Sorry I can't help with the lodge, but Chester is beautiful, a good mix of new and old.

I can't comment directly on this B&B but is it this one?

http://www.bowmanlodge.co.uk/index.htm

If it is then I used to live not that far from it in the Hoole area. It's very popular residential suburb of Chester and that's potentially the rub for you as a visitor.

1) Hoole Road itself is very busy - it's the main road into Chester from the motorway and with traffic up and down it night and day, it could be noisy.

2) It's fairly straightforward walk from here into the City Centre but I think their stated distance is a bit, shall we say, optimistic? Depending on how brisk a walker you are it's probably a 25/30 minute walk. Hoole Road is well served by buses though - they're very much a part of that traffic I referred to above. Don't even think about taking a car into the city centre - parking is a nightmare.

3) When I lived there. there were a few places to eat locally and a couple of nice pubs that would be within walking distance but they were the sort of place you went to if you lived in the area and didn't want to cook but nothing special. In other words, food that was good enough but not somewhere that you'd go for a night out. Of course things might have changed - it is some years since I moved up to Scotland but I think that the reasons why this was the case will still apply in that with the City Centre so close and with nothing other than some B&Bs to bring visitors from elsewhere to the area, they tended to cater for local residents rather than a wider clientele.

4) For good restaurants, wine bars etc you will have to go into the City Centre and as Helen says that is beautiful with lots to offer but you won't be at the centre of things on Hoole Road if that is what you were looking for - it's a Victoriam suburb and I found it a great place to live but not exactly a 'happening' part of town.

However, all that said, their prices on their website are very reasonable indeed for Chester and anything closer to the centre is going to be more expensive. I suspect that most of their guests are people travelling to Chester on a work related trips, rather than holidays, and who are looking for somewhere more economical and homelier than any of the city centre hotels. Which might suit you down to the ground if you don't mind the location towards the edge of the city - probably closer to the ring road than the city centre really - and certainly handy if you are arriving by road from the north or east or by train.

SM

ah thanks for the info..wasnt much left available and like you say it was very expensive in the centre. we're only there overnight so we'll get taxi back after night out.

thanks