A Guide to Accommodation Ratings

Keswick and the Northern Lakes area offers traditional hospitality with a range of accommodation to suit all preferences, ages and pockets, located in the town centre, peaceful Lakeland villages or scenic valleys. On this website you will find a large selection of inspected and approved hotels, guesthouses, B&Bs, pubs, farmhouses, caravan and touring parks and self catering accommodation.

Prices for Accommodation

Hotels and Guest Accommodation
The price ranges shown give an instant indication of the average Bed and Breakfast price per person per night based on two people sharing a room including service charge and VAT. Some establishments may offer standards of rooms above or below this range. Prices may also vary at certain times of the year. Please also check at the time of booking regarding single supplements.

Self catering Accommodation
The prices shown give an indication of the average price per unit per week. Supplementary costs may include breakage deposits, fuel by meter reading, charges for linen etc. Please check at the time of booking.

National Inspection

There are two national assessing bodies, Visit England and the AA.  Both work to National Quality Assurance standards and use independent, impartial assessors.  Properties are given a quality rating of 1-5 stars and show the Enjoy England Quality Rose logo (Visit England) or the AA logo.

Hotels
Hotels have to be licensed, offer dinner at least five nights a week (unless a Metro Hotel) and all rooms must be en suite or have a private bathroom.  Categories include Hotel, Country House Hotel, Small Hotel, Town House Hotel, Metro Hotel.

Guest Accommodation

Star ratings for Guest Accommodation reflect the visitor expectations of this sector, where quality is seen as more important than facilities and services. Higher star ratings are achieved by providing certain additional facilities and services.  Categories include Guest Accommodation, Bed & Breakfast, Guest House, Farmhouse, Inn and Restaurant with Rooms (no star rating).

Self Catering

Self Catering accommodation is assessed on layout, design, quality and ranGe of the kitchen equipment, quality and comfort of the bedrooms and bathrooms and cleanliness.  Categories include Self-catering, Serviced Apartments and Approved Caravan Holiday Home.

One Star 
Simple, practical, no frills.

Two Stars
Well presented and well run.

Three Stars
Good level of quality and comfort.

Four Stars
Excellent standard throughout.

Five Stars
Exceptional with a degree of luxury.

Holiday, Touring and Camping Parks

Ratings are awarded for the overall quality with five stars being reserved for parks of exceptional quality.  The categories include Holiday Park, Holiday Villages, Touring Park and Camping Park. The AA award pennant ratings rather that stars.

Self Catering Agencies

Self-catering agencies advertising in this guide have at least 50% of their cottages assessed by VisitEngland.

Hostels and Camping Barns

Camping barns provide extremely simple self-catering accommodation often referred to as 'stone tents'. Camping barns are not star rated and are assessed as being fit for the purpose.

Awards
Look out for additional merit awards, given to those establishments that not only achieve the overall quality required for their rating, but also reach the highest levels of quality in those areas that guests identify as being really important to them.

Visit Britain Silver Award

This award recognises high quality in all areas of the business, with very good levels of customer care.

Visit Britain Gold Award

Properties achieving a Gold award will demonstrate exceptional levels of quality, comfort, cleanliness, hospitality and attentive service.

Visit England Rose Award

The Rose Award recognises high standard caravan holiday homes for hire sited on four or five star holiday parks.

AA Merit % Score
The AA give yellow stars to guest accommodation in the top % of its star rating.  This 'Highly Commended' rating can only be awarded to three, four or five star guest accommodation establishments.

AA Rosette ratings for restaurants

AA inspected restaurants are given Rosettes (one to five) annually for the quality of their food.

National Accessible Scheme - Mobility

Keswick offers many opportunities for disabled visitors to enjoy this unique area.  Many accommodation providers, restaurants and attractions cater for disabled visitors and will happily accommodate specific requirements.

If you have a particular mobility need, look out for the National Accessible Scheme symbols.

Local Quality Assurance Standard

In addition to VisitEngland and AA ratings, you will also see the Quality Cumbria logo in this guide. Quality Cumbria is a local initiative in partnership with VisitEngland.  Accommodation providers meeting the Quality Cumbria standard are not yet participating in a national quality assurance scheme.  owver, they are committed to quality improvements.  All have been assedssed to a minimum standard and should be clean, comfortable and fit for purposes.

Fairtrade

In this Guide all accommodation providers displaying the Ft ‘flag’ offer Fairtrade tea, coffee, drinking chocolate and sugar to their guests in dining rooms and bedrooms, almost all exclusively. Some offer more, such as fruit, fruit juices, and wine. All have literature available on Fairtrade.

Green and Environmental Accreditations

Keswick Tourism recognise a range of green and environmental initiatives.  These schemes and accreditations show a commitment to reducing impact on the environment and managing resources more efficiently.

The Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) recognises places to stay and visit that are taking action to support the local area and the wider environment.  It is Europe's largest and most successful 'green' accreditation scheme for the tourism sector.

David Bellamy Conservation Awards are made each year to holiday parks which can demonstrate policies showing active concern for the environment.  Three levels of excellence can be achieved: gold, silver and bronze.

Cumbria Business Environment Network (CBEN) recognises that businesses who have put management procedures into place to help improve their environmental performance.