Country House Hotel Yorkshire

Step back in time at this charming hotel and find beautiful gardens, smart rooms, ambrosial food and top-notch service

This fine old country house is English to its core. It stands in 26 acres of attractive gardens with lawns that sweep down to a small river and paths that weave through private woods. Inside, you find a world that carries you back to grander days. There's an elegant entrance hall that floods with light, a sitting room bar in racing green, then a golden drawing room where doors open to a pretty terrace for lunch in summer. Wander about and find fires primed for combustion, the daily papers laid out in reception, an elegant staircase that rises towards a glass dome. Country-house bedrooms are full of colour. You get bowls of fruit, beautiful beds, gorgeous linen, garden flowers. Bigger rooms have sofas, all have robes in super bathrooms. Back downstairs, there's serious food in the restaurant, perhaps lobster with cardamon and mango, duck with chicory and orange, warm chocolate cake with caramelised banana. If that's not enough, come home early for afternoon tea in front of the fire. The Dales and the Moors are close, while Fountains Abbey and Castle Howard are both within striking distance.

Local points of interest from Tim Howard:

Local points of interest from
Tim Howard:

• Yorkshire's Castle Howard Yorkshire's finest historic house and estate and home to the Howard family for over 300 years is Castle Howard. Much more than a visitor attraction, it's a thriving rural estate with traditional farming and forestry enterprise.
• Yorkshire's HMS Endeavour Also known as HM Bark Endeavour, the HMS Endeavour is the only full-size replica of the Captain James Cook in the Northern hemisphere and one of only two such vessels in the world. Once aboard it's possible to get guided tours.
• Darlington's Railway Museum Just a half hour drive away from the hotel is the Head of Steam, Darlington Railway Museum which is on the 1825 route of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway. On site are many 1830s heritage buildings.