Nestled on the edge of the stunning Yorkshire Dales, The Coniston Hotel offers a perfect blend of luxury, nature, and adventure. We stayed over there last week, attracted by the location and the prospect of the glamorous Nàdarra Spa.
The hotel is located on the shores of its own private lake and you can enjoy peaceful lakeside walks. Nearby you will find the stunning Malham Cove (which is one for the Harry Potter fans too as it was a location for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).
We travelled over from York and called into Haworth, the home of the Brontë sisters which is around 20 miles from the hotel. It’s a lovely place to stop at for a spot of lunch on the way.
Before I launch into a full review, a couple of practical points about the hotel. Firstly, there is a huge car park, so you are never going to struggle to get parked. Secondly, they have four electric vehicle charging points at the far end of the car park. We have recently purchased an electric car so this was brilliant for us.
The Dales Room
We stayed in a Dales room which had a wonderful view over the parkland through two big windows, one of which was a patio door that led out onto a lovely terrace seating area with two chairs and a table. This will be perfect for sitting out on a morning or on a warm summer’s evening.
Our room faced North East and I can imagine how wonderful it would be if you were at the hotel on a night where the aurora borealis was active. How incredible would it be to see the Northern Lights here!
The room was really spacious with a super king bed sporting two pillows and a cushion each. At the end of the bed was a comfortable sofa for lounging and watching the view (or the large flat-screen smart TV!).
There was a desk/dressing table with a mirror and in the drawer there was (I was impressed to see) a Dyson Airblade hairdryer and Cloud Nine straighteners.
I loved the hospitality tray, because as well as all your normal teas, coffees, hot chocolate, etc, there was a kettle, a Nespresso machine with coffee pods and small packets of biscuits. But – what was quite special was that there were two bags of Yorkshire crisps, a Mars bar, a Crunchie, and some Skittles! A veritable sweetshop!
Oh and nice wine glasses too. I have started travelling with wine glasses as I hate to drink wine out of mugs, but we didn’t need to here! Underneath the hospitality tray, there is a mini fridge for the bottle of wine to have in your room before dinner (to go with the wine glasses!).
There were two large wardrobes complete with iron, ironing board and room safe, as well as robes if you are going to visit the spa. Try and remember to take them with you (unlike us).
Another thing I must mention which I wouldn’t normally is that the heating in the room is a huge picture on the wall which gives out lots of heat. Yes, you read that right – a picture! Apparently this is an infrared heating panel. I quite fancy one of these at home!
By each side of the bed there are lots of plug points, light switches and two USBS each. On my side there is even a wireless charging block.
The Bathroom
The bathroom is large, very plush with a huge double shower and the most enormous bath I’ve ever sat in. Toiletries are by Neil and Wolf and smell amazing.
The lighting is on different circuits so you can have bright lights for when you’re getting ready and there are nice low lights if you need the loo in the middle of the night (ever practical!).
The Nàdarra Spa
The Nàdarra Spa is modern and polished, but in keeping with its rural surroundings. Step inside and the mood shifts from countryside to cocooned comfort. Warm timber tones, soft lighting, and gentle water sounds create an immediate sense of calm. According to the website there is a large fully equipped gym. I am sure this is true as I have seen a photo of it, but it’s not something I made any effort to find. Not when there is a lovely spa to relax in! Now, some of the spa photos are official ones as I couldn’t take my own photos in the spa area.
There is a large swimming pool if you are feeling energetic, or you can just relax and set the bubbles off in the jacuzzi.
If a sauna or steam room is more your thing, you will find four heat experience rooms. The Finnish sauna has a full glass wall so you can people watch while you cook! Then there is an infra-red sauna as well as an aromatherapy steam room.
Our favourite was the Himalayan sauna. Hot enough but not so hot you can’t stay in there long. It comes with extremely comfortable seating too so you can lay back and properly relax!
The star of the show though is the outside spa space. Now, you might think that this would not be very welcoming on a cold Yorkshire day in February, but it really was! There is a large terrace area (with a bar for the summer) and two infinity hot tub pools with comfortable loungers. The pools were wonderfully hot and the outside temperature didn’t matter at all. You could sit forever there gazing out across the lake!
As dusk fell, we had the most amazing natural display put on for us – a murmuration of starlings, gathering and swooping in dramatic formation. Life does not get much better than that!
Dinner
As part of our package we had dinner in The View Restaurant. Now we visited mid-week in February so the hotel was not overly busy and the staff explained that Macleod’s Bar and Lounge was open instead and was much cosier. We were happy with this as ‘cosy’ was perfect. The full menu from both restaurants was being served regardless.
We had a lovely table for two and ordered the 32 oz bone-in rib sharing plate. We skipped starters as with such a large main I was worried about us having the room to fit everything in.
The steak was so tasty and served with proper chunky chips! We also ordered a pepper sauce (I do love a pepper sauce!).
For dessert we shared the Sticky Toffee Parkin with was lovely and moist with plenty of sauce and a scoop of Yorvale ice cream. (As a side note, as a teenager, I spent a summer in the Yorvale ice cream kiosk in the Museum Gardens in York, so I feel proprietorial toward them!).
I took photos of the dinner menus, so scroll down to the bottom if you would like a look at those.
After dinner we went through to the bar where you can have after dinner drinks and play board games such as Jenga and dominoes if you fancy. There is also a shelf of books that people have left and you are encouraged to swap or take a book from here.
Breakfast in The View Restaurant
We had breakfast in the glorious View Restaurant (which, as the name suggests has an amazing view!).
Once seated you are given the breakfast menu which includes a full Yorkshire breakfast, a veggie version and other items such as smoked salmon, pancakes and eggs benedict. We also ordered tea and coffee from our server.
We also ordered the bits of the Yorkshire breakfast we most liked (ie no tomatoes or black pudding!). I have to say that the ingredients were really top quality (excellent bacon and sausages!).
As well as the menu items there is a large buffet, where you can help yourself to bread or make toast.
Different juices:
Fresh fruit:
Cereals:
Yoghurts and granola:
And my favourite section – breakfast pastries, muffins and croissants:
We had a lovely stay at The Coniston Hotel and can thoroughly recommend it. It’s in a beautiful location, has gorgeous and spacious rooms, and a fabulous and glam spa. It also has lovely staff who really go out of their way to give you a proper Yorkshire welcome!
