Name: The Ancient Unicorn
Address: The St, Bowes,, Barnard Castle, Barnard Castle, Barnard Castle, DL12 9HL, United Kingdom
Rating: 8

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

Outdoor furniture

No elevators

General

DVD Player

Linens

Rooms

Diet menu (on request)

Breakfast

Restaurant

Packed Lunches

Kettle

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet access

Internet

Transfer services

Transfer

Hiking

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Beach/pool towels

Pool and beach

Meeting and presentation facilities

Business

Pets allowed

Pets

Extra decontamination measures

Contactless check-in and/or check-out

Health and Safety Measures

Location

At the guest house

Room amenities

Teesside International Airport

The Ancient Unicorn

Barnard Castle

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

The hotel is self service. I received a text with a code to open a key box.The latch and lock on the bedroom door were broken on the inside, meaning that I could unlock the door from the front but could not latch or lock it. I had to push the sofa against the door overnight for security as I had a lot of expensive camera equipment in the room. There was no internet available despite being promised and sent a WiFi password.The walls were paper thin and I was woken up by drunken guests at 1am followed by another wake up at 3am due to a man loudly vomiting.

An unpleasant experience

We loved our stay. The staff were lovely and the whole place was cute and friendly

Lovely place to stay

Nice stay in an historic inn, with clean room, good pub food and a hearty breakfast. Reasonable price too  - what's not to like?

Relaxing stay in historic inn.

We loved the quaintness of the hotel - it was beautiful too.The area is perfect for walking/rambling and was very quiet.The staff we encountered were lovely, kind, helpful and polite.  And we particularly loved Gus, the resident doggie.Checking in was easy when we realised it was a staff-free experience and had to use codes and lock boxes to get the keys - simple and effective.

It was in a quiet wee village but if you have a car you can go to town I upgraded to a cottage and it had a microwave and kettle also a hob was very clean and there’s parking the breakfast and food was lovely would go again

We had a lovely time at this hotel, the staff are extremely friendly and the landlady even came to pick us up from a wedding venue a few miles away when we couldn't get a taxi!
Room was very comfortable, quiet and lovely and clean.
Would definitely recommend.

Amazing place, staff go above and beyond!

Lovely, warm, inviting and well presented room. Very clean and tidy. We able to park directly outside our room which was hughly convenient. Lots of attention to detail such as the muddy boot tray. We ate dinner in the restaurant. The food was well cooked, tasty and value for money. The service was friendly and efficient. After dinner we had a drink the bar. The staff and local customers made us feel welcome, especially the lovely little dog, Gus. We slept well. There was plenty of hot water in the morning for us. We didn't have breakfast as we were keen to head out. The perfect stay for us. We would absolutely stay again.

Cosy stay.

The mattress was wet and smelled strongly of urine.  Having located the source of the unpleasant smell in the room we requested staff for an emergency change of mattress and sheets (which was carried out promptly).  We were told  a full refund would be provided but to date none has been received.
Room decor was dull, tried to be contemporary but was simply  gloomy with reading of printed matter in an evening difficult.  The one easy chair required a leg to be screwed on to make the chair safe to sit on. 
The immediate surroundings of the accommodation gave on to other buildings under repair and renovation i.e. building sites and whilst accepting that this may have been outside the control of the hotelier it was off-putting.
The access steps to the first floor room where we were lodged were very steep - the aged, those with mobility issues or weighed down with luggage would struggle and there is a distinct fall hazard.
The uneven cobbled parking was unsuitable for anyone with mobility issues.
The digital door lock to the building was left unlatched.  Exit/entry was controlled by guests using a digital code previously provided which on occasion did not work requiring a member of staff to be sought for a new code.
At breakfast no marmalade could be provided - only honey or the unappetising remains of the scrapings of a jar of strawberry jam.  The remainder of the light breakfast was distinctly ordinary and for the price I would have expected  better.


Worst hotel experience in a long time

I didn't really read the reviews on the place before I booked. Was a spur of the moment booking. 
I was pleasantly surprised when I received a WhatsApp in the day with all the instructions of what we needed to do and what room we were in.
Turned up and had such a lovely room on the ground floor. Clean and perfectly functional for a nights stay. Staff were very friendly and made us feel very welcome. We had food and drinks which again surprised us by being really good. We would definitely stay again if we were in the area. 
Little tip:; Make sure you book dinner in advance as they can get busy. 

The Ancient Unicorn

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