This ivy-clad, 17th-century Georgian manor could easily be mistaken for a castle at first glance due to a prominent turret. Get closer and you’ll find a 42-room Downtown Abbey-style stately home tucked into 20,000 acres of moorland and farmland where deer roam and guests go for bracing dips in a wild swimming lake. Inside, a labyrinth of chandelier-lit drawing rooms with gold-gilded portraits show off the estate’s history and make a regal setting for meals, while outside there’s more than enough to fill a long weekend, from cutting gardens — where guests can take flower clippings home — to clay pigeon shooting. Don’t be fooled: this is also a place for those who would rather do nothing at all — if that’s you, you’ll want to make for the extensive indoor-outdoor spa and snuggle up under a sheepskin.
Overall score 8/10
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Rooms and suites
Score 8/10
The 42 individually designed bedrooms are mostly in the main house, split into seven fun categories such as Earl, Knight and Baroness depending on their size and offering; the Earls Rooms, for instance, are known for their sweeping views across the parkland. Uniting each category is a sense of old school opulence with thick drapes over the beds and antique furnishings. The ten more modern bedrooms tucked into the Coach House, a separate stone building, are the top pick: each comes in soothing shades of greys, greens and mustard with herringbone fabrics and plush velvet headboards with colossal bathrooms (each with a freestanding bath and shower as standard).
Food and drink
Score 8/10
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Breakfast and dinner are served in Samuel’s, a grand dining room named after a Bradford wool and silk-combing pioneer. Here, rows of gold crenulated roses line the ceiling and fine dining dishes champion local, seasonal ingredients such as Yorkshire beef tartar and Walled Garden Vegetable Wellington. Breakfast is a buffet with larger dishes coming at an additional cost. Aim for a chair by the huge windows to spot deer as you tuck in.
Other options include the more laid-back Terrace Restaurant and Bar where guests can choose to sit indoors or out and tuck into light bites or mains cooked in a Josper oven. There’s also the Bivouac café; perfect for a coffee or sandwich before taking a stroll to see the Druid’s Temple in the grounds. There are also private dining options, including a chef’s table, if you’re looking for something special.
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What else is there?
Score 10/10
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This is the part where Swinton shows off. Options for how to spend your weekend are endless: fishing, cycling through the forest or holding owls at the birds of prey centre — there’s even a cookery school in a converted Georgian coach house (booking ahead is advised).
The main event is the spa, which is split between the thermal suite that branches off into a range of different experiences — think snow room, hydrotherapy pool, foot baths — and the main 18-metre pool and terrace where guests can get cosy on beds warmed by sheepskins, woollen blankets and hot water bottles. Do also try the herbal sauna that uses cuttings grown in the walled garden to infuse the air. Traditional treatments using Bamford products include full-body hot stone massages and bespoke facials, while guests seeking something more meditative can book the likes of forest bathing and sound baths or go for a dip in the lake; staff can provide floats.
Where is it?
Score 8/10
A 15-minute drive from the A1 and within easy driving distance of two of Yorkshire’s loveliest honeystone market towns, Bedale and Masham. Both are dinky but worth a visit; the latter has two breweries and a nine-hole golf course. For longer strolls, Fountains Abbey with its water gardens and crumbling monastery is a 30-minute drive away, as is the village of Wensleydale where wander to waterfalls — one of which, Hardraw Force, featured in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves — and stock up at cheese shops (Wensleydale Creamery has the best selection).
Price room-only doubles or B&B doubles from £270
Restaurant Mains from £19
Family-Friendly Y
Accessible Y
Dog-friendly Y
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Lucy Perrin was a guest of Swinton Park Hotel
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