The Villa in South Lakeland

Attended a wedding on 25th May staff were welcoming and pleasant nothing was too much trouble. Beautiful surroundings, the room was clean with complimentary coffee, hot chocolate, still and sparkling bottled water plus a good selection of teas. The wedding breakfast was excellent and plentiful, and the evening food of bacon and sausage barms/rolls with chips, breakfast the following morning was full of English choice of cereals, jams, fresh orange juice, tea and coffee which you helped yourself with, my only gripe was that I and my friend ordered our breakfast with the waitress we noticed that other guests from the wedding who arrived after us for breakfast were being served their breakfast before us, we had to ask twice regarding our order 40 minutes later we got it staff were very apologetic. Every meal we had you could taste how fresh the food was and they use their own or local produce. Apart from the breakfast hiccup, I couldn't fault the Villa Levens highly recommend it I would stay again.

Met friends for coffee at this venue. Staff very friendly and attentive. It us a beautiful building and quite comfortable for a short visit. Very good competitive price.

I can't comment on rooms as we didn't stay. But other than that, we loved it. We were at a wedding.

Maybe tea and coffee in a different location as people were struggling to pass after getting their buffet other than that it was fine

I wish I had taken a picture of the food before I demolished it but it was just too gorgeous. The salmon dish was possibly the best thing I have ever eaten, clearly the chief is exceptional! The team here are so friendly and professional too, made our evening feel so intimate and special.

Thank you for a lovely afternoon tea today. We spent a gorgeous sunny afternoon in the Orangery, enjoying the delightful food and endless tea and coffee. Thank you to the lovely staff, all very kind and helpful

Lovely place and very friendly service and staff

Superb hotel. Special occasion for wife's birthday and they didn't let us down.

Came for Christmas dinner, food was great, friendly staff, very welcoming. Highly recommend.

Beautiful venue with great staff.

Beautiful room! Lovely place to stay.

Staff are incredibly friendly, very beautiful grounds and a lovely atmosphere to stay with a family. The only two problems are that the food is less than mediocre and the cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired, and I mean a lot. I must re-itterate the friendliness of the staff though, they couldn't do enough to help us and we were a bit of a pain.

Ladies serving breakfast were excellent. Very pleasant, helpful & efficient.

Beautiful hotel and a lovely venue for the wedding we were at👍

A nice country hotel, within convenient distance of Kendal. It is at the entrance of the Southern Lakes region of the Lake District. The hotel is a converted English countryside mansion, and therefore bears the hallmarks of a romanticised rendition of staying in the English countryside. From what I can tell it is a popular wedding venue. Check-in was quick and friendly.

Great location, beautiful views, extremely peaceful and an absolutely stunning building with breath taking character. Stayed in a double and twin connecting room (19). Although clean, extremely dated and tired, needs some quick TLC. Room not practically thought out (no hooks for coats etc, a dresser but no mirror above it, wobbly tap… )

Unbearably hot bedroom, think it was above hot kitchen. Thought it unusual to have cheap ac unit,and a small fan in room in the UK. Then to compound it only one opened from the bottom app 6 inches (safety) ?

Rooms very warm on top level (almost too hot)

Lovely hotel set in a deer park, dog friendly. Could do with a bit of a spruce up but was nice! Absolutely had a vintage feel. The staff were very friendly & welcoming, especially the front of house staff.

Best antique style hotel and restaurant. Breakfast was beautiful and delicious

Absolutely gorgeous place staff were lovely

Beautiful place 😍 with lovely views 👌

Great food- wonderful service 🤩 we felt very special up there 🥰 absolutely wonderful ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Stunning location with amazing views. Very helpful and friendly staff, would recommend

Great hotel. Very well located just off the dual carriageway. Incredible interiors and fantastic service. This hotel punches well above its weight for the price and the photos online don’t do it justice. Also child friendly and very accommodating

This is a beautiful building in a lovely park setting. Unfortunately the service and some of the facilities really let this place down. On arrival we were given keys to room 20. When we entered the room we found the bed was unmade from a previous guest. It’s extremely hot inside. There’s no air conditioning or fans so on a hot day it’s pretty sticky even at night. One of the sash windows was broken so a log had been provided to hold it open! One of our two rooms didn’t have a functioning hot tap. We went out to enjoy a day out after our first night. During the course of the day we had a call from the hotel asking why we hadn’t checked out - despite being booked in for another night. On our return to the hotel at about 8pm that night neither of our rooms had been cleaned or serviced. At midnight on the second night, carrying my sleeping son from one room to another, I noticed an abandoned hoover and bag of rubbish on the landing outside our room, which had been there all day. Photo taken at 00.03. People were clearly smoking in a room on the top floor near room 20 as the smell of cigarettes was overwhelming. Breakfast was disappointing. Staff were repeatedly apologising to other guests for the delay, citing the fact it was “really busy”. At the time there were four tables occupied in a restaurant with c20 tables in it. The eggs Benedict was really poor (poached eggs were solid). All in all a pretty disappointing experience for a hotel calling itself “luxury”. If you want to use that label (and price your rooms accordingly) you should consider - providing air conditioning or fans - providing hot and cold running water - cleaning rooms every day - sorting out your breakfast service - enforcing your “no smoking” rule

What a lovely place. My room (15) had a huge bath and a great shower, pleanty of tea and coffee was available in the room. also a couple of bottles of harrogate spring water. Food was great. Staff was friendly, Bar prices not to high.

Great place to visit, nice rooms at reasonable prices, very scenic and peaceful.

Had a lovely evening meal with family. We even had prinks & after dinner drinks in the drawing room. The manager then showed us round the hotel & we even got to view inside a few bedrooms. Its a great venue for a small wedding or birthday bash. Would definitely have chosen this for my wedding if i’d know about it back in the day. Very tastefully decorated & the drive upto the hotel & the grounds are stunning 👍⭐️💛

We stayed at Villa Levens with 4 our friends we all had a lovely time the food was lovely and the staff couldn't be more friendly thank you all, will definitely be back 😊

Very nice hotel, well situated. Slim selection of food, but all very nice.

We visited here to a wedding 4years ago and was very impressed we went to another wedding recently and was very disappointed the food has not remained the same standard in my opinion would not go for a meal

Had lunch. Excellent service and lovely food.

Fabulous stay with amazing staff! Very professional and polite. Food was amazing and ate at the hotel each evening. Bed and bedding were so comfortable Could do with an electric vehicle charging point! Will definetly be back!

Nice atmosphere, lovely views, delicious food and great service. The food came quickly and our Easter Sunday meal was incredible, in fact, the roast pork was perhaps the best I have had so far. Great selection of drinks as well as very good all round service with polite waiters and fast service.

Amazing hotel, bloody fantastic helpful lovely staff. Rooms big, and clean, bathrooms are gorgeous. Scenery and location breathtaking. Foid was delicious. WILL DEFFO BE GOING BACK. SO DOG FRIENDLY TOO!!!! 5******

I recently photographed a wedding at this venue; and I just wanted to say how lovely the staff were there!! Alison, the wedding planner, was so lovely and helpful. And the other staff were always asking if I needed a drink etc. I've worked in a lot of venues in my career, and this, hands down, was the nicest!! Thank you to all of the staff who worked on 4th March 2023!! From one very happy wedding photographer!

Beautiful hotel. Had a lovely stay and booked our wedding there :)

Great night celebrating my 60 th birthday .

Great venue to hold your wedding celebration

Hotel is a beautiful old building, with lots of character. A very grand staircase leads to the bedrooms. Our bedroom had a lovely comfy bed, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, bottled water and biscuits. Bathroom was smart, spotlessly clean and lots of soft fluffy towels. All staff we met were friendly and attentive. Breakfast was delicious, with a good choice. The drive up to the hotel was lovely, with a good display of snowdrops! Would recommend the hotel and will certainly stay again.

This is a beautiful building, which is immaculately kept. Lots of lovely, warm, comfortable seating areas. We were a group of five and we were all really pleased with our choices of food. Everything was beautifully presented and delicious. The service was excellent as well.

As a wedding venue, The Villa, Levens is perfect. From the perspective of the wedding photographer, it’s pretty perfect, too. I’ve photographed quite a few weddings there, and the staff always give me their full support: we’ve become good friends. This relationship helps to frame the perfect day for wedding couples, who need smooth and efficient service that doesn’t intrude. I shot Victoria and Adams’ wedding at The Villa, Levens recently, and it was wonderful to feel welcome as a friend as well as a service provider.

Attended a Christmas party, grounds not gritted so very dangerous, not sign posted to direct you to the correct location for venue, 2and a half hours to serve a 3 course meal that wasn't worth the price, not very welcoming or organised.

Very comfy bed and for the price cannot fault it!

Stayed on the 3 night Christmas break For the 2nd time .Had a great time again very relaxed fantastic food and the staff can't do enough.. Loads of great walks in a fantastic location.

Had such an amazing time, attended a wedding and it was an amazing venue. We also stayed for 2 nights so had an evening meal and breakfast too both of which were great and provided great vegan options. The rooms are gorgeous too but the thing above all else is the staff, they are friendly, attentive, welcoming and extremely helpful. We had a hiccup with our room and the staff did absolutely everything possible to help us - a special thanks to Marie who helped us rush around with all our bags and also was just a general delight. I think the other lady who helped us was called sue - she was so helpful as well. Thankyou to all of the lovely staff who worked while we were there every single one of you were fantastic.

Lunch with family. Staff very good and food tasty and beautifully presented

Lovely place for a quiet break,not far from lakes,Kendal and Lancaster

Hotel is a beautiful old building, decorated very tastefully in keeping with the character. Gorgeous staircase leading to the bedrooms. Bedroom has a lovely comfy bed, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, bottled water and biscuits. Bathroom had complimentary toiletries. A lovely big bath in the bedroom and a shower cubicle in the bathroom. Evening meal was delicious, with plenty of choice. Service for dinner was excellent. All staff were extremely friendly and attentive. Breakfast was good quality and again, a good choice. Grounds of the hotel are beautiful. I believe the hotel is dog friendly, which is an added bonus. Would recommend the hotel and will certainly return

Called in for lunch, as I was visiting Sizergh Castle nearby. The Villa is a stunning building in itself and the lounge, bar area and dining room were immaculate. The staff are extremely attentive without being in your face. I had a coffee in the lounge whilst l looked at the daily menus. The home made soup and fresh bread, followed by the "Friday" fish and chips, with mushy peas and a house tartare sauce were excellent. The Christmas seasonal menus with optional accommodation were available and looked extremely tempting and really good value. I have driven past the entrance to the Villa dozens of times and never ventured down the beautiful drive. Now l have experienced the food and the hospitality, l certainly will return.

First visit will definitely return again.

We were finishing a holiday touring Yorkshire and the Lake District and decided late to book a hotel for the last night prior to heading home to the South coast. There were not too many places with vacancies so didn’t have great expectations. Arriving we were in for a pleasant surprise, the place looked inviting from the outside and was very tastefully and classically decorated inside. The staff were welcoming and tempted by the menu, we ate dinner in the restaurant. Both our meals were very nicely cooked and presented helped by a bottle of wine. The room was a good size, comfortably furnished with a modern bathroom but the amusing piece de resistance was a large freestanding bath in the main bedroom. Good for a soak watching TV. The whole hotel and grounds had a pleasant ambiance and after a goodnight sleep it was down to a full spread breakfast. We certainly appreciated the hearty breakfast when our homeward trip massively extended with a closed section of the M6

Lovely accomodation, historic, warm. I would’ve preferred if the beds were not spring beds but other than that perfect.

Beautiful hotel, great spacious bedrooms and breakfast service was fantastic

Marquee more than excellent, made the wedding even better.

It is an OK hotel, food and drinks are ok. Had an afternoon tea and cream teas. Nothing special and it is very expensive for what we get. Disappointed...

My first visit but definitely not my last. Afternoon Tea in stunning grounds complemented by the best service from wonderful staff. The food was excellent. Can’t wait to go back

We have stayed here 3 days, staff is absolutely amazing! It’s pet friendly, you can sit at the bar with your dog, you even can go for a breakfast as well with your dog and staff even bring some treats for your doggie! Absolutely highly recommend this place.

Hotel in beautiful settings surrounded by the countryside only 15 minutes from Kendal. We had a state room and it was lovely. Very clean. Staff were great and Caragh, Jesus, Alex & Alan especially went above and beyond for us. We are vegan and they made sure we had delicious meals. More vegan options as a standard would be great tho! We can’t wait to visit again.

Nice place, room to hot despite the fan supplied, reasonable priced dinner, had the roast beef but the veg was a little to aldente! Sirloin beef excellent, service a little slow and very “homely” breakfast ok but seemed to be a struggle for the waitress. Clearly she was unwell

Room was nice, although a log propping the window open was a bit different. Maybe a regional thing?

Our wedding was nothing short of magical. Stunning location, luxurious rooms and 5 star service at every stage. It couldn't have gone smoother. Thank you so much to all staff involved, but especially Allison, our wedding planner who somehow managed to corral the entire party where they needed to be, swiftly and smoothly! X

Mágico,bello que más puedo decir enamorada del lugar.recomiendo 100%totalmente,repetiría sin duda,lo mejor 👍 de todo.

Nice relaxing stay, however the bathrooms I feel need to be properly cleaned. Staff were extremely lovely

I've been to the villa on a few occasions before and always had good food ect. Unfortunately we went to our friend's daughters wedding reception here on Saturday there was not enough food at least 10 people went without or food had run out, food that had been ordered I had lasagne well a scraping off the side of the dish also the food was barely warm, the desert was put out at the same time as the main course so had melted by the time the main course was finished. So a very bad experience for all and I feel so sorry that the bride and groom the day was spoilt by this. Also the 2 people waiting on could do with some people skills quite rude at times. All in all very disappointed.

Old building. Old plumbing. Nobody cares.

Beautiful surroundings with fantastic views and staff are extremely helpful

Beautiful place and setting for a wedding 💑

Stayed here recently for a wedding. The wedding was beautiful. The rooms in my opinion are overpriced. For £155.00 there was no bath, no USB charge points WIFI was awful. Duvets lumpy and pillows like paper. A tiny window that let in minimal fresh air meant bad nights sleep. Breakfast; the food was OK, service terrible, no milk came with coffee, we got offered no toast and never got told about juice or cereal to help ourselves. We shared milk and toast with friends who were staying. Wouldn't stay again for the price.

Poor, service terrible, decor tired, very bad odour in the place It lets itself down, as it is a beautiful building, it deserves more attention and looking after .

We always absolutely love this venue, great staff, great food, great service and great atmosphere. So much so we have decided to host our wedding and reception there this August, which should say a lot. Highly recommended!!

Attended a wonderful wedding here. Staff and the venue is superb

Had Afternoon Tea very nice and good staff.

We went for coffee and were shown where we could sit. After a while coffee was brought but no-one asked us what type of coffee we wanted. There was no cake available as mentioned on website only scones.

My wife and I went on our own. Although the venue is really very good and well located, we were disappointed at the value for money of both meals and, sadly the standard of the meals which were quite basic. We are local people but I think it will be a while before we go back.

Had afternoon tea on the 12th March. The food was excellent served by very friendly, helpful and polite staff. Highly recommended!

Recently visited The Villa for afternoon tea. Beautiful old building in beautiful surroundings, ample parking. Staff were polite and the lady who served us was helpful and friendly. The food was very tasty and filling, I have to give a special mention to the pork and apricot sausage roll and the scones, both I’m presuming we’re home made and delicious.

Recommend by a colleague, we decided to book a 1-night stay, Villa Levens is nestled in a gorgeous rural setting, not far from Kendal town centre & Bowness. The building is very grand and castle-like, inside comprises a stunning hallway and staircase, bar area a lounge area, with natural fuel fires and leather sofas. Our room (superior double, ground floor) was beautifully presented, with lots of natural light and stunning views of the countryside. The only reason we knocked off a star on the rating was due to not having any wifi available in our room. We did point this out to the team, who were super nice. But none of them knew why and couldn't help. So this was a letdown as wifi is advertised throughout. That being said the team were so friendly, the breakfast was fab and they made us and our furry friend so welcome. I would highly recommend and would stay again.

Attended a business networking event here, we were served a 3 course meal which was very nice. Great soup, the beef & potato for the main was very tasty & cheesecake for dessert - yum! The room for the meeting was good, it would be nice to see it set up for a wedding too. I'd love to see the venue in the day time, I can imagine the surrounding grounds to be very pretty!

I booked one of the most expensive rooms for two nights stay in September, I was getting married locally but needed some accommodation . The room was unbearably hot and the windows either barely opened or not at all. Shower was blocked and I had to jump out midway to allow it to drain which took about 15mins (not great on your wedding day) Room was dusty. Some of the buildings character had been maintained well but that’s about it, the room was actually quite small otherwise. Evening meal was overpriced and otherwise mediocre (£15 for a burger with chips and no cheese on it) Breakfast meal was nice enough but really small portions. The worst bit for us- we ordered a cafetière of coffee and when my husband was stirring it he noticed it was simply instant coffee in a French press. I had asked for a jug of orange juice with 5 glasses on the first morning as there was a few of us getting ready when the staff member brought up 2 glasses we asked for three more and she eye rollled us! Honestly wasn’t bad enough for me to demand a refund but I paid far too much money for the service we received.

Beautiful location, beautiful scenery. Got charged £28 for a breakfast which we told them we didn’t want breakfast we just wanted a cup of tea and coffee, ridiculous

Poor service, overpriced. No one seems to care about the customer. Upon arrival, we were not greeted by anyone, not the receptionist or manager, nor the bartender. We ordered pre-lunch drinks from the bar and waited to be shown through to the dining room. No one arrived to show us through, so we eventually showed ourselves to our table! Duck was one of only four main courses offered to our party but we were informed the night before that it was not available. Chicken was offered as an alternative. Ok - except we were still charged the same as for duck and, weirdly, the chicken was served with the same sauce that would have been on the duck. Chicken and dark cherry jus is very strange. Very. Several bottles of wine were ordered but not offered to the host to confirm his choice or to taste. The wine was left on one end of the table, not poured for anyone. There were not enough wine glasses for all of our guests either. The vegetables were microwaved, soggy and overcooked, totally tasteless. They were left one half of the table and some guests never even knew there was veg. Soup spoons were given as veg serving spoons and later as dessert spoons. Dessert spoons were served with the tomato soup starter. Dreadful, basic service errors. There were other things but I'm sure by now you get the idea. The manager never came near our party at any point, (he was mainly sat checking his phone at the bar), and no one asked or appeared to care how anything was for our group. We spent well in excess of £500 excluding drinks. Wow, if The Villa don't value customers such as ourselves who would come and spend that much several times a year, they don't deserve to remain open. I notice that only 5 star reviews are responded to with comments. I wonder if this review will prompt any type of action at all?? I wish The Villa well...but it really needs to sort it's front-of-house out big time. We certainly will not return. Shame.

Attended a wedding reception here, very nice place, beautiful surroundings, staff were excellent, the food was excellent, great night had by all.

Disappointing. The Villa has, in the past, been very good. This time, not so.... - LET DOWN - Weeks in advance, we specifically visited and ordered a particular wine for a large organised family meal. We asked to be contacted if there were any issues. Although The Villa had days and weeks to pre-warn us of potential problems, 5 minutes AFTER we sat down to eat, we were told the wine had not arrived. After choosing an alternative wine (which was far from cheap), the Host was not offered to taste the wine. 'Front Of House' basics, which bring me to the next 2 points.... - TRAINING - The chap servicing us gave us dessert spoons for the soup, then offered soup spoons for dessert. Most people are shown what a soup spoon is before they leave school. I believe this just shows how standards have slipped at The Villa. - DESSERT - While some of the deserts looked good, the "Cheese Slate" was a disgrace. A small white plate arrived with 4 pieces of basic cheese, all much the same. No blue or soft cheese. - GENTLEMEN'S TOILET - The mirror has been taken down and not replaced. The broken toilet handle has been replaced with a thread-bar bolt. All could be fixed for less than £20 and 10 minutes work. SUMMARY - On our visit, there was little to no pressure. Apart from two people dining, we were the only other people there. All the above would have been acceptable if we were having pub meal... but this was not - this was £34 per Head - yet The Villa claims to "offer an experience not to be missed" (website quote). The Villa has very impressive buildings and surrounding grounds. It's disappointing the attention to basic Customer needs, significantly lets the hotel down.

We were disappointed with our visit to The Villa. As a group we pre booked our wine and food. As we were seated my father was advised the wine was not available. My father puts a lot of thought into the wine and he was extremely upset. Having choosen a replacement wine he was asked the bottle number which cheapen the experience (were we in a 2 rosette AA restaurant or a Chinese takeaway?) We were advised a few days before that the duck had been replaced with chicken. Understandably some produce can be difficult to obtain over the Christmas period however I did think the sauce accompanied the chicken would be reviewed instead the old left over duck sauce was served with the chicken .... It did not complement the tender cooked chicken at all The staff were friendly and polite but lacked basic hospitality training. The examples I am providing are for the manager: the correct cultery for the course should be provided prior to the food being served and a soup spoon should not be given to eat a dessert. If wine is pre ordered then you should expect wine to be drunk and glasses placed on the table. The wine should also be served once brought to the table. The vegetables should be hot. The chef should read the menu as this sets out the customers expections (guests were expecting a cheese slate not crackers and basic cheese thrown on a side plate). My husband enjoyed his steak and I liked the Brulee. On previous visits we were happy with our meal and the service and I wonder if the lack of management on the day contributed to our poor experience

Incredibly friendly and lovely staff. Quite expensive for what it was but we had a lovely night. Nice breakfast. Great that they take dogs.

Lovely wedding venue, however, the walk down to the venue is treacherous in the dark. Poor lighting, very little definition between the path and the road. Driving back out at 1 in the morning was more good luck than good management. Exit is poorly signed and very badly lit. It is a shame as the staff and the venue were brilliant.

Went here for Christmas day. Food was beautiful and well presented. They had a great magician on and the real santa and his wife

Massive thanks to the staff at The Villa Levens and especially to Luciana. From the planning to the execution of the whole day, Luciana and her team worked so hard to make everything perfect for us, nothing was too much trouble for them. (Even Storm Arwen- as dramatic as it was- leant a certain drama to the fireworks) All our guests have told us how much they enjoyed the wedding day and reception, from the food to the service we could not fault it at all. A perfect day. Thanks so much!

Lovely place, great lunch and delightful service from Ada and Nico....thank you!

Celebrated our mums 70th birthday here on Sunday, excellent food and service would recommend The Villa for larger parties there was 20 of us, everyone was happy, good communication before the event

Our first visit here and we were very impressed. We attended our friends wedding. They had the service in the adjoining room and the reception in the separate Pavilion function room. There is plenty of space for pre drinks and more than enough space for everyone in the Pavilion. The food was excellent (including the breakfast the following morning). We stayed with our two dogs in one of the dog friendly rooms. The whole day went without any problems and the staff were very good. Would highly recommend for a great wedding.

The venue was a lovely place for a conference but for some reason the evening meal was cancelled by the management. I don't know why, because everybody was enjoying the facilities and it was a great location. Cancel culture should be cancelled!

Excellent facilities & wonderful speeches. Well done to the conference organisers. 14/10

The room was dirty and the food was cold.

Hosted fascist party Patriotic Alternative’s national conference during our stay. Fascism, racism and anti-semitism on such brazen display really put a dampener on afternoon tea

Very lovely people, indeed I believe they recently cancelled a booking they had unwittingly taken on for a (quite nasty) upstart right wing 'party', so they do seem an especially decent lot - the house and grounds are also lovely, of course...

Stayed here for 3 nights in family room amazing hotel very clean spacious and comfortable rooms gorgeous bathrooms with feet on bathtubs so feels very luxurious! Ate in restaurant for dinner very nice food the grounds are also lovely friendly staff and only 10 minutes drive into kendal

A lovely building. Nice bar with an early 20th Century feel to it. Good choice of beers and wines. Only a few malt whiskies. The menu in the restaurant could do to have a few more adventurous options. Think high end pub menu. Good choice of wines at a reasonable price. Clean and well maintained rooms. Friendly helpful staff. Good hospitality.