Headlam Hall

Guests continue to be delighted by this grand country house – sweeping gardens, historic features, smart bedrooms, swish spa – with a warm, down-to-earth atmosphere. ‘Relaxed and unstuffy,’ comments one about this family-run hotel; ‘extremely helpful staff,’ notes another. The creeper-covered hall, dating from Jacobean times, has flagged and polished-wood floors, panelled walls, an orangery dining room, and terraces overlooking walled gardens and beyond to the Robinson family’s farmland. Yet it’s ‘comfortably’ furnished with tartan carpets, tweed-covered armchairs, and walls with hunting prints and Victorian watercolours. There is plenty of space to relax, from the elegant drawing room and cosy library bar to the spa and gardens. Spacious bedrooms have a modern country house feel with calming colours, and range from the main hall, with original features and antiques, to contemporary spa bedrooms and more rustic mews and coach-house rooms. Austen Shaw’s modern British menus offer an ‘excellent’ choice of dishes from roast duck or salmon with spiced risotto to tagines and pastas. ‘I’d not hesitate to stay again.’ (RW, HP)