Farnley Tower - Durham, United Kingdom 

Location is what this B&B has going for it, walking distance to the town and cathedral of Durham and easily accessible from the motorway. It also has an excellent but pricey restaurant downstairs open only for dinner. And off-street parking. Those are the high points! We booked a larger room and did get more space but that was about it. Bed was marginal, linens need to be retired! The only visible signs of daily tidying up was the exchange of new towels when we placed them on the floor (we were here for 3 nights). Otherwise, bed was not made-up (we always left it neat but not fully dressed), rubbish cans were not emptied, bathroom was obviously not cleaned. I think that a B&B claiming 4 stars, billing itself as a "luxury accommodation", should provide daily cleaning. But maybe it wouldn't have mattered since the furnishings were what I would describe as "tired" (you know, the carpet that looked and felt dirty; the mismatched badly thinning bath towels). On the first morning, we did avail ourselves of the inclusive breakfast but decided to skip it the next two mornings, preferring to walk to town and pay additional money for something less institutional (it looked and tasted like dorm food) and worth the calories. The bottom line is if I had to do it again I wouldn't.

The other B&B's we researched in Durham weren't available, so we decided on the Farnley Towers, in spite of problems noted by other reviewers, hoping for the best. It IS an interesting exterior, and nice hilltop location but, too far to walk easily to city center and restaurants. Our room left much to be desired. Negative decor.....mismatched curtains looked like they were recycled from somewhere else and hung badly. Furnishings looked like they were supplied by IKEA, well-worn carpet looked like it hadn't been cleaned recently, the bed was creeky and felt like you were sleeping on a marshmallow (morning backache!). It had a large bathroom, but mold everywhere...lots of moldy, cracked caulking. Ultimately, we went with this hotel/B&B because it was listed in Rick Steve's Great Britain guide, and we've had pretty good experience with his recommendations. This one was a clunker. If the tarriff was 15 pounds less per person, it might have been an OK value. As it was, we paid a high-end rate for a mediocre accommodation.