Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa

The resort and its setting

Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa is a lakeside hotel on Church Street in Bowness-on-Windermere, right on the water's edge of England's largest natural lake. The building has the look of a grand Victorian hotel, and the resort carries that through with a restaurant, a bar, a spa and an indoor pool, plus its own boat dock for guests who want to get out onto the lake directly from the property. It currently holds a 4-star Google rating from over 1,600 reviews, and Google's own summary describes it simply as a "cosy, lakeside hotel" — a fair description of the overall feel: comfortable rather than flashy, with the spa as the main draw alongside the location.

Bowness-on-Windermere and the Lake District

Bowness is one of the main hubs for visiting Windermere, with the lake's passenger boat piers a short walk from the hotel and plenty of cafés, pubs and independent shops along the waterfront. From here you're well placed for the classic Lake District days out: a cruise on Windermere itself, the walk up Catbells for views over Derwentwater, and the Beatrix Potter Gallery about two miles away in Hawkshead. Ambleside, at the head of the lake, is roughly four miles off and well worth the trip for its shops and walks. The wider Windermere and Bowness area has enough gardens, galleries and small attractions to fill several days, and the surrounding fells give walkers and cyclists routes for all abilities, from gentle lakeside paths to proper mountain days.

Selling or renting a week here

If you own a week at Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa and are thinking about moving it on, BidMyTimeshare.com works as a straightforward owner-to-owner marketplace: you list your week, set your own asking price, and buyers contact you directly through the platform. There's no commission taken on the sale — owners pay a single, one-time listing fee to get their week in front of buyers, which is a very different model from paying a resale company a cut of the final price.

Before you list, it's worth getting the paperwork in order on the ownership side. Macdonald Resorts, as the brand behind this hotel, will have its own transfer process and may hold a right of first refusal on resales — check directly with Macdonald Resorts for the current transfer or resale fee and confirm whether that right of first refusal applies to your contract, since these details vary by ownership type and aren't published figures we can quote here. Ask them, too, how long a transfer typically takes to complete once a buyer is found, and get written confirmation of exactly what transfers with the week — the usage rights and week allocation — and what does not, such as any accumulated points, loyalty status or outstanding fees. None of this needs to hold up your listing; buyers are used to these checks running alongside viewing and negotiating.

Renters, meanwhile, are mostly drawn to this kind of property for the spa, the lake views and the walking access, so if you're renting your week out rather than selling, it's worth highlighting the indoor pool, the boat dock and the short walk into Bowness.

Practical notes

Annual maintenance fees for this resort weren't supplied to us, so if you're buying or renting, ask the current owner or Macdonald Resorts directly for the up-to-date figure before agreeing a price — the same goes for the transfer fee. Spring through autumn is generally the main season for the Lake District, when the water activities and outdoor attractions are fully running, and July and August get busy, so weeks around those months tend to be in highest demand from renters planning ahead.