The Royal Oak

Staff were all very helpful and friendly. There was a good variety of reasonably priced food on the menu and drinks at the bar. Rooms were clean, the shower and hot water all worked well. Full English breakfast very good. Handy for visiting Durham, Newcastle, Beamish, Diggerland and Kynren.

Great rooms, reasonably priced.Excellent breakfast

Great food very friendly staff

Came up to stay on my own as daughter graduating uni. Easy to find and was greeted warmly by staff. Sonia, Ian and Dylan were all so friendly and welcoming. Food was amazing and lots to chose from in the evening. Breakfast was good and you could pick and chose what you wanted. Locals were friendly and chatty. Would Definitely stay again. The guests that I met were all friendly. Highly recommend, not expensive and good location if you don’t want to stay in Durham and explore surrounding area. Will be back!

A very warm, welcoming hotel & pub. The staff are brilliant and go out of their way to be accomodating. The breakfasts were delicious. (We had planned to have an evening meal in their restaurant too but our journey overran so we decided to eat elsewhere earlier...but I suspect the dinners are also nice.) The rooms were clean, tidy, comfy and surprisingly spacious. All in all, it's a fantastic little place.

It appears my experience was not like others. The first problem I had was parking. There is a road running parallel to the main road and it was unclear how to access it. I went through the bottom entrance and had to squeeze between a car and a scooter. I found there was another entrance about half way up. Because of the number of cars already parked I had to park a couple of minutes from the pub. The pub was smaller than I had imagined. I went to the bar and a young man got me my room key and took me to my room. It is definitely a pub B and B rather than a hotel. The room was basic with lots of storage, TV, tea/coffee and an en suite. I had to ask for the Wi-Fi password as it was not given in the room. The carpet was a bit worn but all in all it was an adequate place to stay. I was asked what time I wanted breakfast. That was fine. I was told that the door to the upper floor is closed/locked overnight which didn't affect me- there isn't much to see or do in the village. The pub was not serving any food on the Sunday evening of my stay. Would I stay again? No.