Middlethorpe Hall and Hazlewood Castle spring to mind but I'm sure there are others

You could try Lumley Castle (fab) or Langley Castle both of which are absolutely spectacular and about 45 mins away nearer Durham.

Or there are these which are more stately home/manor house than castle:

Rudding Park Hotel (near Harrogate) 20 miles

Wood Hall Hotel (near Wetherby) 12 miles

The Parsonage Hotel (Escrick about 5 miles south)

Can recommend all of these.

Allie

PS there is a website http://www.vonessenhotels.com/

and www.historic-uk.com/StayUK/CastleHotels.htm

or

www.historic-uk.com/StayUK/CastleHotels.htm

all of which may help.

alliebdive, thank you SO MUCH for those links. I'm going to have to do some real homework to determine where some of them are, and if they are near enough to where we'll be on a day when they have a vacancy.

I enjoy just looking at the pictures on the websites, however, and am not done figuring out how to work things so that we can take advantage of the opportunity to stay in a special type of accommodation like that. I'm going to check the websites and links further. Thanks again!

Hi

Glad it helped. Let us know what you decide to do. I have stayed in some (but not nearly enough!!! ) :)

Allie

Northcote is in Lancashire not North Yorkshire but is winning every award going for spectacular food, and it does rooms too.

www.northcote.com/index.htm

Nearer to York there is the fascinating 'French Norman' village of Ripley with its castle. The place has to be seen to be believed. You can stay next door in the Boars Head.

www.ripleycastle.co.uk/hotel.html

The Devonshire Arms at Bolton Abbey is a beautiful building in a stunning setting.

www.thedevonshirearms.co.uk

Lastly - and my absolute favourite place in the world to eat and stay is the Yorke Arms, Ramsgill in Nidderdale. It's an old hunting lodge rather than a manor house, set in the heart of Nidderdale, and it is beautiful. Here's the website

www.yorke-arms.co.uk/

Oh Yes! The Yorke Arms. Bliss. Stayed there for a night recently for our anniversary and it was gorgeous. Wonderful surroundings and a wonderful dinner - the best I think I've ever eaten anywhere. Nice people. Not pretentious.

However, the hotel is horribly expensive to stay in - which is wierd because the dinner from the famous chef, is really pretty reasonable.

I'm longing to go back but maybe I might just eat there next time......unless I win the lottery :)

Allie

Agree it is expensive to stay at the Yorke Arms Allie, but the breakfast is superb and what a place to wake up to. I couldn't help admiring the teabags (yep, need to get out more!!) which seemed to be made of silk! Then after breakfast sitting by the roaring fire reading magazines and papers in those comfy armchairs and debating whether to go out for a walk in that beautiful Nidderdale countryside...........

Sigh..... yes I know - all wonderful. I particularly liked the before dinner drinks and absolutely superb (free) canapes served in the sitting room with the log fire.... And I too had countless cups of tea in my bedroom.

I just think that nearly £400 for one night and dinner for 2 is a lot of money.... I don't think the room was particularly good value unlike the dinner which was fantastic value. In London I expect to pay that sort of money for a hotel room in a 5 star hotel with breakfast because of the range of services on offer in the hotel and surroundings. I don't think that range of services was really on offer here, superb though it was. However, that's just my opinion stated in my review and they were doing very good business so....

I would love to go back- and will for dinner, just don't think the hotel stay is really worth the money.

Unfortunately.

Allie