Name: Muncaster's Coachman's Quarters - B&B
Address: Muncaster Castle, Ravenglass, Ravenglass, Ravenglass, CA18 1RQ, United Kingdom
Rating: 9

Smoke-free property

Heating

Ticket assistance

Express check-in/check-out

Garden

Terrace

Outdoor furniture

Reception desk

Electric car charging

General

Non-smoking rooms

Family room

Shower/Bathtub

Shower

Toiletries

Rooms

Accessibility features

Accessibility

Laundry

Luggage storage

Telephone

Services and amenities

Restaurant

Packed Lunches

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Barbecue grill(s)

Picnic area

Recreation

Parking

Event facilities

Fax and copy machine

Conference Hall

Business

Children's playground

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Room amenities

Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway

Muncaster's Coachman's Quarters - B&B

Ravenglass

This was our 2nd visit staying in the granary room 9.
Parking no issue, arrived slightly early but room ready. As we'd been before we knew exactly what to expect so before arrival we went for a hot lunch at the Pennington hotel a couple of minutes away and we arranged for a take away vegetarian platter for our evening meal. Perfect.
The suite has a basic kitchen, no oven but fridge, kettle and toaster. The bathroom is very basic but has a good shower and decent towels, toiletries supplied. Rooms very warm, even in winter.
The living room had 2 large comfortable settees and an arm chair, large decent TV with Freeview.
A king size bed and behind a screen was a further 2 single beds. 
Although not modern we found it most comfortable and very quiet.
Enjoyable to walk around the grounds even on a wet February day 
Booked same room for May when the bluebells will be blooming 

Comfortable basic room

We booked 2 nights to incorporate the Muncaster Castle parkrun.   Arrived Friday afternoon and parking was easy.  Our room was on the 1st floor and was a disabled room (even though we aren't disabled), so there were grab rails in the en suite and a shower seat which obviously we didn't need.  The room was very spacious.   

It was quite chilly in our room the first night as the heating is centrally controlled, but when we asked the following afternoon if it could be put on earlier, the receptionist obliged immediately.  All the staff were fantastic and very accommodating.  

The shared lounge and shared kitchen were enormous,  and had everything you could want if you were making your own meals.  

The parkrun start was a 6 minute walk from our room.  The owl centre was literally over the wall from our room, and the castle was a 2 minute walk.  Staying on site means all the bird displays are free.  The shows are amazing.  We paid extra to go into the castle but it was lovely to see.  

We visited the cafe the day we left for a coffee and cake.   Huge piece of homemade lemon cake...lush. 

Picturesque surroundings

There are some 'not so good' things about the Coachman's Quarters and some fabulous things.  I'll start with the 'not so good'.

The building and accommodation is outdated and a bit tired, although scrupulously clean.  It could do with redecorating, new carpet, and being updated with pictures, lighting etc.  It feels 2 star.  The TV is small, the furniture in the bedroom is orange pine and dated (although the room has everything you'd need), the bathroom looked something out of a 70's B and B, although the shower was hot.  So, considering the price that is being charged making some small changes would upgrade the rooms a lot.

Now the good!  The beds and linen is great quality.  The bed was large, comfortable and was definitely 5*, and there were big white fluffy towels.  There were shower gel, shampoo and conditioner of a good quality in the bathroom.  There is a communal kitchen with everything you could need, fridge, microwave, oven, hob, cupboards fully stocked with crockery and glass ware, and a washing machine.  But what really sets the place apart is the staff who are just fabulous!  Welcoming, happy, efficient, kind and who go out of their way to help.  I'd put some clothes in the washing machine and then realised that I wouldn't be able to dry them (so the addition of a tumble dryer in the kitchen might be a good idea).  When asking the receptionist she spoke to the housekeeper who took the clothes out of the machine, dried them in her tumble dryer, and folded them and returned them to the kitchen.  The staff in the cafe were great - helpful, efficient and friendly.  Offering to bring water for our dog, fetching and carrying crockery and condiments etc.  We stayed in the Pennington Hotel in Ravenglass on our previous visit to Muncaster and the quality is much better and you get breakfast in the dining room and they also have lovely staff.  But being on site at the castle was great and was lovely to step out into the grounds amid the beautiful views etc.

Fabulous staff, gorgeous grounds

It’s hard to know where to start with this review, what with my experiences on this trip being a case of complete contrasts. Some of my experiences at the property were genuinely incredible, whereas some of them left me whimpering as I calculated what I’d spent to stay here for what I got. What I would say is that given the chance again I would not stay at the Coachman Quarters and that is because it is the accommodation itself which lets it down immensely, and that is what truly matters despite the spectacular surroundings it dwells within. 

I’ll start with the negatives because I assume that, like me, that is what you would want to take into consideration before booking. We stayed in the ‘Granary Annex’ which I believe is Room 10 at the Coachman’s, located away from the main building in the courtyard. It was a relatively clean, standard B&B style double room with an adjoining bathroom and shower. With regards my initial impressions of the room there was nothing overtly dirty with the exception of a gross, palm sized grease mark next to a fuse socket on the bathroom wall. The TV is the size of a postage stamp, and is hung as far as possible from the bed in the corner of the room with cables hanging, tie wrapped together, to a plug socket above and free sat box below. The sort of thing that £4 at Screwfix for a 2m length of trunking would sort. If you, like me, didn’t bring a pair of binoculars to watch The Chase you may hope that the internet at the property will save you from relying on squinting at Bradley Walsh during your down time. Let me crush those dreams right here. The internet is awful. Like walking down the road and accidentally joining The Cloud awful. LNER train between Grantham and Peterborough awful. 1995 awful. It is the same free wi-fi available to patrons of the Castle and if you think that walking around with an iPad in the dark hunting down those stronger 3 waves of Wi-Fi signal might help you let me dash those hopes like Tom Fool dashed a Carpenter’s dreams of moving out the stables all those years ago; having sat in my pajama’s next to the router trying to download the underrated Brad Pitt sports biopic ‘Moneyball’ for 30 minutes you’ve got more chance of actually playing baseball with him than watching him revolutionise it. Now I appreciate people might not feel they would rely on the internet or TV if they were staying at Muncaster. After all, why would you? You’re on holiday! All I can say is that if you have kids, and if it rains, you will wish you had the internet. Because there is nothing for 40 minutes walk either side to entertain the kids if the weather comes in. The castle closes at 4pm and that is game over at the site for anything other than taking a walk around the grounds, which is fine other than the Western Lakes make Manchester look like Madrid when it comes to forecast-defying rain. If you would like to try and get a taxi to Ravenglass or into the Esk Valley (or even back to the Castle from these places) get ready for the remortgage because despite it only being 1-2 miles away from the site, you are looking at £20-£40 for a taxi depending on how desperate whoever you call thinks you are. If you think that because there is literally zero phone signal here that you may be able to use the Reception phone to call said taxi or check on a taxi, you would be absolutely bang wrong. Not only were we told we couldn’t (which is fair) but we found out there was an on-site pay phone as we were leaving that we weren’t told about (unfair). But let’s suppose you have survived the night having watched ‘24 Hours in A&E’ through a telescope and sent a carrier pigeon to anyone you may wish to contact to let them know you’re alive and haven’t been washed away into the River Esk and are settling down to sleep. What is this? Is it a herd of Wildebeest charging around the ceiling? A family of acrobats practicing the trapeze? A beleaguered housekeeper chasing around a vole with a sweeping brush and sledgehammer? No, it is the family of 4 above walking as loud as humanly possible to and from the bathroom as if similarly trying to find enough signal to watch Bennett Miller’s triumphant baseball banger ‘Moneyball’ to stave off the boredom. This is a noise that you will have to get used to. As it is constant. Because I don’t actually think they were that loud, it is just that sort of place where the walls are thin, the spaces small and the nights long. There are workers driving in and out of the courtyard car park into the early hours of the morning as well, which you can’t really complain about but it is just something else to add on. You know there is tranquility somewhere on site it just isn’t in the Granary Annex. 

Other things to comment on negatively are that the bathroom has a real cheap, pub W.C feel to it. There are no shelves or anything over the sink or bathroom to put things like toothbrushes or deodorants or ear plugs on. Little things that just a small amount of investment could remedy through the installation of a shelf. Also some of the reviews mentioned a ‘Cumberland breakfast’ available at the cafe. That amounted to a choice of sausage, bacon or egg bap from a very animated member of staff who wouldn’t stop complaining about how no one had told her how good she was at her job despite being great at her job. I had to tell her there were no forks at the utensil station and she didn’t tell me how good I was at her job so I guess we’re even. 

The positives are that the beds are comfortable and the linens and duvets are good quality. The rooms are warm. The water pressure (at least in that room) was good and hot. The kitchen seemed adequate in the shared space accommodation but I only used it to refrigerate a single can of Fosters that I drank whilst wondering about whether I would ever get to appreciate again the 6 time Oscar nominated baseball opus ‘Moneyball’. Then there’s the grounds. Which are just incredible. That’s the problem with this. Because walking in the sun around the grounds, taking in the views and admiring the valley is truly breathtaking. As are the owl and eagle displays, which will go down genuinely as one of my favourite ever experiences. The staff are by and large very nice and knowledgeable about most things (not pay phones). The castle has such a rich history and has a grandiose feel to it as you take in the history of the Pennington’s and the area. That part of it is just fantastic. 

So I think my conclusion if you have managed to find yourself still with me after my tale of terror is that when I visit again, which I very much plan to do in the near future, I will stay in Ravenglass and travel to the Castle, rather than stay within it. Unless there is significant investment in the B&B infrastructure the cons definitely outweighs the pro’s. But I very much loved my time in the grounds and the castle and can’t help but wish I was back there now as I sit down, writing this, preparing to watch a movie. If only I could think of one….. 

ALSO
A real special shout out to the member of staff who came and picked us up from Ravenglass when our ride pulled out and the mercenary taxi companies wouldn’t bite. I wish I’d caught their name because they were excellent and it was a moment of generosity that really makes me upset to write such a dire review of a place.

The Good, The Bad and the Muncaster Castle

Thoroughly enjoyed our stay, very peaceful when the public had gone home, beautiful well maintained gardens.
Shared kitchen facility a bonus and plenty of seats in the lounge area.
Bed was comfy, bathroom spotless.


Muncaster's Coachman's Quarters - B&B

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