The Ancient Unicorn

What a great old place. Carli is a super host and really went out of her way to help me. She gave me a lift to my train station the morning I left. The place is old, but well maintained, clean and everything works. Food is good pub standard with a decent beer selection.

Attentive, friendly and professional staff. Had dinner and breakfast which was really good. Room were spotless and beds comfortable. Good place to stay as you are within easy reach of some lovely locations. Enjoyed it so much we have booked again for New Year.

Lovely Sunday lunch. Friends commented on the very friendly, cheerful a**osphere- buzzing. Great improvement opening up the bar room

Booked for a one night stay to break our journey home. For all it's a nice enough place I wouldn't have booked it had I known the shared bathroom was not on the same floor. This should be highlighted in the room description so as we are made aware before considering booking. We had to go down 2 flights of stairs each time we needed to use the bathroom. Tolerable for one night but no more. The bedroom itself was clean and had everything we needed but was a bit on the small side. Not alot of room between the bed and the walls. The bed didn't provide the best night's sleep and the pillows were awful. We went for an evening meal which after reading some reviews weren't expecting anything exciting but to our surprise the food was very nice. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Breakfast however was a bit of a letdown. Priced at £13.50 I was expecting a larger breakfast. 1 sausage 1 bacon 1 egg 1 hash brown 1 black pudding a wedge of tomato and beans. Would expect at least 2 sausage and 2 bacon. Very disappointed. There was a good choice of cereals etc available although It proved difficult to see what was in the containers as they weren't labeled and the containers weren't of a clear see through type so opted for the pre packaged cereal. The bread was nice but the toaster was very slow. All in all with the room we had, like I say I could tolerate it for one night but any longer I would have to stay in another room with either ensuite facilities or bathroom on the same floor.

Fab stay in the Charles Dickens little cottage at The Ancient Unicorn. The accommodation was spotless and cosy and the bed very comfortable. We ate in the pub and the food was great - very big portions!! Karli was lovely, really helpful and chatty. Breakfast was again huge, set us up well for the day. Hughly recommend staying here, really convenient to explore the area.

A lovely accomadation just off the A66 near Barnard castle. Staff were very helpful and the room was great. Situated in a quiet area with a pub resturaunt on site. I would highly recommend this if you wish to tour around this area or in our case traveling from the east coast back to the M6!

Used the venue as a travel stop with the motorhome parked over night in the car park and had a cooked breakfast the following morning. It was five stars. Susan gave excellent service and fantastic freshly ground coffee, highly recommended.

We like to book day to day as we travel. This normally works out fine but unfortunately not on this occasion. I received the email with room info & key code. Located our room in the main building. The key safe was open & the door was unlocked. On entering the room we soon realised that the room was already occupied! Luckily for all involved the current occupants weren’t in there! This was soon rectified & we were given a room across the courtyard. On 1st impressions the room seemed ok & a nice size. After what had been a long day we went over to the restaurant for dinner. The food was ok - just cheap pub grub. Unfortunately when we went back to the room it didn’t take long to find some issues! The cupboard with a clothes rail in was very mouldy & damp. The window was mouldy. Hairs in the bath. Lots of dust. The toilet was dirty. The whole room needed a good clean! We could hear our neighbour snoring. There is an outside light that shines in through the window overlooking the courtyard so that part of the room was lit up all night! Breakfast was the worst I think we’ve had! This accommodation is in a great location & could be lovely with a bit of tlc, attention to detail & new handyman/woman!

Experience was mixed for this night at Barnard Castle. It was a cross between an airBNB together with key safes, and a pub accommodation. On the positive, the room was nicely decorated, sheets crisp and clean, water for shower hot and plentiful, young waitress at dinner was charming and helpful. The food was just ok - nothing like the photos. However, wifi was slow and dropped (TV kept fading in and out), room was clean in patches (for example lots of dust on mirror ledge that I could write my name in). Biggest problem was the noise - I was over the dining room and the music was loud in my room. Shared bathroom next door loud. I could hear people moving at night on stairs and in the bedroom above. Breakfast service was odd - we arrived as agreed at 9.15am and all the milk and juice was put away at 9.30am and I had to go and find someone to see where it was.