YHA Hawkshead

excellent service good scenery and satisfaction

Two stars maximum. The service is appalling. Indeed, check-in starts at 17:00, however, the building itself only opens at 17:00, thus, regardless of the indoor seating areas, guests are forced to sit in their cars or go elsewhere, or should you be a hiker without vehicle, you're naturally forced to wait outside in the cold like a dog until said time. I have never in 130+ countries and a decade of travel come across a hospitality business, irrespective of the price/standard that won't allow it's own guests a place to wait (especially when they actually have such space!) until the specified check-in time. Appalling is an understatement! When the doors did indeed open, nobody bothered to inform those of us who hax already been waiting, and upon entry all of the lounge radiators were switched off and likewise the lights too! The only redemption from a 1 star review was that the room was nice, and that is it!

Stay far away! This place is run by monters and rasist. They turned down a family of four because despite providing them with our names, surnames, address, telefon numers and bank statements of both of us that were accessed with passwords and security details on the phone (that they were keen to look at) my husband did not have a bank card on him! I had, I was fine but the whole Family of 4 was refused (already paid for) one night stay including two children one of which was 8 months old!!!!!! Staff decided it is ok to leave us with no accommodation on a cold and wet October evening. Far away from home we were forced to spend the cold night in the car with the baby with no access to hot water to make baby a milk! We have complaned to the manager many times who really did not care and believes the staff decision to turn all 4 family down including a baby was a great one, did not refund us already paid money and said we could book a stay elsewhere on the night. If we had money to book in a hotel (and short notice) we would not have booked a stay in a hostel for £37! Disgaceful monsters!

Absolutely amazing stay. Loved every moment. Very welcoming great place for a little holiday if your taking your fur baby. Very clean and has everything you need. Lovely evening meal. Would definitely come back

Stayed for 3 nights in a Bell tent. Staff were really helpful, area was clean and tidy and the bedding was pretty comfy for a camping set up. Was really surprised how much warmth the little log burner gave out as well. More than happy to stay again!

Lovely setting and good facilities, check in is not until 5pm. The bell tent was spacious and the bedding clean. The solar light lasted 2-3 hours max so take a torch. The 2 matches they leave were damp as were the 2 pieces of kindling so the fire was a non starter. Luckily it was a mild weekend although damp. It would have been nice to have the fire on to take the edge off and give some light. Definitely take a lighter and firelighters if you want the fire on

Booked myself & young family into a large bell tent for 3 nights. We had to pack up & leave ( during a rain downpour ) 1 day early due to our bell tent being flooded! & all of our bags on the ground being soaked, A Total disaster :-/ No one was on reception during the day to deal with or help the issue.

Booked a tipi for me , my brother and sister as everywhere else in the area was fully booked. With it being YHA tipi accommodation you would think that it would be a wallet friendly option. Well that is not the case, for 3 nights in a very tatty tipi with no facilities, I paid £319 and was including a discount for becoming a YHA member. Now I understand that with it being a bank holiday in August that prices may be high but there was literally just very basic bed structures and a wood burner, that’s it. Don’t get me wrong, I love camping under canvass, don’t mind the rain and mud even but I feel like I was fleeced on this occasion. Not only do I think that the prices for the tipis are too much, the on-site bar was expensive and the showers were dirty. YHA Hawkshead site policy says you only allowed to consume alcohol that is bought in their bar. On the plus side it was handy for getting into Hawkshead.

The YHA in Hawkshead is superb. Great facilities and well looked after. The staff here should be proud of what they have achieved. We booked a private room for the four of us. This was room 4, it was spacious with a view of the lake and garden area. This is very close to the showers etc, which was a god send after 100km bike rides! The shower and toilet are was always kept clean and restocked. We use the self catering kitchen for two nights. This again was well managed, clean and had everything you needed to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner. Always make sure you wash up and tidy down afterwards. The communal dinning area and lounge were also well cared for. The bar was economical, as was the breakfast and dinner pricing should you wish to use the restaurant. There is a solid bike shed with racks to make it easy to store all the bikes. We had a great time here. Thank you YHA.