Place to have your fill of old world charm and good food

STUART GREER took his wife to Hipping Hall in the Lune Valley for some serious me (and her) time . . .

SPENDING an hour sat in snarling traffic is never the best way to start what is supposed to be a romantic night away.

But all that motorway tension melts away when we head up the pebbly driveway of Hipping Hall.

Despite its opulent exterior, the 15th century house has modest beginnings, starting life as the home of the Tathams, a family of blacksmiths who plied their honest trade for all those travelling on the old pack horse route from Yorkshire to Cumbria, through Cowan Bridge.

These days it has been transformed into a retreat for food lovers and those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of life, by chemist turned hotelier Andrew Wildsmith.

Sat on the border of Lancashire, Cumbria and North Yorkshire, you would struggle to find a more perfectly placed country hideaway.

After leaving the car we are immediately swaddled in greenery, with tall bushes blocking out the sights and sounds of the whistling traffic as it speeds along the nearby A65.

What is left is the crunch of our footsteps on the gravel amid the bird song as our accommodation comes into view.

Walking towards Hipping Hall, with its collection of old stone buildings. complete with ivy clambering roofwards, is like stepping back in time and wouldn’t be out of place in a Beatrice Potter book.

Dappled in the fading sunlight the meticulously manicured and symmetrical garden lawn is impressive and you can immediately see why weddings are so popular here. Inside, there a much more modern touch to the reception room, bar and lounge, but the low beams, steep, creaky staircases and the nooks and crannies which would have no place in a 21st century, remind you of the history of the property.

After a lovely welcome we are led to our suite, known as room four, which boasts a lounge area with a sofa as well as a table and chairs, a large bedroom and a massive, and I mean massive, bathroom.

If that’s not enough, the whole thing overlooks the garden we’d spent so long admiring on the way in.

The grandeur of the bedroom is simply breathtaking. It’s not showy or overstated, it’s just elegant and cosy.

The bed perfect illustrates the juxtaposition of old and new. Here we have a handmade base, vispring mattress and leather backboard, while above are the original crisscross of ancient beams connected by a net canopy above.

The bathroom is again that mix of old and new, with the beams on show, wooden floorboards, underfloor heating and a shower behind a long