Hotel opens a window on a world gone by...
Katy Wheeler spends a weekend at a former coach house happy to doffs its historic
THE HEADY smell of wood smoke filled the air as a fug of fog hugged the rooftops when we arrived at this grand Georgian country estate.
It all added to the atmosphere of seclusion at Middleton Lodge – despite it being just a five-minute drive off the A1. Not that this bolthole near Richmond, in North Yorkshire, needs any more charm.
When it comes to attention to detail you’ll be hard-pushed to find avenue that does it quite like the site’s Coach House conversion.
Standing in the shadow of the main house, a popular wedding venue, the Coach House is now a luxury venue in its own right after being sympathetically converted into a restaurant, treatment rooms and accommodation by the owners of this picturesque 200- acre estate.
Where once it would have housed the carriages and horses of the estate’s owner, it’s now a set of nine beautifully-decorated rooms, each given a quintessentially English theme of its own.
In keeping with the venue’s equestrian history, we stayed in the Tack Room. Gone are the saddles and stirrups to be replaced by a crisp blue and white theme, where cushions are emblazoned with the distinctive blue Willow pattern while book shelves are propped by navy leather-bound copies of Dickens classics.
Look up and you’ll see the heavy oak rafters which have stood the test of time in a room which doffs its cap to its heritage.
It’s a theme that flows into the bathroom, a huge room featuring Moorish-inspired ocean blue tiling, a walk in shower, grand roll top bath and a period fireplace. There’s even sinks for two, though you could have fitted sinks for four in this huge bathroom of dreams.
If the rooms alone aren’t enough to draw you here, the restaurant and bar, which is