Have you ever flicked through a holiday brochure and found that some of the hotels catch your eye more than others? Of course you have. That's what advertising (or in this case false advertising) is all about. Most hotels and b&b's in places like Blackpool especially will trip over each other to shove their awards cabinets in your face. The fact of the matter is that these days resorts like Blackpool are infested with younger people- families, teenagers, hen parties etc and in an odd turn of events it is actually the cheaper less branded hotels that are the busiest. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it means that places like Norbreck Castle Hotel need to come across as even more attractive if they want to woo a percentage of Blackpools intake, and by making the prices as a cheap as possible in such a respect. It is this reason why I am so inclined to kick this place.

Upon reaching the hotel we were all taken by the castle-style architechture. Its quite a pull in itself and may trick you into thinking you are in for a relatively enjoyable experience. No such luck. Anyways after piling up our luggage into the holding area we went to the reception to collect the keys to our rooms. Sorry campers- this is where it all starts to go wrong! Whilst the front of the hotel is admittedly pretty there really isn't too much to give you the same wonderful impression from when you were outside gawping at the castle designs. Its a lukewarm reception in terms of 'what 'lies' inside' (yes that was a play on words, clever huh?) Keeping to the theme of medieval however the staff on the reception/check in point could well be honored for being the slowest to ever work in a hotel and this is not an understatement. After twenty minutes fussing over keys we eventually got to the point where we could check in (at 5pm in the evening) but this was something we soon came to regret. If you thought the reception area was lacklustre then you may have to hold your tongue when you approach the interior areas of the hotel (mainly the hallways, stairs, lifts, bedrooms etc.) With limited decoration the whole hotel seems dull and uninteresting (which is such a shame when you come to think how much money must have been splashed out on designing the outside of the building) and it is a very very standard affair. Those who were expecting a fancy lar-dee-dar humble abode will have by now been given a rude awakening but its about to get a whole lot worse. The bedrooms themselves could very easily be compared to a council flat in the Stanley Park area of Blackpool. I'm not kidding- the rooms are awful. The bed linen is ancient, the curtains are ancient, the bathrooms need desperate renovation (slow running constantly cold taps, dirty toilet seats) the windows are ancient, the facilities are ancient (and dangerous!) I could go on. The rooms are also bog standard in terms of decoration- again I feel cheated considering how the hotel is so enticing from the outside. The staff are pretty unhelpful and seem to get lost themselves when trying to direct you through the maze of rooms. The dining area is admittedly better than other areas in the hotel but with food arriving 45 minutes late and sky high prices I find it hard to rave about when any half decent hotel can serve up some gorgeous grub for half of the time and none of the price (ooh so Northern!)