A stately staycation
AMAZING HOTELS: LIFE BEYOND THE LOBBY BBC2, 9pm
AFTER you’ve travelled the four corners of the globe, visiting the most exotic, stunning and far-flung locales, staying in places renowned as the most luxurious, glamorous and incredible places on their respective continents, being told you’re going on a trip to Yorkshire could be a bit of a letdown.
But then again, as presenter Giles Coren points out, this is God’s Own Country.
He and co-presenter Monica Galetti visit the Yorkshire Dales to stay and work at Swinton Estate, the ancestral home of Lord and Lady Masham. It’s a proper old school British stately home, Downton Abbey-style, covered in ivy and surrounded by land teeming with wildlife.
Swinton Park is set in 200 acres of gorgeous greenery, but the estate itself is an incredible 20,000 acres and includes villages, farms and moorlands. But 20 years ago, owners Mark and Felicity decided to open up their ancestral home to paying guests and turn it into a luxury hotel.
Now housing 32 bedrooms and suites, the grand house is back to its best and gives guests the aristocratic country retreat experience. They can try their hands at fly fishing or falconry, as well as try more modern activities like cooking or cocktail making.
Lord and Lady Masham – aka Mark and Felicity – have also come up with many innovative ideas to turn this centuries-old property into a viable modern-day business, like luxury yurts, converted cottages and wooden tree lodges. It’s a timeless place, perfectly in touch with the modern world.