My take on kielder in Northumberland

Caffe Piazza doesn't exist anymore, it is now called THE PIG IN MUCK, and it's a great place for a visit

Great breakfast and shopping at same time

Very disappointed today with customer service and food quality. Did not realise you had to order your meal from the till so stood being ignored by staff as if I was invisible!! Eventually ordered bacon and sausage bap which was greasy in a less than fresh bap. 7.70 for this including a cup of coffee. Come on Tesco. You can do better than this!!! Sad as this cafe was pretty good the last time I used it a couple of years ago.

I don't know if it's just the day that we visited, but the experience was pretty bad. The person at the check out was very chaotic and tried to charge three completely different totals for my order before figuring out the right one. And she first made me wait while she ran after another customer to ask them to pay, but actually that customer had already paid. I don't personally have an issue with the pricing as long as the product and service was acceptable. The coffee was completely undrinkable. I mean, I took one sip and could not bear to put any more of it into my mouth. I even went back and paid for a Coke even though I don't like it, just to find a way of getting caffeine in for my drive that I could get down. I already suspected that any of their espresso based drinks would taste awful, so I ordered filter coffee from the menu to be safe. However, they just made an Americano (that's adding hot water to espresso) and when I pointed it out, they claimed this was filter coffee. If I knew they were still going to use the espresso machine I'd have picked a milky option to counteract the terrible coffee. The toasted sandwich I ordered was fine. I got the sense that the food is fine if you like greasy spoon menu items but I wouldn't risk anything else there.

I was there with a group of six. A wonderful place to stay, drink and eat. There are some odd reviews below that the owner was grumpy or miserable, which aren't true at all and we can assume those who have commented on such things have rigid standards of social norms that they think apply everywhere. Yes the owner doesn't smile. But he was pleasant, courteous, and checked in on us to make sure we were ok. He welcomed us warmly when we arrived in the cold, made sure we got to our rooms ok and made sure we were looked after. For lunch I had a lovely warm bowl of homemade tomato soup and a nice cheese and ham sandwich, it was very homely. For dinner I had fish and chips, a classic, and it was nicely beer battered. In the morning I had an English breakfast and again was well prepared. The rooms were very comfortable and clean. The owner also directed us on what we could see on the island during the winter season. Again, a lovely place with lovely staff. Would recommend.