On a cold autumnal day, I headed to Northumberland for a chilled night at Newton Hall’s Garden Rooms. This is a review of my stay with my wife and eight-month-old baby.
Within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, you’ll find Newton Hall; a luxurious wedding venue that most can only dream of getting married at. Back in 2019 my wife and I visited Newton Hall after making a silly decision to plan our wedding in just a few months. We loved the venue, we loved the little village but most of all we just loved this area of Northumberland.
Ultimately, we got married a few minutes away at Doxford Barns but always wanted to return to stay in the area to explore the coast and, probably most importantly, to relax. Northumberland is so quiet and peaceful that it makes for the perfect staycation here in England.
I was recently invited to stay at Newton Hall’s Garden Rooms which are brand new for 2022. I remember visiting the venue and noticing a static caravan park right next door which always stuck in my mind. However, Newton Hall have created something so special and unique by investing £2.5 million in the Cabin Walk development. I’d seen many people stay over recently so I was super excited for it to be my turn for a chilled stay!
A STAY AT NEWTON HALL’S GARDEN ROOMS
On a cold autumnal mid-week day, we headed the hour or so up the road to Northumberland with our eight-month-old baby Evelyn in tow for, what we hoped at least, would be a very chilled night at one of the 27 Garden Rooms next to Newton Hall.
First up I just want to head off the ‘I don’t glamp’ crew, if any still exist. This is not glamping. The cabins are described as Garden Rooms and are essentially luxury hotel rooms finished to the a relatively high standard. A lot of the rooms come with hot tubs and a chiminea for outdoor relaxation at its best plus they all have a kitchen area with all of the basics needed for a night away.
We stayed in the Ultimate Garden Room (number 19) centered around the huge glass wall, one half of which slid open to essentially force you on to the private terrace where the hot tub awaited. The rest of the room had a sofa, wardrobe, kitchen area (with a fridge where we kept the peach melbas), a huge bed, TV and an ensuite bathroom. The entrance hall to our room was shared so there was another, much smaller, room at the front of the cabin but you wouldn’t have a clue that anyone else was around it feels that private.
There were a few little teething issues mind; the floor seemed to sink in places, one of the bathroom lights kept flashing like a 90’s disco and fresh milk wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Evelyn took no time to settle in. She was soon making her unique attempts to crawl and keeping us on our toes! We didn’t jump into the hot tub as quickly as we may have done before having a child. This was instead time to spend together as a family whilst Emma is still on maternity leave. I’d love to say that the whole stay at Newton Hall was super chilled but I’d be lying; we have an eight-month-old baby after all!
Soon after 7pm and soon after Evelyn fell asleep in the provided travel cot, we set up the monitor, set up the Sonos Roam and headed straight into the hot tub! Relaxation at last.
With free Wi-Fi, we were able to watch a film on Netflix on my laptop; the perfect way to end our night.
Where to Eat at Newton Hall’s Garden Rooms
As I mentioned earlier, there’s a small kitchen with a fridge which means that you could bring your own food (no hob but there’s a microwave) but why would you need to when, just a short walk away, is the Joiner’s Arms. The Joiner’s Arms is a great little gastro pub owned by the same group as Newton Hall. It’s a low lit, traditional pub offering great drinks and high quality food. It’s dog friendly so next time we’d be able to bring Chester.
Our complimentary stay at Newton Hall’s Garden Rooms included a two course lunch as well as breakfast the next day (available for all guests). For lunch we had tempura king prawns & squid to start, Steak Frites (yes this was mine, not the burger for once!) & the Joiner’s Steak Burger for mains and we shared the Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert. The steak was beautiful and it reminded me just how much I love peppercorn sauce!
The breakfast was equally as good as you had a full choice from a continental style buffet breakfast (yoghurt, fruit, pastries, muffins etc) plus you could order from the kitchen menu. You can’t go wrong with the classic full English but there were also berry pancakes and scrambled eggs on toast.
Where to Visit Nearby
If you’re heading to Newton Hall’s Garden Rooms you don’t want to be going too far so I’d recommend heading to the nearby beaches for a lovely walk. You’ve got the choice of the beautifully rugged Link House Beach or the beach at Low Newton-by-the-Sea with views across to the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle.
After checking out, we drove thirty minutes south-west to Cragside where we were met with one of the moodiest, wet and foggiest mornings I’ve seen in a while. We couldn’t explore the hall as we had Evelyn’s pram but we quickly saw the best views, had coffee and cake and drove the six mile scenic route around the estate.
I’ve been meaning to write more about my trips up to Northumberland but I’d highly recommend visiting Alnwick, Bamburgh, Alnmouth and Warkworth too.
Further Information
Check In/Out: 3pm / 11am
Location: Newton Hall, High Newton-by-the-Sea, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 3DZ
Cost: Prices starting from £205
Website: Newton Hall
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