Yewdale Hotel, Coniston

The Yewdale had some good points and some bad points, but overall it felt a bit like Fawlty Towers. For almost a week, I'd been trying to book a room here for the £71 quoted. However, when finally getting hold of them, the price had gone up by 50%. I ended up giving my money to the local youth hostel, which was less than half of the price. Unsurprisingly, the Yewdale still had vacancies. As you enter, there is a formal dining area to the left, with the public bar to the right. But you're greeted by staff at a desk immediately opposite the entrance. I chose to sit in the bar for a meal and a drink. Plenty of locals were in, along with a few diners. Pizzas looked good. However, I ordered the venison stew from a specials menu, along with the Great Corby Corby Ale. Other beers were Cumbrian Ales Loweswater Gold & Bowness Bay Swan Blonde. After 30 minutes of waiting for my meal with others getting served theirs, there was obviously a problem. Staff couldn't find my order. To give them their due, they apologised profusely and gave me another drink on the house (the Swan Blonde was in a much better condition than the Corby Ale) and a free desert. Just after I'd finished, the power went off, with most of the village plunged into darkness. Staff struggled to find candles. I struggled to find the toilet! Plenty of problems here that were rectified, but an interesting experience was had here to say the least.

A multiroom Victorian hotel which serves real ales. Inside it's very smart, modern but comfortable. I found the background music irritating as it was at such a low volume - why bother? Music is not wallpaper. If you like music and you want your customers to hear it, then play up. If you're afraid of the sound of silence, then encourage conversation. End of lecture. There were five hand pumps with four beers on at the time of my visit. I had the Tag Lag from Barngates, which used to be a favourite of mine, but I think they have changed the recipe as it wasn't as I remember it - I had their Cracker in another pub on the same trip and it was exactly as it said on the pump clip - a cracker. There's a Camra members discount here, but by the time the landlord had taken a couple of food orders I'd forgotten all about it. Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but this still looks like a hotel which has bravely branched out into the world of real ale, whereas the Black Bull across the road is a pub that does accommodation. This just doesn't feel much like a pub to me - maybe it needs a bit of time to settle in. Like 100 years.

CAMRA Regional Pub of the Year. Must have been a tough choice - Coniston has some top boozers. The beer here (Barngates Brewery) was very well kept. A great visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2qTcrAT

Official site of Yewdale Hotel - www.yewdalehotel.com