The Ancient Unicorn

A lovely accomadation just off the A66 near Barnard castle. Staff were very helpful and the room was great. Situated in a quiet area with a pub resturaunt on site. I would highly recommend this if you wish to tour around this area or in our case traveling from the east coast back to the M6!

Used the venue as a travel stop with the motorhome parked over night in the car park and had a cooked breakfast the following morning. It was five stars. Susan gave excellent service and fantastic freshly ground coffee, highly recommended.

We like to book day to day as we travel. This normally works out fine but unfortunately not on this occasion. I received the email with room info & key code. Located our room in the main building. The key safe was open & the door was unlocked. On entering the room we soon realised that the room was already occupied! Luckily for all involved the current occupants weren’t in there! This was soon rectified & we were given a room across the courtyard. On 1st impressions the room seemed ok & a nice size. After what had been a long day we went over to the restaurant for dinner. The food was ok - just cheap pub grub. Unfortunately when we went back to the room it didn’t take long to find some issues! The cupboard with a clothes rail in was very mouldy & damp. The window was mouldy. Hairs in the bath. Lots of dust. The toilet was dirty. The whole room needed a good clean! We could hear our neighbour snoring. There is an outside light that shines in through the window overlooking the courtyard so that part of the room was lit up all night! Breakfast was the worst I think we’ve had! This accommodation is in a great location & could be lovely with a bit of tlc, attention to detail & new handyman/woman!

Experience was mixed for this night at Barnard Castle. It was a cross between an airBNB together with key safes, and a pub accommodation. On the positive, the room was nicely decorated, sheets crisp and clean, water for shower hot and plentiful, young waitress at dinner was charming and helpful. The food was just ok - nothing like the photos. However, wifi was slow and dropped (TV kept fading in and out), room was clean in patches (for example lots of dust on mirror ledge that I could write my name in). Biggest problem was the noise - I was over the dining room and the music was loud in my room. Shared bathroom next door loud. I could hear people moving at night on stairs and in the bedroom above. Breakfast service was odd - we arrived as agreed at 9.15am and all the milk and juice was put away at 9.30am and I had to go and find someone to see where it was.

We stayed in the William turner cottage for two nights it was very clean we had breakfast I was the fussy one out our party also had a meal in restaurant it was lovely and not dear I would recommend and I would book here again in the cottage you have a kettle microwave and hob no oven but that didn’t bother us

I can't understand the good food reviews. I ate here with a friend and it was average pub grub from the microwave at best. I saw dishes served to other tables weren't much better - 'unicorn burger' was a pale burger in a cold bun with a slice of cheese that sat awkwardly and unmelted on top of the patty. We were treated like an inconvenience by an unbearably loud member of staff and heard them make disdainful comments about other customers wanting to eat at 8pm like it was the worst thing in the world. This place seems to have a captive audience by being the only pub in the village and I wish we'd just gone into Barnard Castle instead.

We picked the cottage as we have friends who live in Bowes and it was perfect to be round the corner from them. The cottage was very clean and decorated well. Comfortable and quiet. We didn't have food in the dining room as we were self catering, but the breakfast was available if we wanted. There were no basics in the kitchen - no tea, coffee, salt, pepper, oil - so we had to buy but as it was self catering, we thought those would be there. Could do with a hook in the bathroom. Otherwise, very good.

Made an impromptu stop for lunch whilst travelling home from a weekend away. We ordered the steak and ale pie. The food was delicious, piping hot with lashings of gravy. Everything was home cooked and the staff were lovely and friendly. Will definitely be making a return visit.

A little diamond of a place- We have had an Absolutely amazing stay in 1 of the cottages. Everything was perfect; comfy bed, clean, modern, friendly staff, great food and fantastic location, right on the doorstep of the dales. They made our 4 legged friend feel completely welcome and even reserved us a table in the snug with a dog bowl ready waiting at our table. We met the owners who were friendly and down to earth. All the staff were fantastic, all ready planning our return next month.