Walwick Hall Hotel

Ideally placed for visiting Hadrian's Wall, this Georgian country house in a 100-acre estate is now run as a small luxury hotel. Interiors are warm and inviting, with period-style furniture, blazing fires, ‘friendly service’. Bedrooms mix plaids and florals, heavy drapes, comfy chairs, avian and botanical prints. All have a super-king bed, coffee machine, home-baked biscuits, luxury toiletries. ‘Large, bright’ marble bathrooms have a shower or free-standing bath and shower. ‘Afternoon tea is extremely popular’, served in the bar, drawing room or ‘one of the nicest spots, on the south-facing terrace’. At night in a dining room with ‘dramatic wallpaper' and mirrors, locally sourced and home-grown produce appear in modern British dishes such as lamb loin riblet, lamb-fat roastie, turnip and yeast puree, wild garlic; cauliflower and Beaufort cheese, white balsamic, candied walnut, truffle honey. ‘The petit fours were outstanding’, artisan cheeses ‘truly superb’. At breakfast there are freshly squeezed or pressed juices, a full English or vegetarian. From the glass-walled pool pavilion you have sweeping views over the Tyne valley.