Saturday 26th August 17, My husband and I were driving back from Northumberland. We drove down lovely country lanes with wonderful scenery via Rothbury, Corbridge, around the edges of Bishop Auckland and continued our journey into the village of Aldbrough St John, where we were going to stay at ‘Hollymoor House’ for one night’s dinner bed and breakfast.
We arrived at Hollymoor House a stunning barn conversion around 6.00pm. We were greeted by Andrew and Caroline the owners and was given a very warm welcome, we were offered complimentary tea and coffee on our arrival in there lovely light cream lounge with a wonderful view over there lake. My husband and I were very grateful for this gesture.
Afterwards, we were given the ‘Room No 4’, a downstairs charming double room that overlooked the lake and was full of late afternoon sunshine. The furnishings were cream and a soft pale grey, with a pale grey wood dressing table and chairs. The bedroom was quite spacious and the decor was done out in a light creamy walls.
We had a king size double bed with a white cotton sheets and duvet and a soft pale grey and pink coverlet and matching soft pale grey curtains and cushions. There was a drinks tray with tea, coffee and hot chocolate and complimentary biscuits, which was in keeping with the ‘attention to detail’ of the guest house.
We had a fully tiled en-suite shower / wet room, that had a lovely power shower and had piping hot water, and hot fluffy towels, it was done out in pale beige and white with silver modern bathroom fittings.
My husband and I unpacked and settled in, and then we went for a walk around the lake in the late afternoon sun, and we sat for a while on the bench by the lake and I wrote a poem here called ‘Forgotten Love. It was lovely and peaceful to sit beside this lake with the sinking sun and birds and ducks swimming gracefully across the water.
Later we then went into to the Lounge area for our dinner. There was a large open plan kitchen in which Caroline prepared and cooked our evening meal. The Lounge room was lovely, light and airy and done out in cream, which lent an air of space to this large and lovely room. A table for two had been laid out for dinner with white table napkins, silver cutlery and fresh flowers on the table.
Caroline is a very accomplished chef and my husband and I were served to a wonderful two course meal. My husband for his main course had Sirloin of beef, griddled courgette and tomato salad served with chunky fries and mustard vinaigrette, my husband said the beef just melted in your mouth. I had Pan-fried sea bass, provincial vegetables and roasted new potatoes; we washed all this lovely food down with two large glasses of chilled Chardonnay wine.
We both had desserts. My husband for his dessert had vanilla pannacotta served with mini meringues and fresh strawberries. I had the dark chocolate tart served with fresh raspberries and vanilla ice cream, which was simply delicious and a perfect finish to the meal.
Afterwards, both had coffee and we spent some time talking to two other guests, who were also staying at Hollymoor House. They were both teachers and were having a ‘chill out’ weekend from friends and family. My husband and I talked and chatted with them till gone mid-night.
Later still we looked at some magazines and books that were available for our use, then my husband and I both crept sleepily to our room where we snuggled up, like two kittens in a cat basket and had a relaxing and refreshing night’s sleep.
Sunday 27th August 17, after a full English breakfast Mark and I packed our cases in the car, settled our bill and said our ‘Farewells’ to Andrew and Caroline of ‘Hollymoor House’.
If you want a beautiful countryside retreat and a peaceful place to rest and re-charge then this is the place to be
