Swinton Park, North Yorkshire
Staying at Swinton Park is like spending the night at a National Trust property. You get fascinating history and stunning architecture in a great location.
Staying at Swinton Park is like spending the night at a National Trust property. You get fascinating history and stunning architecture in a great location. You can't help but say 'Wow' as you sweep up the drive of this country hotel set in 200 acres of lush parkland, lakes and gardens on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.
Wander along the vast corridors and you will come across fascinating titbits from the past: a birthday telegram from Winston and Clemmie Churchill to Viscount Swinton, a Minister during the Second World War, and a thank you note from Neville Chamberlain who stayed in 1939. After the war, part of the house was used as a Tory study centre when Harold Macmillan, Willie Whitelaw (owner Mark Cunliffe Lister's maternal grandfather) and Ted Heath were regular visitors.
For all its grand rooms and history, Swinton is very relaxed. There's no formal dress code, even when you have dinner in the imposing restaurant with its huge gilted ceiling and picture windows. My sister Marianne felt so at home that she fell asleep on the sofa in front of a huge fire in the drawing room having happily stuffed her face with cheese and fruit cake.
Children are free to roam and you can just imagine them running along the endless corridors playing hide and seek. You can borrow wellies and waterproof jackets from the boot room, along with kites and fishing rods. There are plenty of other activities to keep you entertained. Play bowls, boules and croquet on the lawn or try clay pigeon shooting, mountain biking or horse riding. There's also a snooker room, small spa and private cinema.
One of the things that struck me most was its remarkably good value. OK, the largest suite will set you back £350 a night but the smallest, and my favourite, Ripon, was only £120 a night. It has a sleigh bed, antique writing desk and a huge picture window. Nice touches included complimentary decanters of whisky and gin and homemade shortbread.
My only criticism is that more could have been made of the bathrooms. The Molton Brown toiletries did not make up for the cheap flooring and run-of-the-mill white bathroom suites.
The food is great and I had one of the best dinners I've ever tasted: terrine of Swinton Park game with sauterne jelly, followed by venison with caramelised cauliflower, braised red cabbage and rowanberry jus. I even had room for a fig and frangipan tart with mascarpone cream. All for £32 a head.
Swinton Park (01765 680900, www.swintonpark.com), Masham, Ripon, North Yorkshire HG4 4JH. Double rooms with breakfast from £120 a night.
Seaham Hall, County Durham
Seaham Hall prefers to give its 19 rooms names rather than numbers. Mine was Sexy and I had great visions of a rich interior decorated with great swathes of deep red silk and velvet cushions.
Seaham Hall prefers to give its 19 rooms names rather than numbers. Mine was Sexy and I had great visions of a rich interior decorated with great swathes of deep red silk and velvet cushions. It turned out to be one of the least sexy rooms I have ever stayed in. Navy blue carpet and curtains, along with corporate-style furniture made it look as if it could double up as a small meeting room. The great exception to this was the bathroom. Big enough to swing a few cats in, it had a huge roll-top bath and shower with space for two - and a head so large and powerful that I had to have a lie-down after each ablution. And there's great attention to detail: there were candles (and a box of matches), twin sinks, Molton Brown toiletries and waffle robes. You can even pre-book the bed linen of your choice: duck down or synthetic duvets, or sheets and blankets.
Some of the other rooms I saw better matched their descriptions (Hip, Cool, Romantic) and were tastefully decorated in contemporary style with not a patch of navy blue in sight. Decadent had a bath at the foot of the bed, which I guess is pretty decadent.
Seaham likes its gadgets. After a four-hour journey, my brain was not quite ready for them. It took me some time to get my head round the hand-held console that controls the TV, radio and music system, while mixing the perfect gin and tonic (I made that last bit up, but we can all dream). Fortunately the hotel has its own cocktail genius, a very smooth Frenchman who cheekily asks for your telephone number rather than your room number when he takes your order in the trendy drawing room.
One of the best things is that you do not have to get dressed until dinner and can walk around the spa and public areas in a karate-style casual cotton suit.
Most people go to Seaham Hall for its oriental spa and that's where we spent most of our time. There are steam rooms, saunas and a hamman, outdoor hot tubs and treatments including dry and wet flotation and Hopi Ear Candles, along with a vast range of massages. Marianne burned off calories in the gym while I enjoyed a leisurely swim.
My favourite pastime was lying on a 'sound wave massage chair' listening to the sound of the sea through my headphones and watching film of the ocean on the large TV screen. Every so often a motivational quote would appear on the screen: 'God helps those who persevere' from the Koran, and 'Hold fast to dreams'. I could only dream.
Seaham Hall (0191 516 1400, www.seaham-hall.com), Lord Byron's Walk, Seaham, Co Durham. Double rooms start from £195, including continental breakfast, use of the Serenity Spa and a newspaper.
The Capital Hotel, London
The first thing that strikes you about the Capital Hotel is how tiny it is. It has the smallest reception I have ever seen.
The first thing that strikes you about the Capital Hotel is how tiny it is. It has the smallest reception I have ever seen. When you check in you have to take only one step from the reception desk and you are face to face with the concierge. The bar also turned out to be diminutive with seating that could comfortably accommodate around 12 people. I craned my neck round the corner, expecting to see some more seats but all I saw was my own reflection in the glass.
Don't get me wrong; I am a big fan of small hotels. They are much more intimate and have more personality. But my other sister, Catherine, and I were staggered that a hotel with 48 rooms and a restaurant with two Michelin stars could have such a small bar. When we came down for pre-dinner drinks on a Saturday night we were expecting the place to be heaving. Amazingly, we were the only ones there.
Diners were going straight to their table, a sensible move when some of them had to get through a five-course gastronomic menu. I was jealous, of course. I had made the mistake of ringing up only a few days before to book a table, hoping that the fact that I was a hotel guest would swing it. But you need at least a week's notice to secure a dinner reservation. Clive, the down-to-earth concierge, approved of our choice of local restaurant, The Brasserie in South Kensington. 'Great mussels,' he said.
The Capital is probably more famous for its restaurant than its hotel. Its gastronomic reputation has attracted the likes of Michael Portillo, Lord Irvine, Trevor McDonald and Peter Mandelson but few big names stay here. It tends to attract the aristocracy, who favour a discreet bolthole where the concierge remembers your name. It no doubt explains why the hotel has not given in to the current craze for contemporary interiors and favours a more traditional, classic style. The furnishings in my junior suite (yes, it was a good size) were tasteful but understated. It was all quality stuff: marble bathrooms, Molton Brown toiletries, beautiful antique furniture and thick cotton sheets (no duvets here).
Service was friendly and efficient. My one small gripe was that the hotel does not have two keys available for each room, a touch inconvenient when my sister decided to have another drink in the bar while I headed upstairs for a bath.
The next morning we had high expectations of our breakfast - probably too high. The cereals, fruit compote and yoghurt were delicious, but my ham and tomato omelette was undercooked in the middle while my sister found her sausage with her full English breakfast too herby for first thing in the morning. No complaints, however, about the delicious homemade raspberry jam and thick-cut marmalade that accompanied our toast and croissants - and it was refreshing to have Earl Grey tea with proper leaves instead of teabags.
The Capital Hotel (020 7589 5171, www.capital-london.net), 22 Basil Street, London SW3 1AT. Double rooms from £250 a night, excluding breakfast.
