After reading a few glowing reports of Horton Grange Country House Hotel, I thought it was high time to review the experience for readers of Northern Insight.
Accompanied by my wife Lisa, we checked into this privately-owned Grade-II listed historic country house hotel for an overnight stay. Despite having just nine bedrooms, it is very imposing and oozes charm and class. All nine traditional bedrooms are extremely well furnished with quality period furniture giving it a very relaxed, comfortable feel whilst still retaining its upmarket country house appeal. That said, all bedrooms come with modern flat screen TVs, writing desks and high-speed complimentary wi-fi.
We checked in on a bitingly cold Winter’s day, warmed ourselves in front of a log fire in its stately guest lounge before checking in to our bedroom. After a shower we retired to the lounge for a livener before dinner.
We dined in its light and airy conservatory where a new a la carte menu had recently been introduced. I’d heard some great reviews in recent times so we looked forward to it with great anticipation.
Lisa kicked off somewhat adventurously with the Thai marinated gravadlax with spiced remoulade before following up with the pan seared fillet of beef with creamed potatoes, confit shallots and heritage carrots.
I took much deliberation over a thoughtful and enticing menu, swerving some of the more exotic options in favour of more hearty fare. To begin, I chose the smoked ham hock with fried quails egg and red onion ketchup before tucking into the slow cooked belly pork in a honey & soy glaze with a smear of apple gel.
To finish, I picked a warmed marmalade pudding sharpened with a good glug of Cointreau with orange curd. Lisa meanwhile tucked into a board of traditional farmhouse cheeses which rounded off what had been an exemplary meal. Serving modern British cuisine seven nights a week, I can fully understand why Horton Grange Country House Hotel is such a popular spot with guests and nonresidents alike.
Many hotels talk the talk about being continually committed to using only sustainable and welfare friendly ingredients but this hotel also walks the walk by no longer using foie gras in any of its dishes. Good for them. Formal afternoon tea is also very popular occurrence with non-residents because, as with everything at Horton Grange Country House Hotel, it is done properly.
In its country estate setting, this is a great venue for wedding or other significant private function as it has a “wow” factor and is certainly impressive.
This high-end hotel is only 5.7 miles from Newcastle Airport but because of its size, it is probably overlooked by business travellers in favour of the bigger formula type hotels. It is there loss. They don’t know what they are missing. The saying goes that big is beautiful but, if done properly, small can be too. For one thing, the service to customer ratio is also greatly enhanced and this was very evident during dinner where the charming and efficient Roxanne, one of the hotel’s Senior Supervisors, showered attention upon us throughout our meal.
Horton Grange Country House Hotel is only minutes away from Newcastle but it seems country miles away in tranquillity terms and on this experience, I can thoroughly recommend it. This is an independent hotel ticking all the boxes for all the right reasons!
