A hotel overlooking Windermere has been named one of the top ten most popular locations in the Lake District, according to a TripAdvisor survey.

The Beech Hill Hotel and Spa, which is located on Newby Bridge Road, was ranked as number ten in a survey conducted by hot tub suppliers Aqua Spa who analysed over 191,950 online reviews.

The hotel has been in the family of the current owner, Fraser Richardson, for a quarter of a century.

He said: “It’s been in our family for many years. My parents were the ones who first bought it. It has not always been plain sailing, but the waters have been reasonably calm until the pandemic. Then they got a bit choppy.

“We had to close for ten months but fortunately the government had schemes in place which helped us a lot. We are very thankful we got the support we got because so many businesses had to close during lockdown and were never able to reopen.”

“We reopened on May 17 and staffing in the area was a nightmare but we had a loyal group working with us so we made it through.

“We’re going at 100 per cent capacity at the moment and we have a very dedicated team behind us working so hard to keep us moving.

“In 2016, the hotel was the Beech Hills Hotel, but then I decided to do a refurbishment and bring in a lot of luxury spa elements. We've had some great feedback from the additions and that was when we changed our name to the Hotel and Spa.

“Even during the pandemic, we began phase one of our changes, it wasn’t planned but it worked out that way.

“We have some amazing views of Lake Windermere and we’re slap bang by the waters so it makes some amazing sights.

"It's made us really well known, especially on social media as so many people have been taking pictures of the area from our venue and posting them with our location tagged. It helps get the word out about us a lot which we are very happy about. We are well known for our food and we want people to carry the memory of us around for a long time in the future.”