Well what can I say. I avoid this part of the lakes during the silly season of the UK school hols or as the French say Les Grandes Vacances.

Some of the best and hardest graded climbing routes in Europe are just behind the Hotel. Dawes Rides a Shovel Head E9 8c The last time I stayed we stood in the car park and saw a french chap have a good bash at this route, but fail.

Beer lots of it and a vast choice of real ale. Bar Meals are fast and furious going at 200 in 3 hours. You gets lots of it with the 80% being homemade including the chips.

Restaurant is brilliant with the emphasis on provenance with local people making it as well as producing it.

Music is often impromptu and eclectic. This years 4th of July was marked by the playing of the coal shuttle! Usually the first Wednesday of the month.

If you like Wainwright, Wordsworth, Shelley, Ruskin, The National Trust you must come here. JB Presitley wrote about one afternoon in the Climber's Bar in his auto-biography which is one of the more eloquent descriptions of the place.Some famous people have stayed here in the past including HRH Hirohito when he was Crown Prince in 1926 lots of infamous musicians such as Nigel Kennedy and Jimmy Page most importantly it still has a close relationship with the climbing fraternity with lots of UK based climbing clubs having their annual dinners here. Indeed Sir Chris Bonnington Ian Clough et al have all had a quick practice of their lectures before they went live.

If you really need you mobile phone to work and you are desperate to go online to check out myspace then stay at the Pillar. If you don't know where this is then look at the Timeshare. Some families who have a timeshare have stayed at the ODG.

When you sit in the Climbers Bar and re-tell of your day on the hill remember to read the Rules of the Inn next to the fire and if your story is too far fetched or is simply boring you may be asked to get round in.Mines a pint of Yates!

This place is bliss. No TV, No Radio, No mobile phones what you get are real people, real beer and real food in an atmosphere that can not be bought or replicated. People have lived here for over 5,000 years it is truly an ancient and foreboding environment. FANTASTIC!

We stayed at the ODG again for the ??? time - we have been so often that I cannot remember - as usual the welcome was warm and friendly and nothing was too much trouble - we have found this to be an excellent base for walking holidays since we took over the whole hotel for a group stay in the height of the foot and mouth crisis - then Neil really put himself out to make our weekend superb - even recommending walks that we could still enjoy without the benefit of the fells - and he ran us around in his Land Rover ( all 12 of us!) - subsequent return trips in happier times have not let us down - whether it be for a romantic getaway or a raucous group weekend - watch out Neil we will be back - in fact I have just booked another 3 nights for this October - can't wait. All other + points go without saying - but for the record - bar food - great - esp. after a day on the fells - music nights fab - try the packed lunches - I bet you can't finish the home made rolls made with beer bread - heaven in a paper bag!

With high hopes of a warm welcome after a day of walking we were disappointed in the ODG Hotel. Staff insisted on yelling out the dinner orders over the heads of the drinkers - (and I mean really YELLING !) to the extent that one area of the Walkers bar remained empty even on a busy night.

This, and a stand up quarrel between the chef (who wanted to leave at 9) and an unhappy customer meant that we avoided for the hotel for the rest of the week. Other hotels in the valley were much more welcoming.

There is no doubt that the location of this hotel is superb, surrounded by high hills on two sides at one end of the lovely valley of Langdale. There is also no complaint with the cosy and bustly nature of the place. The problem is that the proprietors are charging luxury prices for basic hotel accomodation.
We stayed in 3 hotels in the Lakes during a recent stay. All were comparably priced (see our reviews for Winder Hall and Leathes Head) but the £96 B&B at the Old Dungeon Ghyll bought us a very small double room (Room 7) with no space (and only one chair) for seating and a wardrobe that reeked of mothballs. The ensuite was merely a box in one corner with a crude sliding door that housed a shower of insignificant power, loo plus the smallest imaginable basin with shelf above it that required contortionist skills to wash in...I gave up the idea of shaving altogether!
The teamaking requisites were presented in a tacky plastic tray that dominated a bedside table with three cheap biscuits and one drinking chocolate to fight over!
The bed was comfortable though and we coveted the embroidered curtains!
Sadly there was no table available in the Hiker's Bar which is obviously the life and soul of the place so we ate in the rather spartan residents bar. Food is very basic but acceptable value.
At breakfast we were asked if we wanted full English or Vegetarian...only later did we discover that other options were available on request. Overall, breakfast was acceptable rather than exceptional.
As far as service at the hotel is concerned, well maybe I should have judged from my call to book and gone elsewhere - I was asked to phone back later "when Neil was around"...odd that only Neil could deal with a booking and that I, rather than the hotel, had to call back. Check-in was handled by someone who appeared to be one of the kitchen staff (this appeared to be the norm) who emerged unkempt in a grubby, holey white teashirt and apron. Checkout was handled by another kitchen colleague who deemed any enquiry as to the whether our stay had been OK, or the customary thanks to someone who had just handed over £100+ to be surplus to requirements.
No doubt others may say that such quirkiness is part of the "ODG"'s charm...to them I would say "Fine, but get rid of the luxury-image website and lower your prices!"