Middlethorpe Hall: A Gorgeous Yorkshire Hotel

We spent two days in Yorkshire, and whilst we explored this area of England, we stayed at the beautiful Middlethorpe Hall. To quote wikipedia, "Middlethorpe Hall is a 17th century country house standing in 20 acres of grounds in Middlethorpe, York, North Yorkshire…It is a perfectly symmetrical red brick and stone house built in 1699 and since 2008 had been owned by the National Trust." 

There was a cat at reception and I spent a lot of time playing with it

At the risk of sounding tacky, I must quote the show Doctor Who. This hotel is bigger on the inside. From the outside, the house is reasonably sized, but when you get inside and you see the grand scale of the major rooms (library, drawing room) and then all of the staircases leading to the guest rooms --- Middlethorpe Hall certainly looks bigger on the inside!

Of the many places we stayed, this was one of my favorites. The layout and decor of the house was magnificent, as were the grounds. Each room was brightly painted and the furniture complimented the ambience wonderfully. I also enjoyed studying the many portraits that decorated the house. I found myself often thinking, "I could totally live in this country manor!"

The drawing room

Small sitting area in the foyer

The library

The dining room

Grand staircase that leads from the guest rooms to the main area of the hotel

My only major criticism of Middlethorpe Hall is access to the guest rooms. The guest rooms are stunning and very well decorated, but getting to them is a bit complicated and somewhat of a trek. Once you enter the hotel, you must walk up the main staircase (see above), walk down a narrow corridor, which brings you to another stairwell that is quite narrow and uneven. Once you walk up this second staircase, the maze of guest rooms appears and you must walk down narrow hallways to find your room. I suspect that the second narrow staircase used to be for servants. Whilst this journey is by no means difficult, the layout of the hotel leaves you wondering, as my father pointed out, "if there is a fire --- how do we get out? We're trapped!" Not a pleasant thought, I know, but an important one. 

My room had a distinct yellow and "Asia" theme. I especially love the old school writing desk.

My parents room

When my dad saw this he said, "can't you imagine a character from a Jane Austen novel getting herself ready at a table like this?!" 

As mentioned earlier, the manor has 20 acres of land. Whilst the area immediately behind the house and most of surrounding area is wooded, off to the corner, there is a really magnificent and extensive garden. My mother, who is a gardening and flower fanatic, totally lost herself in the garden. We spent a while wandering the grounds and had quite a photo shoot in the garden and in front of the house! 

View of the grounds and part of the garden from my parent's room

One of the inner courtyards of the garden

I love this little fountain surrounding by the pink flowers

After wandering the grounds, we returned to the manor and decided to relax in the drawing room before dinner. We each selected a comfortable seat, ordered a cocktail, and began to read our books. Perfectly delightful.

A pre-dinner cocktail: Pimm's Lemonade

That evening, we dined at the hotel restaurant, which is well reputed. The food was quite delicious and made use of local ingredients, which is a quality that I value in a restaurant. From start to finish, the meal was fantastic and we were delighted. 

The appetizers

The main dishes

Dessert

The next morning, before setting out to visit Castle Howard, we stopped at the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I enjoyed lox and scrambled eggs, whilst my mother tasted the pancakes (which are nothing like American pancakes), and my father opted for the traditional English breakfast! Everything was delicious, however, we were rather stunned by my mother's pancakes. They were more like crepes, rather than fluffy American pancakes. 

Reflecting on my time in England, I was genuinely sad to leave Middlethorpe Hall. Yes, getting to our rooms was a bit of a death trap, but otherwise, this hotel was amazing. The manor is so so so gorgeous and the grounds are stunning. I wouldn't mind going back and spending some more time there!