ox pasture hall

That weekend break I mentioned?  Here it is, in all it’s relaxing, photogenic glory.  I was very kindly invited to review a night at Ox Pasture Hall, and the getaway was exactly what I needed!  So early Saturday morning my mum and I packed our bags and drove to the other side of the country.  I love that England’s small enough to do that in a couple of hours.  Blue skies when we arrived, would you believe it!?!  Nothing short of a miracle.  Not that this place needed any help looking cute but sunshine didn’t do any harm.  We arrived before our room was ready but were well looked after with coffee in the lounge, before having a quick nosy around the hotel and heading off again to explore the surrounding area in daylight.

Probably the most stand-out part of the whole experience was the friendliness of the staff – Lindsay, the hotel’s general manager, couldn’t have been more welcoming!

The lounge area felt like a homely living room where I could easily have spent hours flicking through magazines.  Or colouring my colouring book like a grown up.

^Photo with no relevance to the hotel itself but I thought the light looked pretty.  Forgive me.

For lunch we headed a little further afield into Whitby, passing through Robin Hood’s Bay on the way.  Would’ve loved to stop properly there too (the view driving down was beautiful!) but unfortunately parking spaces are pretty hard to come by on sunny Saturday afternoons.  Coastal towns always have a completely different charm to them than inland ones though, don’t you think?  I’d love to live by the sea one day.  Maybe then I’d learn that a hat and gloves is a good idea in windy January too.

Coastal towns also mean fish and chips, without fail, although we went for scampi this time rather than a huge fish each.  Saving room for dinner was on our minds, you see.  Trenchers chips were the best chippy-chips I’ve had in a long while!

And there lies the Abbey that apparently inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, so there’s a fun fact of the day for you.  Doesn’t look too creepy in the daylight but you can see where the vampire vibes would come from at night!

Another point I have to make is how fun the coastal roads were to drive!  Well, to be a passenger on and gawp out the window the whole way.  Something about the wide open landscapes of Yorkshire with forest to the left and water to the right was really stunning.  Ox Pasture provides a great base to explore the Yorkshire moors and coast and is only 40 miles from York. It really feels like you’re out in the countryside, but is only a 5 minute drive from supermarkets and convenience too, which is always a bonus. Especially if you’re prone to forgetting things like us. Next time I really want to explore the area on foot more too – I can see why pets are allowed at the hotel, as it’d be a perfect place to take a dog out for walks exploring. You know, if I had a dog.

And finally onto our room* itself.  To be honest it almost felt more like a small apartment with being incredibly spacious, as our ‘room’ included a large living area, large bedroom and large bathroom.  All very luxurious (as you can see) and with everything you could need.  Perfect mix of modern and homely.  So lovely and warm to retreat to from the gales, too!  Warmth just makes me happy.

This is the face of somebody very pleased with their bed for the night.  Also somebody who has just discovered they left their hairbrush at home after getting awful windswept, but let’s just skim over my ‘through a hedge backwards’ do shall we?

… And move onto nicer things, like the incredible panoramic view from our window.  Mother Nature gave us the greyest of sunrises on Sunday morning but I can just imagine how beautiful the sun rising over the east coast must look from here!  Chilling out and catching up with a brew, curled up on the comfy sofa, with this view to your left is pretty idyllic to say the least.  Our whole experience at Ox Pasture was very idyllic, which I love.  Would definitely recommend if you’re looking for something charming and ‘English’!  The venue itself looked just as perfect for hosting a business event or a wedding too, if you’re looking for something a little more than a weekend getaway.  I mean of course I flicked through the wedding albums on the coffee tables of couples who’d married there… so beautiful!

I felt ever so slightly like the princess and the pea with my many cosy layers of blankets, but loved it.

A few sips of fizz whilst getting ready for dinner was never a bad idea. 🙂

Now for the part we were most excited for – dinner*.  Obviously.  The restaurant was an equally beautiful setting, and we were very happy to take our time choosing from the menu.  The Courtyard Restaurant is known to serve some of the best luxury food in Yorkshire, so safe to say we were looking forward to tucking in!  First came a little treat in the form of a surprise complimentary bottle of Prosecco though.  Oh and then another surprise extra mini-starter of chicken roulade too, also very tasty!  Before jumping straight into the food, I must add that the service staff were SO LOVELY too.  People can really make or break an experience and those at Ox Pasture definitely made it.  We felt very well looked after. 🙂

Tomato and red pepper soup to start for us both.  Warming food, very January appropriate!  Very, very tasty too, obviously.  Probably don’t need to point that out, but yes, it tasted GOOD.

Happy Lily!

I chose lemon sole with creamy mash, green beans, shrimp and caper butter sauce for my main, and my mum went for duck breast with sautéed potato and sticky red cabbage.  Both delicious in a ‘this has been made by a seriously good cook’ kind of way.  I liked that the courses were hearty and filling but not overly hearty and filling, too.  Feeling stuffed can sometimes take the enjoyment out of eating but nope, this was just spot on.

Photographed all the food from every angle!

Once our mains were washed down with a drop or 6 of Prosecco, we took on the task of choosing desserts.  I’m indecisive at the best of times so when faced with options including Baked Alaska, lemon tart, and apple, pear and winterberry crumble, I struggled.  After much deliberation I went for the lemon tart with raspberry sorbet, and can definitively say that it was a damn good call!  As was my mum’s choice of passionfruit cheesecake with lemon tart ice cream.

4 courses thoroughly enjoyed and we promptly flopped onto our beds by 10pm.  Happy food coma.

Hurried showers in the mornings are usually my thing so enjoying a quick bath was a nice way to start my Sunday morning.  Followed by coffee (anyone sensing a theme here?) and packing our things/getting ready whilst wearing a lush bathrobe to top all lush bathrobes.  Heavy and soft in a suit of armour / pyjama hybrid kind of way.  That’s a good thing, promise.

I have no idea who this cat belonged to, but it was cute and came to say hi.

Breakfast* was everything you’d want in a hotel too.  We picked the light, bright window table of course. :)  I liked how the continental was ‘serve yourself’ and the full english was made to order.  Again, not an overfacing amount but more than enough to keep us going well past lunchtime.

I’ll end on the note that if you’re looking for a luxury hotel Scarborough in Yorkshire, I couldn’t recommend Ox Pasture Hall enough 🙂

*Dinner, bed and breakfast were provided free of charge, but of course all opinions are 100% my own and honest!

lily kate x

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