Langdale Chase, The Lake District
Putter across Windermere on the Bowness-to-Ambleside launch and you’ll spot Langdale Chase as you approach the north shore, its gables and turrets angled towards the tawny flanks of the Langdale Pikes. The Lake District are full of Victorian fantasies; this one was built by the widow of a Manchester businessman, Edna Howarth, in 1890. Recently, it was acquired by brewery Daniel Thwaites, which spent a year remodelling the villa, taking it back to the feel of a private home, brightening up the drawing rooms and adding bold Arts and Crafts carpet designs and an arboreal mural that unfurls around the hall. The fellside bedrooms are all very well, but you want a lakeside one. While the design plays it safe – floral motifs, tweeds, shipshape blues and greens – rooms are all spacious, particularly my corner Wray Castle Suite with a sitting room for additional window views (binoculars are provided), though most covetable is the Langdale Pikes one with its octagonal turret lounge. The hotel is more easy-going than many in the area, with restaurant menus that can be taken anywhere – dine in the bar, if you wish, though that has its own line-up: lobster roll with Morecambe Bay shrimps, perhaps. Afternoon tea is quite the event, thanks to Brazilian pastry chef Camila Ramaciotti’s inventive creations. Rick Jordan
Price: Rooms from around £400 per night.
