The best restaurants in Barlborough Bolsover East Midlands

Quality garden centre plenty for the garden nice gifts and a good selection of greetings cards for all occasions 😁

I’m writing this review based on two stays I had here in December. I stayed here for one night after a visit to Chatsworth at the beginning of December. Then again over this New Year weekend for 3 nights. Ironically we were given the same room 107. The second visit we spent 2 nights in 203, after problems on our first night in 107. LOCATION- the location of this hotel is perfect it is 5 minutes drive from the M1 close to the village of Clowne with shops and some take aways. It’s a good base to explore clumber park, Derbyshire dales and chesterfield. CHECK IN - the first time we checked in there was a big Christmas party going on & a band playing in reception. It was extremely busy, but we were checked in quickly. The second time we arrived at 7pm to find nobody at reception. We waited 5 minutes and still nobody turned up. So we went looking for staff in the bar! We eventually located the receptionist. The hotel reception smells very fresh, is modern and clean. ROOM - the room was large with a big bed, huge TV, tea/coffee, biscuits, bottles of water & black out curtains. Room 107 was on the first floor and room 203 on the second. The bed in 107 was two singles pushed together, not great for couples with a big gap down the middle of the bed. The bed in 203 was an actual double. 203 was an attic room and had some slanting ceilings, there were no blackout curtains just a Roman blind that let lots of light in. Both rooms were very modern, exceptionally clean and we loved them. The rooms were very hot, despite setting heating to the lowest setting. There was a fan in the wardrobe, but no air con. We loved the lighting and decor in the rooms. BATHROOM- the bathroom was large, modern and clean. It has a walk in shower and very fluffy towels. There was also some nice toiletries provided. FOOD - the restaurant looks lovely, modern quirky and bright. The bar is next to the restaurant, with a court yard for warmer days. Breakfast was included and was lovely. The first time we stayed the hotel was busy with party guests and we had to stand waiting for breakfast food because it had ran out. This time was different and all food was replenished before it ran out, despite the hotel being busy again. We also ordered room service on both visits. We found the food to be really nice. But the guy bringing it brought one tray, then had to run back to the kitchen to get the other tray. Surely a trolley would be a better idea?? The staff in the restaurant all seemed like they needed training. We were taken to our table New Year’s Day morning and the young waitress just stood staring at us. The food had been moved in to the snug room, but we weren’t told this. We had to ask and also had to ask twice to get a cup of tea, as nobody offered. The only decent waiter we met on both occasions was a lad with glasses and ginger hair. He was very attentive and asking people if everything was okay. NEGATIVES - the only negatives of our first stay was waiting for breakfast items, which is why we chose to come back. This time there was some sort of loud extractor fan going on in the ceiling of our room 107 & the heating wouldn’t seem to go lower than 24 degrees. It started in the middle of the night, so we hardly slept on our first night. We reported it to reception in the morning and a guy with a walkie talkie told us he’d switch it off. We got back 6 hours later from a day out, only to find it was still on. I went down to report to reception again and was told ‘Craig’ who deals with it was out. So she’d send him up when he got back. We decided to turn the tv on the drowned out the noise only to realise that no plug sockets were working either, so we couldn’t even have a cuppa. I went back to reception after an hour of waiting for ‘Craig’. Before I even got chance to say about the plug sockets, I was told by the receptionist that I had to appreciate she was on her own! When I did get chance to politely tell her about the sockets she offered to move us to room 203. The next morning we decided not to go to breakfast and instead have a lie in to catch up on the lack of sleep. But at 11am the cleaner knocked on the door and walked straight in, not even giving us chance to answer. The do not disturb sign was also on the door, but she’d not seen it. When she realised we were in bed, she shouted from the door ‘are you going out today or not?’ Not really very good practice in my opinion & I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels. Other negatives were having to supply a £50 holding fee on your card for each night you are there. Also long queues at reception at certain times. OVERALL- If I was rating this hotel on cleanliness, decor, location and food, I would definitely give it 5 stars. It’s a beautiful new, bright, vibrant and quirky hotel, which is why we booked to go back so soon. But it seems that a lot of the staff let this hotel down. It seems that some of the reception staff need to learn to ‘listen’. The young lad on reception new years morning was very professional & seemed good at his job. But some of the restaurant staff really need training on how to actually interact with people, which should be a minimum requirement. It seems that also a ‘lack’ of staff lets this hotel down. If there was a maintenance problem surely there should be someone on call who can look at the problem sooner than an hour. Reception can get very busy and have long queues, due to lack of staff. New Year’s Eve was the only time i saw two staff. It’s a real shame that our experience wasn’t great this time. Which is why I have only rated it 3 stars. Maybe if things improve I may return, because it is a really nice hotel that could be great.

I really wanted to put this review on the McDonald’s system but after 5 attempts i still couldn’t complete. Friday 9th August I called in on my way to Doncaster. I tried to order from the self service but it wouldn’t allow me to pay. I went to the desk and one of the restaurant floor staff served me. Her name is Di. The same thing happened when she submitted the order on the till. She rebooted the system to no avail. She brought the duty manager and he had same issues. She the brought the restaurant manager and he transferred to another till. Di remembered my order for the manager and reminded him i now only had a couple of minutes for breakfast. I thought Di went above and beyond. She came to check if my meal was alright and asked if i needed anything else. She is amazing and a credit to the restaurant. I hope someone from the store replies. Also the McDonald’s site puts people off praise reports - so many questions before you can say what you want to. Thank you Di x

Had a great meal for my nephew's birthday. The staff are always lovely. It's a great atmosphere. We will be returning soon.