Romantic and Yorkshire are two words that work beautifully together. The weather might be wet and the breeze stiffening when you visit, but find a lovely restaurant with rooms somewhere in the Dales, or a stately manor hotel wrapped in wooded parkland and you’ll get to experience the cosy, heartwarming side to this magnificent county. It’s no surprise that some of the area’s most romantic hotels are in idyllic locations – like quiet villages or with mesmerising views or right in the heart of the city, surrounded by fancy restaurants and lively nightlife – while some seduce with the quality of their food and others just ooze head-turning looks. This is not a place that has to rely on hot tubs and fancy gizmos to get the pulses racing… Here’s our pick of the most romantic hotels in Yorkshire.
The Star Inn
Harome, Helmsley, England
This Michelin-starred restaurant-with-rooms boasts a bucolic farming-village location, a late-medieval, thatched pub with flagged floors and low beams and bedrooms in converted farm buildings with exposed beams, creamy plaster and hanging baskets outside. But dining here is the main event. Whitby-born chef-owner Andrew Pern is a champion of local sourcing and utilises moorland game, coastal fish and Yorkshire Wolds’ fruit and vegetables. His tasting menus are punchy, robust yet skilfully balanced – a real treat for a special occasion a deux.
From
£
150
per night
Grays Court
York, Yorkshire, England
This hotel – arguably York’s smartest address – positively vibrates with the past, from its medieval stone-flagged entrance hall and leaded windows to the bow-windowed Georgian dining room and 90ft long, Jacobean, oak-panelled gallery on the first floor. It feels elegant but relaxed, with a mix of English and French antiques, modern sofas and contemporary artwork and reportage photography. Fireplaces and leaded windows add character to the rooms while Jo Malone diffusers and thick curtains add luxury. Bathrooms, on the other hand, are sharp and modern perhaps with a copper bath or glitzy tiled wall.
From
£
167
per night
Rates provided by
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Grantley Hall
Ripon, Yorkshire, England
This sprawling Palladian-style hall (17th-century origins) set in 30 acres of parkland has a sweep of distractions, from an impressive two-level spa with 18-metre pool to a wine-tasting room and a choice of five restaurants including that of Michelin-starred chef Shaun Rankin. Style-wise, classic stately home features have been elegantly reinterpreted for the 21st century, like bay trees in urns guarding the entrance, velvet furniture, and doors that open onto numerous terraces. Despite the grandeur of the downstairs reception rooms, the 47 bedrooms are surprisingly muted, but they do come with decanters of damson gin, touch-button lighting, and even a bathrobe menu.
From
£
275
per night
Rates provided by
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Ox Pasture Hall Hotel
Scarborough, Yorkshire, England
Although only 10 minutes from the coast and the razzamatazz of Scarborough, this hotel feels deep in the country, surrounded by fields, woods and its own very pretty gardens. The former Victorian farmhouse, all ivy-covered golden stone and cream-painted sash windows, has been sympathetically extended with additional wings and two courtyards with pretty water features. Inside, it has aimed to keep a cottagey feel but with a country-house smartness. The 32 rooms are all a reasonable size and a few have four-poster beds. Silky bedspreads and curtains in pale blues and golds add a touch of glamour, while bathrooms are luxuriously tiled in natural stone, all with bath and shower.
From
£
140
per night
Rates provided by
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Crab Manor Hotel
Thirsk, Yorkshire, England
Fun and flirty, individually themed rooms combined with a well-regarded seafood restaurant serving the likes of lobster thermidor and grilled Queen scallops make this a hugely popular choice for special occasions. People come to relax and spoil themselves – or their partner – so this place is unashamedly aimed at hedonists. There are gardens for dozing with a book/proposing, a terrace around the restaurant for lingering lunches, a sitting room for (complimentary) pre-dinner canapés while most bedrooms have private whirlpool tubs (some also have saunas) and there’s a shared whirlpool tub and sauna for the rest.
From
£
165
per night
Dakota Deluxe
Leeds, Yorkshire, England
In the heart of Leeds’ fashionable shopping and restaurant district, this luxuriously low-key hotel has the feel of a private members’ club. Named after the transatlantic Dakota aircraft of the 1930s, the hotel aims to capture the same elegance. The glossy-black and pearly-white exterior and tinted-window effect suggest exclusivity, while inside it’s all smooth grey-on-grey, velvet sofas and mirrored wall-panels. Lighting levels are seductively low and black-and-white photographs of Hollywood legends line the walls; the 85 rooms are similarly dark and cocooning. The Grill restaurant is stylish, clubby affair and offers brasserie dishes given a little tweak. At weekends the first-floor Salon Privé opens, a chic cocktail bar with balcony and live music.
From
£
101
per night
Rates provided by
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The Yorke Arms
Nidderdale, Yorkshire, England
This Michelin-starred restaurant-with-rooms in an off-the-beaten-track location ticks all the boxes for an indulgent, romantic getaway: spoiling food, a restorative night’s sleep, and walks on the doorstep. Some even helicopter in from London for chef-patron Frances Atkins’s Michelin-starred and flavour-intense cooking. Neither fussy nor tricksy, it’s superbly confident, imaginative and full of the unexpected: turmeric jelly with apple and cocoa nibs, rabbit with wild garlic and birch, chocolate with lychee and rose. The 18 rooms are contemporary country-house in style. Named rather than numbered, themes are reflected in wallpapers, paintings, books and decorative details.
From
£
345
per night
Middlethorpe Hall & Spa
York, Yorkshire, England
This small country house hotel charms with its striking looks, comfortably traditional rooms and flawless service. Two Edwardian cottages have been converted into a small spa, with indoor pool. A flagstone terrace overlooks 20 acres of grounds – including a walled garden, parkland and small lake – as does the drawing-room; one of several sitting-rooms, all heaped with newspapers and magazines. With genuine antiques, pretty little armchairs and old-fashioned dressing-tables, the 29 rooms feel like the guest bedrooms of a well-heeled friend’s house in the country. Some have window-seats, all have books, fresh flowers, fruit and homemade biscuits.
From
£
99
per night
Rates provided by
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Yorebridge House
Bainbridge, Yorkshire, England
A chic, award-winning boutique hotel set in six acres of private grounds in some of the Yorkshire Dales’ most beautiful scenery. Built in 1850 from local stone, the gabled, Yorebridge House consists of a former headmaster’s house and an adjacent schoolhouse, plus a two-storey barn conversion a five-minute walk away in Bainbridge. Open fires, solid oak and stone flagged flooring mark the public areas. Rooms are named after the places owners David and Charlotte have fallen in love with on their travels. The New York-influenced Greenwich Loft Suite, for example, has two freestanding roll-top baths and great views. Four rooms have private hot tubs.
From
£
220
per night
Rates provided by
Mr & Mrs Smith
Swinton Park
Ripon, Yorkshire, England
This baronial pile, with corner turrets, battlements and stupendous entrance tower, looks like a castle. Inside, it’s old-school, English stately home, with acres of polished-wood floors and dark-red rugs, vast corridors hung with gilt-framed portraits and massive windows. You will not be bored here: apart from a range of country pursuits, there are walking trails, a four-acre walled garden, nine-hole golf course, plus a cookery school. The sleek and airy spa aims to compete with Europe’s finest, combining indoor pools and thermal experiences with an outdoor pool, sauna and heated loungers. Rooms are perfectly comfortable – with nice touches of sloe gin, local books and super-size bathrooms.
From
£
110
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
This article was originally published by Telegraph.co.uk. Read the original article here.