"My husband I stayed for a couple of nights dbb as part of a block booking. First impressions: The hotel has an old shabby style of decoration. I suspect not by design, but because of age. There 's a variety of public spaces little rooms dotted about. However, it suited the grandeur of the rooms The whole property is not accessible for those with mobility issues or prams. There 's steps down to the main dining area, the bar the function room. No lift in the property there are stairs at the main entrance. So if anyone in your party has mobility issues or has buggies this is currently not the place to come. It 's in the centre of Kelso with its own parking. Lovely outlook over the river substantial grounds. The function suite with the crystal chandeliers make for a nicely presented room for functions. First the good. Excellent fresh food made on the premises everything we had was perfectly cooked well presented very tasty. Clearly a very good chef kitchen team. The staff, especially the waiting staff, at meals were a credit to their employer hopefully are well rewarded. (Note to management please get a tips jar sitting at your reception point as it deserves to be shared equally as back of house staff don 't always get the recognition they deserve! Overall, cleanliness was good. Our bed was comfortable well supplied with pillow.Complimentary quality toiletries plenty of fluffy towels were provided. Now the not so good. The hotel was fairly booked up when we phoned to see if we could get a room so we were offered an attic room with a double bed en suite. We were assured that though small it was nicely presented. That was somewhat over optimistic at best! The room was small. The rest of the room was shabby in dire need of an upgrade. Two pieces of the furniture had handles missing Each light fitment was mismatched creating a piecemeal effect of different eras which made the room look like a room that had never changed had just been filled with spare stuff from the hotel. Paint was peeling from the windows the windows themselves made me a bit nervous that they would break when we went to open close them as they were quite rickety. The sink was in the room itself quite common in older hotels. However, it was set into a cheap looking painted unit with a towel rail that was screwed onto the far end of the unit beside the in room kettle tea coffee making facilities, instead of being right beside the sink. The splashback was made of 1980s style tiles which, was completely out of what should have been the character of the room. Putting in an ensuite shower room had obviously been a challenge as the toilet shower was in the same space, which probably at some point had been a cupboard. One oversight on the cleaning was that the shower drain had clearly not been cleared for some time. I discovered this when I went to have a shower quickly found myself standing in a shower tray of water that wasn 't draining away! I did report this to reception it was dealt with by the time we came back. We didn 't see any of the other rooms so we can 't comment on the quality of them but I got the impression from the rest of the party that they were satisfied with their rooms on the lower floors. Normally my husband I are pretty easy to please but we were left feeling very disappointed by a room that wasn 't up to standard as a result was grossly overpriced. The management/ owners really need to spend some time overnight in all the rooms then they may appreciate what needs to be addressed to give all guests good facilities."
