For a relatively small country, about the same size as the state of Mississippi, England has a remarkable number of ‘secret’ or ‘hidden’ corners. International travelers may be familiar with London, with historic sites, such as Stonehenge, and with popular tourist regions, such as the Cotswolds or the Lake District, but they’re less likely to have visited or heard about Northumberland. Even many English residents have never made it to the far north-east of the country.
I’ve explored the region a few times, but I’ve always spent time on the coast: hiking, walking our dog on beautiful windswept beaches, and visiting ancient castles. Until now, I hadn’t delved far into the Northumberland interior. Now, I know better.
A pleasant rollercoaster of a road rises and falls through sunny English countryside on the way towards Matfen Hall. The hotel is just outside the village of Matfen, with the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, Kielder Water and Forest Park (England’s first Dark Skies zone, known for excellent stargazing), Northumberland National Park, North Pennines AONB (area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), and the Northumberland coast all within an hour’s reach.
We pull the car up next to a trickling fountain in the driveway outside the hotel, close to statues of stags that are sat amongst the shrubbery. There’s a Latin inscription over the main doorway into the stone building, which, I’m told means “Now or never.”
Inside and out, Matfen Hall makes a grand impression. It was originally built between 1832-36 as a country residence and later leased out to be used as a residential nursing home, before becoming a hotel in 1999. Walwick Estate Group (who own nearby Walwick Hall, a boutique country hotel near Hexham) bought the hotel in 2020 and set out on an extensive, multi-million pound refurbishment, closing in 2022 and reopening the new, improved incarnation in April 2023. The 65-bedroom hotel, a Grade II-listed building, is set within more than 300 acres of parkland, which encompasses a 27-hole Championship golf course.
There’s a roaring fire in the reception next to plush red sofas and old portrait paintings. Welcoming, chatty staff lead us further inside to complete check-in in the grandeur of the Great Hall, which feels like a leap back in time or a movie set. There’s a high ceiling with gold stars above us, a huge stained glass window, and a stately wooden staircase curving up to a second floor, with a grand piano beneath it. An old stone fireplace has wood piled high beside it. Swords and shields are mounted on the walls, as well as red and green tapestries, and a towering grandfather clock. It looks like the banquet hall of an old castle.
There’s a regal feeling to other parts of the building, with golden lions on the wallpaper that lines the corridors and classic landscape paintings. But the hotel isn’t stuck in the past. You never know what you’ll find in the next room, with traditional spaces giving way to striking contemporary décor. The lounge area just along from the Great Hall is a world apart, bright and modern, with luminous blue floral chairs under futuristic, gleaming, ring-shaped chandeliers. Light wooden arches around the room reference the historic cloisters with stone archways throughout the hotel.
Stairs lead down to Cloisters, the bar and restaurant where breakfast and dinner are served, where there are modern abstract landscape paintings. A gold-railed terrace hovers over the bar area. The 1832 bar and lounge has an ornate wooden fireplace and bold blue, yellow and red armchairs and sofas, with plush carpets and two gleaming chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The Orangery is different again, an airy conservatory, where afternoon tea is served, with green scenes of tree branches and birds on the walls, the windows looking out onto trees and golf course outside. I’ve often found ‘golf hotels’ a bit lacking in style and character, but that’s not the case here.
We stay in a Family Suite, the two bedrooms decorated in a dusky grey, with grey curtains and carpets, the grey and white wallpaper giving off a silvery shine when it catches the light. The emperor-size bed in the main room has soft, comfortable 300-thread-count Egyptian cotton sateen sheets and pillows, with a large grey headboard above. There’s also a large television, with facilities for making tea and coffee on the writing table, and a wardrobe that contains a fridge at the end of a short corridor. Good blinds on the windows make the room very dark at night. The second smaller bedroom has bunk beds and an Xbox. There’s a splash of color from a bright pink and blue abstract painting on the wall between the two rooms.
There are also two bathrooms, one with a walk-in rainshower and a separate big oval bathtub, the other with a shower and bathtub combined, both rooms brightly lit and immaculately clean, with white and grey marble in floors and walls, metal taps and shower heads polished to a gleam.
In the evening, we make our way down to Cloisters, a dimly lit room next to the downstairs bar, where there are bright blue chairs, stone walls, and arty portraits of crabs, fish, herons and other creatures. We kick off with a few cocktails, including a really well-made, punchy Old Fashioned, a personal favorite, with my wife going for another classic, a margarita, that’s served in a tall Manhattan cocktail glass. From a very appealing menu, my wife orders a twice-baked cheese soufflé with parmesan and rosemary, followed by a main of slow-braised belly pork in a dark rich sticky Chinese Char Siu sauce with added color from wok-fried greens and red chillies. I go down the seafood route, starting with a warming plate of seared scallops with truffle, parmesan, potato puree and lemon oil, then an excellently cooked and seasoned darne of salmon with crunchy triple-cooked chips, all the food here well-presented and landing on the indulgent, hedonistic side. The dessert follows suit: a salted caramel sundae with layers of ice cream, cream, chocolate brownie and other thick, tasty sweetness.
Although we’re not at Matfen Hall for the golf or the wellness spa, just for a relaxing country break, we make use of the facilities at The Retreat, including an early morning swim in the light blue-tiled, 16-metre swimming pool, which has statues of stags’ heads and large abstract art paintings on the walls, and loungers along the side. A glass ceiling above the pool allows the sight of clouds passing by. In a corner of the hall, there’s also a Thermal Suite with a sauna, steamroom, aromatherapy room and an ice bucket shower.
For breakfast, we’re back down at the Cloisters bar, with tables arranged next to the stone arches. Tea and coffee are quickly delivered, along with little baskets of croissants and pain au chocolat, and bowls of yoghurt with granola and a berry compote. A waiter takes our order from the menu, my wife going for the Turkish Eggs (poached eggs with sourdough toast, garlic yoghurt and chilli oil), while I enjoy Eggs Royale, the Hollandaise sauce and runny poached eggs oozing out onto smoked salmon and little muffins.
We spend an easygoing day exploring the hotel’s gardens, passing by neat hedges and bright flowers that attract Red Admiral butterflies, the steps at the back of the hotel descending to the sprawling golf course, which has a central pond with a swan gliding across. We also take a stroll out of the grounds to Matfen and, later, a drive to nearby Corbridge, the village and town both featuring lovely sand-colored houses that makes the area feel like the Cotswolds of the north.
In the afternoon, back at the hotel, we get The Snug to ourselves, a quiet, tucked-away room with thick olive green carpet, bright orange and green chairs, a large mirror over the fireplace, and classic games, like Connect 4, and Dominoes, on the shelves, whiling away an hour or two with a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Champagne.
On our second night, we book in for dinner at Emerald, the hotel’s formal fine dining restaurant - a quiet hall with dark green chairs, pristine white table clothes, three large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and windows looking out to the terrace. There’s an elaborately carved wooden fireplace at the heart of the room, with shelves filling the walls with old leather books, alongside faux book panels. A couple of cocktails, a Sweet Manhattan for me and a cool French (gin, champagne, lemon juice and sugar syrup) for my wife, gets us off to a good start.
There’s a set dinner menu. After an Amuse Bouche, a caramelized onion gougère (choux pastry puff) with a hit of rosemary, there’s a light salad of heritage tomatoes, baby beets, goat’s curd, and olive crumb. While my wife praises the Beef Wellington, which comes with forest mushrooms, Bordelaise juice and baby summer vegetables, I (a non-meat-eater) opt for the vegetarian option: a earthy ravioli filled with chestnut mushroom and sage, served with crumbled hazelnuts, truffle, parmesan and girolle mushrooms. After a small palette-cleansing pre-dessert, a scoop of exceedingly minty ice cream with crisp chocolate mousse, the main event dessert artfully plates strawberries and cream with different textures, including a spiced strawberry sorbet. Although there is an option for wine-pairings to go with each course, we instead select a bold, fruity, spicy bottle of Carménère from Chile’s Aconcagua Valley for our meal, which goes particularly well with the final course: a chunk of powerful Morangie Brie with quince jelly and an elegant, leaf-shaped, caramelized walnut tuile.
After a morning swim and breakfast, we load up the car. It’s been a memorable and rejuvenating stay at an unexpectedly exceptional hotel. For people, it can often be difficult to age gracefully. But classic country houses across the UK, like Matfen Hall, seem to manage it just fine.
Matfen Hall Hotel, Matfen, Northumberland, NE20 0RH. Prices from £299 (approx. $365). For more info or to make a booking, see www.matfenhall.com or call (+44) 1661 886 500.
