Shallowdale House
Returning guests feel they’re ‘coming home’ when they stay at this wisteria-clad, light-filled 1960s house with its peerless views over gardens to the Howardian hills. More
Good Hotel Guide Review
Returning guests are received ‘just like old friends’ at this wisteria-clad, light-filled 1960s house with its peerless views over gardens to the Howardian hills. Run for many years by Phillip Gill and Anton van der Horst – whose afternoon tea and home-made cakes are legendary – its ace card is its picture windows that ensure striking views from every room. ‘Spacious’ bedrooms are full of warm colours, brightly patterned fabrics and a late 20th-century decorative style. Comfortable, with armchairs and books, it has lots of nice touches: pot plants, binoculars, Penhaligon bathroom products, ‘even a bowl of chocolates to dip into while watching the rabbits on the lawn’. The gardens of terraced lawns, borders and shrubberies are a ‘lovely wonder’ and excellent for birdwatching. Dinner (booked ahead), confidently cooked by Phillip, is an event with white napery, fresh flowers and four courses that might include endive gratin, hake with garlic crust and ‘delicious desserts’. Breakfast is similarly satisfying. A ‘deeply relaxing’ stay with ‘care for our welfare and comfort’. (Andrew Warren, Frances Thomas, and others)
Hotel details
Address
West End
Ampleforth
Yorkshire
YO62 4DY
England
Telephone
01439 788325
Bedrooms
3.
Open
all year except Christmas/New Year, ‘occasional’ other times.
Facilities
drawing room, dining room, sitting room/library, in-room TV (Freeview), 2½-acre gardens, unsuitable for disabled.
Background music
none.
Children
not under 12.
Dogs
not allowed.
Credit cards
Amex, MC, Visa.
Prices
B&B doubles from £155, singles from £135. Set dinner £50 (min. 48 hours’ notice). 1-night bookings occasionally refused weekends.
Other reviews
Good Hotel Guide articles about
Shallowdale House
- Britain Magazine: Top 10 British B&Bs
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