Are you a hotel or a guest house?
Well, neither actually. Occasionally some folk are a bit surprised when they arrive to find that we're only a "B&B" and not a hotel, as the house looks quite big on the website. Although we have 8 bedrooms altogether we'd rather stay "small" and keep a nice homely atmosphere rather than having multitudes of souls trotting about the place. We can accommodate 6 people altogether - see "guest rooms" below.

So how much do you charge?
Between £32 and £42, depending on how long you stay, and the time of year. We'd really prefer to charge the same price all year round as the house/ service/welcome doesn't change with the seasons, but sadly we have to go with the flow and do what everyone else does.

Any extras?
No. None. No VAT or tax of any sort.

Have you got a star or diamond rating?
Yes.
ETC 4 diamonds and a silver award.
For the best guide though have a look at Alistair Sawday's Special Places To Stay - a brilliant publication which sums things up as they really are, with wonderfully chatty descriptions, though they don't bother, thank goodness with the palava of stars and diamonds. They look for great locations, yummy breakfasts produced from the finest ingredients, lovely houses - and really nice people who will welcome you as friends!

Is there a sitting room with TV?
Eeek! Perish the thought! No. But there are a couple of comfy sofas in the dining room and a cosy fire in the winter if you want to sit and read or chat.
Colour TV and DVD player in the bedrooms for those who prefer to vegetate in privacy. We have a selection of DVD's for you to borrow. Please bring your own if you like horror movies or rude films!

How many guest rooms do you have?
Bit tricky this one, because for fire regulation reasons we have to declare all our "bed spaces" - in which case we can sleep a max of six people.
In actual fact we have three guest bedrooms, - although 2 of these bedrooms are adjoining ie. we have one double room en suite on the first floor of the house, and two adjoining rooms on the second floor of the house - one of these rooms is a double and the other a twin, but you have to walk through one, to get into the other if you see what I mean. Best suited to one couple only, or families, or groups of friends of the same sex (sorry, parties of boozy blokes not accepted). It goes without saying that if you book as couple only, we won't let the twin room to anyone else!
Do phone though if you're a bit confused.

Do you accept children?
For the last 7 years we've welcomed children of all ages, but as from the beginning of 2005 we'll be happy to welcome children over 10 (ish) only. Why? Well, it's really difficult finding a defining line whereby guests travelling without children are able to have a bit of peace and quiet at breakfast time when a lively 5 year old is choo chooing under the table with his train! Most people love children but believe me there comes a time when you've been there and done that and it's nice to escape! (I know - ours are now 16 and 21!)

Our sincere apologies to the parents of the many delightful small children who we know are out there and who are struggling to find really nice family accommodation. We promise we haven't turned into a couple of old Victor Meldrews, but it's a fine balancing act trying to keep everything nice and sticky finger mark free, and also providing peace and quiet for our child free guests. Meanwhile we welcome older children and charge half price for those sharing the "family suite" with 2 adults.

How about pets?
Sorry, no. We do have a couple of small pooches ourselves, though I'm assured the house doesn't smell "doggy".
They don't lose their hair, are very people friendly, and they're not allowed in the bedrooms.
The younger one has been known to wander into the dining room in search of a crust/sausage/game so if you're not
dog friendly we may not be the place for you!

Smokers?
Puffers in the bushes welcome! The house is totally non smoking.

What happens at breakfast time?
The full breakfast menu is served from 8.45 to 9.30am. Hopefully most of the breakfast thing is covered on our website, but I did forget to say that we make no apologies for the fact that guests eat together round our (large!) dining table. I think we've all been to creepy "guest houses" where couples whisper behind the cornflake packet, or even worse - don't talk at all! This may be your opportunity to meet super people from all over the world - and whoohoo! if you're married to Mr (or Mrs) Grumpy, at least you'll have someone else to talk to. However if the thought of making conversation with complete strangers before you've had at least ten cups of coffee - fear not, we are quite happy to serve a light continental breakfast (juice, cereal, grapefruit, yoghurt and toast) from 8.15 onwards.

Do you accept credit cards?
So sorry, afraid not - though we do take credit card details in order to secure your booking, as it saves fiddling about with deposits and cheques and things.

Ok - so how would you like us to pay?
We'd like you to pay us when you leave please, either by cheque, sterling traveller's cheques, or in cash.

What time can we arrive?
All we ask is that you please bear in mind that this is only B&B and not a hotel, and obviously we don't have staff to man the house at all hours if we have to go out. We usually ask our guests to arrive either before 11.30am, or after 4.30pm, though if this is going to be hugely inconvenient please let us know and we'll try and jiggle any plans we may have. By the same token if you could possibly please give us an approx. arrival time, say between 4.30 to 5.00 or 6.00 to 6.30 or whatever - it saves us thinking "hmmm, wonder if we've got time to nip to the shop/ walk the dogs/pick up Mr.and Mrs. X from the station/eat supper, before they arrive?" Basically treat us like friends or family and just keep us in the picture! Thanks.

Is it ok if we come and go when we want to?
Oh dear, would you mind if you don't? We want to be completely honest here as we'd hate you to arrive thinking that we're like a hotel with access at all times of the day. Apologies again but the house is closed during the day between 11:00ish and 4:30ish, except for emergencies (we give you our mobile tel no's so that we can be contacted at all times)
Its nice for us to have time to spruce things up, bob out on various missions, and generally have a few hours to ourselves. Let's face it, anyone visiting the Lake District and wanting to spend hours sitting around inside must have a screw loose somewhere!

What about parking?
No problem. We have a private in and out drive with parking for around 5 cars. Obviously cars are left at owners risk although this is a very safe place - I've (much to Steve's irritation) been known to leave my car unlocked with my handbag on the seat and the keys in the ignition and the cars' still been there in the morning! (well, what are husband's for if not to check these things at bedtime!) I do the laundry - he's in charge of security - simple!

Do you think we need a car?
You can easily manage for a couple of days without one - longer if you're happy to book mini bus tours, of which there are plenty. We're a five minute walk from the lake where you can hop on a boat which will take you to either end of the lake, at the northern end you can catch a bus or walk!We do recommend a car though from October to April when public transport goes into hibernation for the winter, and there's nothing worse than being stranded cold and damp and a long way from home!

What is a cancellation policy and how does it work?
The legally binding and rather boring bits! Oh goodness, it’s so hard to write this without sounding draconian, but it has to be done, so here goes….
When we make the offer of a room to you and you accept and confirm your booking, we always ask for your credit card details to secure the booking - much like any other holiday or tour company.

We do not debit your card in any way, but in passing over your card details you are making a legally binding contract with us. We have a 3 week cancellation policy, which means that if you cancel your booking within this time for whatever reason – including family illness/bad weather/petrol strikes etc. we have the right to make a full charge for all our losses, in your absence, to your card.

This will be done thus: We will make the utmost effort to relet the room. If we are not successful then we debit your card in your absence for the full amount less £10 per night to cover the cost of food and laundry that has not been consumed or used by you. If we are successful in reselling the room then we promise that we will only charge your card for the revenue that we have lost.

We strongly recommend that you take out travel insurance just in case.

Little notes
Our reasons for including the above in the attachments: We have had a number of guests in the past who have let us down at the last minute, and so we felt we had to do something rather that simply hope that our guests would turn up!

You may have a query in that quite a lot of larger hotels/guest houses only charge for a cancellation on the day, or will only charge for the first night of a cancelled booking, or even may only take a deposit.

We are slightly different in that we have only 2 guest rooms. By the time you are due to come and stay with us, we have probably turned down bookings from at least a dozen other prospective guests - at busy times it will certainly be many many more. We do not have a B&B sign and so cannot rely on passing trade.

If you cancel your booking at the last minute and we can’t resell the room, we stand to lose 50% of our revenue/income which we are very unlikely to recover – which is why we would charge your card. We are however an honest bunch here at Lowfell, will try our hardest to resell the room, and then let you know if we do! Any queries, please just either send us an email or telephone! Thanks.

That's it! We hope everything else is explained on the website - though do ask if you need to know more.