You know when you are looking for your perfect home and you walk through the door and within 3 minutes you know this is the one - then this is the feeling The Waterhead gives you. Everything is shiny, beautifully clean with lots of smiley staff. We have stayed in lovely hotels all around the world, we like nice hotels, nice hotels are up there with the weather and surroundings as far as we are concerned so believe me when I say The Waterhead is now listed in my top 3. Full marks to the refurbishment team who last year transformed this hotel to the gem it is today. Okay, we did book a luxury room with it's giant bed, chocolate brown leather suite, dramatic purple and gold decor, plasma screen wall t.v. and black and white ultra modern bathroom suite with under floor heating but after saying all that I would guess that the standard is the same throughout. Full marks to their Restaurant and Chef also whose food wouldn't be out of place in Claridges. The ladies toilets were novel, instead of piped music they had one of Beartix Potter stories playing which transported me back to my childhood. We were on a 3 day break, but we could have stayed 3 months. Take note big Hotel chains that often get is so wrong, English Lakes Hotels have got their Waterhead so,so right.

Cannot praise this hotel enough. Situated at the top of Lake Windermere just a mile from the centre of Ambleside with lovely views of the lake. The rooms were beautifully furnished with very contemporary bathrooms. We had dinner on our first night and were very impressed with the standard of food. The restaurant was beautifully decorated in contemporary style also. We particulary enjoyed our breakfasts in the conservatory over looking the lake. The staff were very helpful and welcoming. We shall be returning!

My Wife and I have just returned from our second visit to the Waterhead. Both times we were given a menu on check-in which was different to the one we were actually presented with when sitting down to eat.

The underfloor heating in the bathroom is a great idea if only it worked. The manager mentioned that our room (room 7) and room 8 had just had new showers fitted and they had had a few problems but hopefully they had resolved them. The next morning we found out what the problems were, the shower was a cascade of water over a glass plate which unfortunately turned to a hot dribble after 5-10 seconds.

I am probably not giving this hotel justice as it is a lovely friendly hotel with tasteful decor and good food however I cannot help but notice the overall lack of detail in the finish and service. If they pull their socks up this place could be a gold mine.

We stayed here for 2 nights and we weren't disappointed. We had a classic room with a lake view - everything you could need, great storage, bathroom, plasma screen TV and DVD, spacious and luxurious. Only problem - the window didn't open and there was no air conditioning or fan. This was probably down to the fact that it's an old building, but on one of the hottest weekends of the year, it was stiffling, airless and quite unpleasant. I was surprised about this, as the rooms are bordering on expensive at weekends and I'd normally expect air conditioning for this quality of hotel. That said, don't make our mistake - I'd advise you to check the windows before you unpack - we'd have asked for a change of room if we'd realised sooner.

Used Lowood Watersports Centre to learn water-skiing on Saturday morning. Even with the speed restriction on Windermere, we had great fun, excellent teachers and a 10% discount for the hotel - fantastic!

Service in the hotel was great - impeccably clean rooms and reception, bar and restaurant staff were all friendly, responsive and unobtrusive. We ate dinner in the hotel on Saturday night - all good. One small point, we were only offered the 3 course set menu at £30 per head and would have had to ask for the a la carte menu if we'd wanted a cheaper or more pick and mix type meal. Whilst it suited us to take the set menu, I didn't like this attempt to force us down that route and I felt it unnecessary. But, it didn't sour the weekend, all in all we had a great time. The hotel is a simple, elegant haven in a lovely location and I'd recommend it.