A chic new stay in Northumberland… for under £170 a night

Times

4 hours ago

Alnwick is abuzz. A hotel has just opened in this small Northumberland town, 30 miles north of Newcastle. And it offers a blend of 21st-century comfort, facilities and gastronomic cooking on a scale unmatched in its hospitality scene.
Even so, despite the brand-spanking newness of the project, Bailiffgate hotel reminds many locals inescapably of their youth. The reason? 'Most of us went to school here,' Bernard Bloodworth, the general manager, said last week when I was the first travel writer to check in. 'The buildings were part of the Duchess's School which, from 1979, has been the town's only high school. And ever since we opened, people have been in to see how it's changed.'
Apparently their first memory of any room is of the teacher and the subject they taught there — Mr Matthews for French, perhaps, or chemistry with Miss Oliver. The first time he walked in, Bloodworth did it too. Before a globe-spanning career in hotel management, he was also a pupil — as was the footballer Lucy Bronze, one of the stars of England's European Championship-winning team in 2022.
A lot has changed since the school moved to a new site in 2016. At vast expense, the Georgian houses that front the property have been rescued from dry rot and sketchy foundations. At the back, less distinguished buildings have been supplanted by a handsome sandstone extension that wouldn't look out of place in a Cambridge college. But that hasn't broken the personal connections that still bind locals and staff to the building. Probably that's why it feels so comfortable in its own skin so soon after it opened.
In other words, the recent past is proving a valuable asset for a hotel that wants to get off to a flying start. But the happy hum is not the most remarkable thing about it. What elevates the Bailiffgate into the superleague of recent hotel launches is what lies just across the road; and it comes with a much longer history.
No one knows exactly when Alnwick Castle was built. The earliest written evidence mentions it in 1138. But it's clear from its curtain wall and its 15th-century barbican that it became a mighty fortress, and both are right there in front of you when you step onto the hotel's doorstep. Barring the odd crossbowman and a rumbling portcullis, they're in full working order too.
• The UK's best walking holidays
We can thank the Percy family for their miraculous state. In the 716 years since they bought it, both they and their fortress have seen some torrid times — sieges, rebellions, battlefield disasters, a beheading. But they've proved themselves a tenacious clan, as well as resourceful and capable stewards of the building.
Now, under the 12th Duke of Northumberland, it's enjoying something of a renaissance. Launched in 2001 by the present duchess, its garden has grown to include a famous collection of poisonous plants as well as cascades, fragrant roses, formal flowerbeds and the world's largest play structure for kids: a labyrinth of slides, towers and covered walkways known as Lilidorei (adults £21.45, children £17.60; alnwickgarden.com). Meanwhile, in the castle — where the duke and his family still live, for some of the year — a recent restoration project has made its 19th-century state rooms mind-bendingly opulent once more (adults £21.55, children 11.35; alnwickcastle.com). Each year an estimated 600,000 visit the castle and gardens. Many remember Harry Potter's first broomstick lesson in the Outer Bailey. It featured in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001.
• 100 of the Best Places to Stay in the UK
Now the hotel has given us another way to enjoy this extraordinary monument. Owned by the duke and his family, the Bailiffgate is operated by the Bespoke Hotels group, and the only way to get closer to the castle at night would be to take your pyjamas over the road and ask the Percys if you can snuggle up with them.
You might, however, prefer the privacy of your hotel bedroom. The Georgian Suites in the old school buildings are the most atmospheric and impressive of the 48 rooms. With giant beds, rolltop baths and enough room to educate a class of 30 kids, they'll bestow an almost ducal sense of personal space on your visit. Nearby, in the new annexe, the castle view rooms are the pick of the doubles. Here, the decor is a little too polite for my tastes, but the medieval walls outside add a welcome sense of wow, while mustard-coloured chairs and well-planned lighting brighten the mood indoors. Superking beds promise a good night's sleep too. In summer B&B doubles start from £185; in winter that drops to £167.
Meanwhile, down in the kitchen, the chef Paul Blakey and his team are cooking up a storm. 'Although quality is paramount, we're not chasing AA rosettes or Michelin stars,' Bloodworth told me on arrival. But if Team Blakey's performance on a Monday night was anything to go by, they should. It's easy for busy dishes like theirs to become muddled, but my wild mushroom starter with crumb-coated poached egg, hash browns, frisée lettuce and red coriander was a multitextured, multifaceted delight. Every flavour played its part and nothing seemed out of place. Even better, it cost £10, with mains starting from £20. It was no wonder that the expansive dining room, decked out with bentwood chairs and tweed-green upholstery, was full on a rainy Monday night. Meanwhile, at lunchtime on Tuesday, a twice-baked goat's cheese soufflé, flooded with a gentle fondue and just a hint of black truffle, was another showcase for Blakey's subtlety — and at £14, his very reasonable prices.
• Read our full guide to the UK
Next year, beyond the hotel's big terrace, the old gym and library will become a spa. But in the meantime the only thing I wished for amid all this comfort and feasting were some proper paintings on the walls. Admittedly, that's a big ask when the Percys are supplying them. They're unlikely to lend the works by Titian, Canaletto or William Dobson — England's first great home-grown artist — which adorn the castle's state rooms. But the full-size reproductions of family portraits that hang in their place strike a flat and synthetic note in such resonant surroundings. Surely, there must be a storehouse of original engravings and estate maps they could raid.
This, however, is a minor niggle. After all, if you want authenticity, just walk outside — as I did, repeatedly. In part, that was because I had come by train, blasting up to nearby Alnmouth from London in three and a half hours, before taking a £13 taxi into town. After that, day-tripping to the coast by bus seemed a journey too far. But mostly it was because Alnwick itself will reward several days of gazing. Never more so than when the skies clear and the midsummer sun shines long into the evening.
At that time of day, the northern end of town falls silent, except for the odd rasp of a rook, and a great big bowl of parkland beckons, beyond the River Aln. You turn left at the old school's front door, walk three minutes down a hill, and there it is, green and thoughtful, across a bridge. By now, the sun will have reached round far enough to bathe the castle's northern walls in rich golden light. If you want a lesson in how lovely Northumberland can be, this is where to get it.
This article contains affiliate links, which can earn us revenue
Sean Newsom was a guest of Bailiffgate hotel, which has B&B doubles from £167 (bailiffgatehotel.com), and LNER, which has London-Alnmouth one-way fares from £44.70 (lner.co.uk)