River Lodge

The Mews is in a beautiful spot and is very well equipped, but our week there was badly disrupted by having internet for only about six hours. Two of us needed to work remotely, so we had to spend time in cafes with Wi-Fi. With poor phone reception at the cottage, we also couldn’t look up weather forecasts or hiking information. After all that, Lakelovers offered just £50, which valued a substantial disruption at 2.5% of the total cost. We would not have rented it had we known internet access would be so unreliable. It might still suit guests who don’t need to get online, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who does. The few hours of service were very slow, though perhaps that’s unavoidable with a phone-line connection in a remote place. We arrived Friday with no internet and called Lakelovers on Saturday morning. They sent someone quickly, and we were left a note saying the fault was outside the building and that the owners would contact the internet company as soon as possible. Service returned Saturday afternoon for roughly six hours, then went off again that evening for the rest of our stay. By then the call centre had closed for the weekend. Most bookings start on a Friday or Saturday, so closing the call centre then seems a poor arrangement. There was an emergency number, but we didn’t feel a lack of internet counted as an emergency. From Monday on, we called repeatedly, but nothing concrete was done. Staff gave inconsistent explanations and seemed reluctant to say clearly what was happening. They often promised an update by a particular time and didn’t follow up. On Wednesday evening, when we gave up, we were told a manager would contact us within 48 hours. Five days after that promise, nobody had called. We still don’t know exactly what happened because the explanations conflicted. The cottage instructions say the owners subscribe to only 10GB of internet per month. If that’s correct, guests staying late in the month, as we did, might well find there’s no internet left. Calling it “broadband internet” in the listing would be extremely misleading, to put it mildly. One Lakelovers call centre employee seemed to confirm this was the issue. Other staff said there was a fault with the phone line outside the house, and that OpenReach was contacted on Tuesday, three days after we reported the problem, but couldn’t investigate until after we left. Despite asking repeatedly, we never found out when Lakelovers first contacted the owners of the Mews.

The riverside setting is gorgeous, with Ambleside and nearby fells and lakes conveniently close. The accommodation itself was first class.

Fields and a river are right outside, and it’s a great base for reaching lots of walking routes quickly. We’d happily stay here again.

We loved this peaceful place. There are great walks right from the door, and it’s an easy stroll into Ambleside.