This hotel/pub/restaurant was in a great location and a lot of fun. Only about 5 minutes off the M6 motorway, it is about 45 minutes north of Manchester and very close to great, small towns like Lancaster, Kirkby Lonsdale, Kendal, and the Lake District. It is also about a half-hour rfom Preston, Blackpool, and an hour or so from Liverpool. The hotel sits just on the canal, which actually turns out to be a very fun walk, since a path runs alongside the canal and it is only a few miles to the next town!
Parking at the hotel is free, and there is plenty, but the pub gets quite full on Friday and Saturday nights. The restaurant is excellent--there are many traditional English dishes, including lamb and Aberdeen Angus steak dinners, and also pasta dishes, fish, and shellfish, even spareribs. My favorite are the desserts, and the coffee is excellent. The morning breakfast is A-1--order a full English breakfast and fill up for a morning of sightseeing!
The pub is also a lot of fun; sometimes they have bands, and they have a function room as well for events. The rooms are always clean and quite spacious, and the bathrooms have nice, big tubs.
Most people who go to the pub and restaurant are locals, and they are really friendly people. The service is great. I liked the hotel so much that my husband and I had our wedding reception there, and it was gorgous!
One thing to keep in mind about English hotels and pubs: most pubs are smoking throughout, so if you have an allergy, be sure to ask if there are non-smoking rooms and restaurant sections.