn’t reach the tea leaves so the pot was pouring our hot water!
We used a gift voucher between 3 of us so it was a cheap afternoon out but I would’ve been very disappointed if I had paid in full. I’ve been to many places for Afternoon Tea and unfortunately this was not one of the better experiences.

Stayed in the Bentley suit, a delightful stay. We where met with warm tentative staff and had a wonderful culinary experience in the 1851 restaurant. I could not fault the overall experience and it has left a warm impression in our hearts.

We booked afternoon tea for 4, with fizz, using a gift voucher. On arrival as we entered the tearoom we were asked for the voucher and then shown to the table. A waitress asked if we wanted tea or coffee, came back with tea and 2 afternoon tea stands. What a farce. 4 miniscule sandwiches, scones and only 4 cakes on each stand. We weren't approached by a member of staff again. We requested hot water by accosting a lady going by. Later we asked for more tea, and the waitress hesitated before eventually agreeing. The wonderful experience we were looking forward to left us deflated. Peckforton Castle is beautiful and it's surroundings spectacular, but the quality of the food, and customer service completely ruined our afternoon. We didn't get the fizz, and that just about sums up our visit. Very disappointing.

I recently attended a wedding at Peckforton, the wedding started at 1.30 but we were not able to access our overpriced double room until 4pm...surely for the wedding guests that are staying at very expensive weddings should be allowed access to rooms.....as a consequence of queuing to gain key to room we missed the family photo

Given afternoon tea as a gift. My sister and I waited a good 40 mins for a pot of tea, then another wait for food. Sarnies and cakes were average. Scones were good. Asked for more tea (first pot gone before food arrived) and waiter forgot. Eventually arrived. I have had much nicer afternoon teas than this. Nice venue, but let down by poor service and non exciting food. There was a wedding on, which may have slowed things down, but if they don't have the staff they shouldn't take the booking.

I've been to afternoon tea twice now in the past year as my wife was gifted a voucher after a long illness. I've been distinctly unimpressed with the value for money offered and service both times. Staff seem to really struggle with using vouchers to pay and we had issues both times despite having confirmed by phone AND email that we could use a gift voucher to pay for our afternoon tea. First time it happened staff member was bordering on rude and refused to give my wife approximately £80 back that we hadn't used from the £130 voucher. Lucky we'd checked it was ok beforehand as otherwise our afternoon tea would have cost £130 for two people! Even with the email evidence from his own hotel he was not happy and we were made to feel like we were lying to him, which was quite embarrassing in front of a room full of people overhearing it all! We then ended up having to be sent off to the front desk to sort it out. This was all on the first visit. Much as we didn't really want to return we decided yesterday to treat my wife's parents to an afternoon tea using the reminder of the voucher. Once again difficulties with the voucher over the phone and in person. The lady on the phone incorrectly stared that the voucher could only be used for afternoon tea (it was not an afternoon tea voucher it was a cash voucher given as a gift) then the lady on the desk didn't want to take the voucher that my wife had printed on the phone. All very tiresome but clearly an ongoing issue that could be sorted with better staff training. Now onto the service. Took an age to even be greeted at the desk for afternoon tea. Some people who came after us were stood there for about 20 minutes waiting to be seated. There was only one member of staff on duty who seemed to have to do everything and clearly was struggling. She was extremely curt with me when I asked for more tea and coffee, but the place is clearly well understaffed and she was clearly struggling to manage us all. Still, not exactly the service you expect from a place that charges £50 a head for afternoon tea! Think it sells itself on the location and the building as really the rest of the experience is very poor value for the money! It cost us an £80 voucher and another £38 (included over £10 service charge!) for a very mediocre experience. The afternoon tea itself was ok, a few very average sandwiches, some measly portions of cake (not even one each - we had to cut the tiny potions in half so we could at least taste what each one was like!) and a couple of scones with jam and cream. I certainly wouldn't return and I would urge people considering using the place for afternoon tea to go to one of the many other nice restaurants in the area who offer a much better experience and better service

Stunning location , staff very welcoming , a building with a rich history, I don't know why this place gets it's negative reviews the scones were the best ever, plenty of teas and coffee , yes the car park is a walk but for disabled there is a drop of at the door then park up agreement,

It was quite disappointing to go to such a nice place and have terribly poor service. Spoilt the whole experience due to the poor service and customer service.
We were the only British Asian couple in the hotel and we could not help but feel that there was a bias at the service points. As it is a it was being run by a skeleton crew and with very little attention to detail that is expected from a four star rated property.
To make matters worse, It took me a week and £15 to get my special mobile charger returned after multiple un-returned phone calls and false promises.
Very disappointed!

We had a really good relaxing break…good food pleasant staff..lovely room..
Great location..
Would have given 5 stars if car parking was nearer to Castle..to much of a walk for us
Otherwise
All in all a lovely stay..👍

Booked for afternoon tea Saturday 5/4/2025 for my wife’s birthday and I mentioned this when booking, the staff member said we would make a birthday platter which we’ve had on a previous visit( slate with happy birthday writing in chocolate 2/3 chocs and a helium balloon)Firstly they didn’t set this up and I hadn’t mentioned to my wife as this was a surprise very disappointed. Secondly on the two previous visits for afternoon tea we were made to feel special but not this time, just wedged in next to the bar, not good then the sandwiches came and certainly not the freshest scones ok but small carrot cake dry and not tasty. Shame the last 3 times in the week were amazing but this experience felt like very budget conscious and I will not be going again. 😞

We stayed for convenience following a dear friends wedding at the venue, we paid £200 for a four poster room as a treat and after waking up from a late night celebrating the shower was covered in mould! Needless to say I refused to shower as a complete health risk and drove home 6 hours for a well needed shower. It’s a shame I am unable to leave photos, I have added to online forums to warn people. Avoid !

we stayed here a few weeks ago for my husbands birthday.
Unfortunately it didnt live up to our expectations.
The room initially looked lovely, but it was in our opinion not upto any standards.
The shower head had no way of staying fixed so had to be held, the tap in sink turned complety around and no hand towels suppied.
The food in the restaurnat again wasnt upto a good standard. my meal came swimming in gravy. infact the waiter did spill some onto the table and my husbands didnt have any. Breakfast was ok, but nothing supplied ie no milk, condiments, butter, had to keep asking for everything to be bought to us.
We did stay about 5 years ago and it has certainly gone down since then.
The hotel has eventually., offered a free afternoon tea if we return, but considering it was over 2 hours drive away, i cant see us wanted to return. needs some TLC immediately.

Had a fantastic afternoon Tea here last Sunday. A big thanks to Dan who looked after us so well. The Tea was a voucher gift from our son which we had to move because of weather. Dan and the lovely Sophie gave us a warm welcome. The Tea selection was delicious (Fresh yummy sandwiches and the freshest scones I have ever had). Thoroughly enjoyed it and we WILL be back xxx

I am writing this to express my deep dissatisfaction with the overall experience I had during my recent stay at Peckforton Castle in November. Unfortunately, the service and standards provided were far below the expectations set by the establishment and the prices charged.

First, I was extremely disappointed with the cleanliness of the hotel room. Upon arrival, I found the room to be poorly maintained, with visible dirt and dust on surfaces. On both days of my stay, the toilet rolls were not replaced, and the bed was not properly made. The blankets were carelessly thrown onto the floor, which I found both unacceptable and unhygienic. This level of neglect is not what I would expect from a hotel of this supposed standard.

Additionally, the breakfast experience was extremely disappointing. The pricing for breakfast extras felt like blatant profiteering, especially considering the limited and subpar quality of the options available. It was clear that your hotel is taking advantage of guests by charging excessively for items that should either be included or offered at a much more reasonable rate. £5 passion fee for Avocado and eggs which was even charged when we said we didn’t want the eggs !! Whilst I queried this the table next to us complained about hair in their food..

I was also taken aback by the prices for basic branded drinks within the hotel. The charges were excessive and, in my opinion, an unreasonable markup given the quality and nature of the products. Future guests - watch carefully for this. I run a chain of hospitality venues and you will be charged premium prices for drinks that are very cheap for the venue to purchase.

To make matters worse, our stay was in connection with a wedding, and it became very apparent that wedding guests have little option but to stay at your hotel. Given this limited choice, it seems that your hotel is taking advantage of the situation by charging excessively for both accommodations and basic services. This kind of pricing feels particularly unfair when the overall service and standards fall so far short of what is expected.

Given the combination of poor service, lack of cleanliness, and inflated prices, I feel that I did not receive the value I was led to expect when booking my stay. I hope this feedback is taken seriously and the hotel take immediate steps to address these issues so that future guests do not encounter the experience that we had