Thornwald Mansion — Hotel in Carlisle

The owners have done a phenomenal job bringing this property back from abandoned. They are also attentive, kind, and wonderful hosts. The breakfasts are delicious. With that said, the property is unfinished. Most rooms are off limits, including those pictured in the overview. You can access the entry, your suite, and the breakfast room, nothing else. The entry courtyard is all dry loose gravel on top of plastic, and the fountains are not operating. There is no outdoor seating or patios. The a/c in the guest room couldn't keep up, and there is no ceiling fan to help. The house itself, except for the breakfast room, is pretty dark, and they keep most of the lights off including in the guest hallways. There is no hot water in the bathroom, just slightly warm. No shampoo, just a budget brand travel size conditioner for color-treated hair (?) and one small bar of soap. For the price, I would expect decent toiletries. For the two of us, we received 2 bath towels, and 2 washcloths. No hand towels, and no additional towels. WiFi is decent, but no streaming available on the TV, only a bare bones cable package. The house is locked 24/7, and guests do not receive a key, having to be let in and out every time which can feel a little oppressive. I have done historic rehab, understand its difficulties, but there is no excuse for missing grout and haphazardly cut tiles when the materials are mostly new from Lowes. The building is very quiet. Which can be nice...but it is also like staying in a mortuary. Although the private gated parking is a nice amenity, the gate is locked from 10 pm to 6 am, and there is no opener or gate code if you had to leave for any reason during that time, without waking up the hosts. There are cameras throughout the inside of the house, along with motion sensors that chime every step you take outside of your room. They seem very nice, we liked them personally, but it's overall creepy. I imagine this is how exiled dictators under house arrest live. It may work well for an event, the location is convenient, and is very interesting to see - but the fact that most of it is closed off, and the price is very high considering its eccentricities, like no hot water and limited AC, it is not a great choice for couples looking...

Ok first of all I can not say enough about our hosts Rkia and Thomas . They both were incredible. The greeting when we arrived was nothing you have experienced before. Now the mansion itself is absolutely gorgeous. We stayed in the Michael Angelo room on the second floor. Our room was incredible from the original hardwood floors to the most comfortable bed we have been in. The attention to detail is incredible. Don't forget about the robes they had for us. Know lets talk about the homemade breakfast. Rkia prepared for us a delicious egg, quiche, turkey bacon, fruit, coffee, hot tea and the most amazing croissant. We had our breakfast in a beautiful downstairs dining room. We stayed 2 days and visited downtown area and local restaurants so close. This was our best experience in a bed and breakfast in the states to date. We can not wait to stay again. Thank you Rkia and Thomas for a wonderful stay. The Mackeys...

AWFUL is being polite.

The shower was so weak and Luke warm a bird bath was more desirable. Not to mention the drain in tub was plugged and didn’t drain.

The rooms door wouldn’t lock and we had no way of securing the the door.

The television, (all 21’ of it) worked sometimes

The Breakfast: No options or requests, just what was put in front of us. In our case it was 2 eggs solid, rye toast and crab cakes....yes I said CRAB CAKES!! Being that my wife has a severe shell fish allergy staying here was almost a fatal decision.

We are not only confused and disappointed that $325.00 per night didn’t offer more, but stunned that this so called “Bed and Breakfast” remains in business.

If you speak Arabic or Persian you may have better outcomes however; we don’t recommend taking the chance.

Sincerely, Gregory...