A little bit of luxury at Crathorne Hall Hotel, North Yorkshire

Sometimes the best breaks are those left to the last minute, and this little sneaky romantic night away was the BEST. The week between Christmas and New Year is a blur of cheese, telly & sales shopping so we decided to potter off for the night. My parents kindly treated us to a night away (and did the babysitting-Yass!) for our Christmas treat. But where to go?

Crathorne Hall Hotel

After a bit of internet, searching found a deal for dinner, bed and breakfast at Crathorne Hall Hotel which came highly recommended by my parents who have been a few times. The hotel is part of the Hand Picked Hotel group which all look beautiful & full of country charm. When booked through offpeakluxury.com the price came to £199 per couple, which included a glass of champers, canapes pre-dinner, three-course evening meal and a later check out of 12 noon. Sounded like a good deal and as it was only an hour away on the border of North Yorkshire was not far to travel.

Yarm High Street

Before we checked in to the hotel we did a little detour to the lovely cobbled High Street of Yarm. Yarm High street kind of reminds me of Morpeth (in size and look) with similar shops but seems to have a few more independent stores. The pubs and restaurants were busy but not too busy to not get a table on speck which we managed to in The Keys a gastropub in the middle of the high street. We had just wanted a sandwich but the main menu was Sunday roast & a few other selections. Alan went for the parmo (when in the ‘Boro) and i had a burger.

The food was good, staff were friendly and a glass of Shiraz went down well.

Check in at Crathorne

First impressions of Crathorne Hall were good. Reached from a single track road the Hall is very rural in the middle of woodland with it’s nearest neighbour being a farm shop. Definitely a place to get away from it all and to forget the chaos of Christmas in our house which we had left!

The entrance vestibule was a really interesting bit of architecture and was decked out with a gingerbread house and a large Christmas tree for the festive season. After a quick check in we were shown to our room which was named ‘Richmond’ on the first floor above the dining room. I was slightly anxious about booking the deal through a third party at this point but it was all cool in the gang. We hadn’t been ripped off-yey!

The room was lovely in neutral colours with everything you would need for a comfortable nights stay. Large bath/shower, wardrobes with dressing gowns to use, fridge, flat screen TV and tea and coffee facilities. We had a nice chill out, read the magazines provided, made coffee, used the bath, and opened a bottle of chilled fizz brought from home before heading downstairs to the bar before our 8pm meal. We like to test everything out in a hotel room!

Evening Meal at Crathorne

The bar area was lovely and there were only two other parties in the room the service was excellent. Although all 37 rooms were full, most of the guests were at a 70th Birthday party at another function room in the hotel.

After our glass of fizz and canapes, we were shown to the Dining Room & were told by the waiter that we had it to ourselves.

We could almost pretend to the Lord and Lady of the Manor ha ha! Food was excellent and the portions were big! Alan went for the pigeon and turkey dinner whereas I had pate and salmon. Coffee was served back at the lounge before heading up for a lush quiet nights sleep.

Breakfast Time at Crathorne

Breakfast was served in the dining room and we knew the waiter wasn’t lying when he said the hotel was full. Pretty much every table was taken up! A full English for me and eggs benedict for Alan set us up for the day. As it was New Year’s Eve and we had friends coming round in the evening we needed the strength to tackle the tidying up!

Last Thoughts

Crathorne was the perfect place for a little pre New year getaway. Every member of the staff team we encountered was friendly, and the food & accomodation was of a high standard. If leisure is your thing then it may not be a place for you as it doesn’t have golfing/spa/pool facilities. That didn’t bother us at all. In terms of a quiet night away Crathorne ticked all the boxes. I think we might have started a new Christmas tradition!