About
The Royal at Dockray is a family run traditional country hotel offering the best of Cumbrian hospitality.
Our hotel
Our hotel nestles peacefully amongst the Lake District fells and is situated about one mile from the shores of Ullswater and Aira Force. The renowned restaurant proudly serves local produce and our friendly Cumbrian bar boasts a fine selection of real ale, malts and wines.
The beautiful fells
With the Helvellyn and High Street mountain ranges just on the doorstep, The Royal is an ideal and comfortable base for all those who wish to explore and enjoy the beauty and challenge of the fells. Gowbarrow and Aira Force waterfall provide short walks from our doorstep, perfect for working up an appetite before lunch.
The Lake District contains some of the most beautiful scenery in the land. The valleys radiating from the central massif of mountains contain long, deep, glacially formed lakes which provide a marvellous contrast to the spectacular peaks and give the area its name.
The scenery in the Lake District never fails to leave the visitor with a sense of awe and an understanding of why this landscape inspired so many poets throughout generations. The physical beauty, abundance of fauna, striking flora and native wildlife makes the county of Cumbria, and the Lake District National Park, the most attractive destination in England.
Adventurers
For the adventurous this place is a dream for hikers, mountain bikers, fell runners, wild swimmers, climbers, and so many more. After a day in the fells, we promise a warm welcome no matter how dirty you are – come in, dry your boots, warm your toes and recharge ready for the next adventure. Check out our Gowbarrow Challenge.
Sustainability
Being Environmentally Friendly and Sustainable runs through everything we do. It influences and drives our food choices, our suppliers, our utility providers, even our gardens. We’re fortunate to have some great partners to work with, including Pure Lakes toiletries, local farmers like Gowbarrow Hall and Deer&Dexter, all doing great things with sustainable, lower carbon produce. Within the Ullswater valley there are wealth of projects to protect this land, and to minimise human damage caused by climate change. Have you used The Ullswater Bus? it stops right outside our door.
Our lovely old building wasn’t built with eco-credentials (who knew about Climate Change in the 1500s?), but we’re working to add lots of insulation wherever we can. Our heating is powered by biomass and wood burners. We still have LPG gas for cooking but plan to transition to electric by the end of 2024. In 2024 we installed 13kw of solar panels to our existing roof and hope to install a further 20kw in 2025. We’ve got a long way to go, and many more challenges to overcome to become the fully sustainable venue that we would like to be.
If you are passionate about sustainable food and/or sustainable hospitality and think you could help us on our journey please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.
History
Dating back over 500 years, The Royal takes its name from Mary Queen of Scots who visited 500 years ago!
The Royal was originally a farmhouse with a barn, stables and carriage houses. Legend has it that Mary Queen of Scots stopped at the Cross Keys (as the Royal Hotel was known then) on 13th July 1568. Lowther Castle was her first overnight stop on her journey to Bolton Castle, and Sir Francis Knollys, when planning her journey noted, ‘for that house is twenty miles in the land from Carlisle. ‘It seems likely that a party of this size and importance would make a detour as Sir Francis Knollys and Sir Henry Scrope, who were responsible for her, were very anxious to avoid any confrontation with the local Catholic population and would have wished her progress to be as unobtrusive as possible.
