My lovely wife is to celebrate a significant birthday at the back end of next week. We’d really love a couple of days riding, get away from the kids and remind ourselves how much we love to ride togehter.

Can anyone recommend somewhere luxurious to take her, make her feel special and still get a couple of good days riding in ?

All suggestions gratefully recieved

get away from the kids and remind ourselves how much we love to ride togehter

Quote of the day.

Oh, and the Peebles Hydro. Got all the stuff a posh hotel would have like spa etc plus Glentress is 5 mins down the road.

Amsterdam.

Drunken Duck Inn, nr Ambleside

Not cheap but they have some very nice rooms, good food and it’s right in the heart of the Lakes so great riding right from the front door.
Only a short drive into Ambleside/Windermere for all the tourist stuff too.

+1 drunken duck! Superb food and beer, you get use of a spa too which is offsite. Awesome riding too. Reminds me that I need to rebook for July

Charles Bathurst or Punch Bowl in Swaledale are both very nice, and some good riding nearby. Depends on your idea of luxury though I suppose.

Not stayed here but local to me and apparently very special (expensive though). Some great riding locally too.

http://www.gidleigh.com/

Windermere Suites are fab!

http://www.windermeresuites.co.uk/

stay here http://www.celtic-manor.com/

and ride Cwmcarn/Afan/Brecon beacons/Forest of Dean/Wentwood forest 😀

I went to a colleagues wedding here a few years ago. Beautiful, beautiful place in the lakes

http://www.thesamlinghotel.co.uk/

Edit: forgot about the drunken duck. Very nice too (must have wiped it from my mind cos I stayed there with the first Mrs B)

Quantocks innit?

http://www.combehouse.co.uk/index.php

Shame Stella’s closed mind 🙁

Samling +1 used to work there, Commuted the MTB strait down the hill into the office top trails!

stobo castle near Glentress/Peebles
Cardrona also near Peebles
Lakes loviliness
more Lakes
http://www.mossgrove.com/rooms_gallery.html
Lower budget. Huge, double room and breakfasts to die for. Eat at their mates Italian restruant down the road

http://lilybankfarmcottage.co.uk/

Owned by a STW regular, she even does skills courses. The riding and walking round here is great

There’s a nice B&B in Hednesford, I’m told. Good access to Cannock Chase.

Cringletie Manor House near Peebles. Stayed there a few weeks ago and cant recommend it enough. Not as huge as the Hydro and certainly more of a personal feel to it

Feversham Arms in Helmsley. beautiful hotel, stunning food, and right on the north york moors.

The Samling in ambleside. Very nice.

SW Scotland. Near Kirroughtree, Dalbeattie, Mabie and Ae
another one

Sawrey House Hotel near Hawkshead is very nice. We stayed there for a couple of nights after our wedding last year and thought it was lovely.

There’s a nice hotel in Tain, near Golspie?

+1 Sprocketjockey!! The Gidleigh Park Hotel is VERY good (it has a helipad, just in case you decide to travel here via that mode of transport! 😉 ) and has one of the top chefs in the uk as resident, so the food is fantastic! The riding around the whole area is very good also, there a many regular STWer’s around the area which I am sure will help you with routes etc.

It’s Just off Dartmoor, so I could provide routes for areas only about 7/8 miles from Gidleigh if you decided to come down this way.

The Gidleigh Park Hotel is VERY good it has a helipad

Helicopter crash at Gidleigh Park Hotel, on Monday…

Doh!

The Torridon Hotel – very nice hotel with loads of riding/walking right from the door.

NB – There may be a slight smell of burning in the air since Liathach burnt down a couple of weeks ago…….but that aside it’s a stunning place.

Thanks for all your responses, ideally i want somewhere with a spa so she can really relax and get pampered when we get back from some top riding.

I’ll be checking out all of the suggestions tonight

Any more gratefully recieved

dnhross,

feversham arms I mentioned above has got a brilliant spa, with outdoor hottub and very good treatments

dnhross – Member
Thanks for all your responses, ideally i want somewhere with a spa so she can really relax and get pampered when we get back from some top riding.
I’ll be checking out all of the suggestions tonight
Any more gratefully recieved

Try the lakeside hotel NR Newby Bridge then. Fab Spa.

Dornoch I think.

The Samling(ambleside) is the bollocks.
VVVexpensive but worth it for the one you love , especially if you’re off riding.
Make sure you book the spa pool thingy.(&champers!!)

Ynyshir Hall near Machynlleth.

All that great welsh riding and a very special place. Not a big spa resort but special in its own way

A third vote for the Samling near Ambleside. Got married there in 1997, a superb place.

I can 2nd both the Drunken Duck nr Ambleside and the CB Inn in Arkengarthdale.

The food is great at both although I reckon it’s that bit more special in terms of rooms and food at the Drunken Duck.

The Drunken Duck has the added bonus of it’s own micro brewery plus they serve a decent afternoon tea (included in the price) which would be perfect after a days riding.

http://www.innatwhitewell.com
Set in the heart of the Trough of Bowland, stunning location, stunning hotel, great food and a wine list to die for. Best to go mid week always busy with weddings at weekends.

nbt – Member

http://lilybankfarmcottage.co.uk/

Owned by a STW regular, she even does skills courses. The riding and walking round here is great

Thought I’d resurrect this thread, as me and Onzadog have just come back from the most amazing weekend staying at Lily Bank Farm B&B with Emmy and John. Would totally recommend it to anyone looking for somewhere a bit special and uber bike-friendly.

Emmy’s local biking and trail knowledge really is something else and enabled us to ride hours and miles of fabulous deserted rocky, technical singletrack (were out for 10 hours in total on Saturday!) and come back in time for a superb roast dinner.

She even very kindly gave me a little half-hour FOC introduction to the concept of getting my tyres leaving the ground, which I’ll hopefully build upon over the next few months and go back for a proper full day course.

Big thumbs up!

Dunkeld hydro? Nice local riding, nice hotel with a spa

Three chimneys if yuo feel really rich
http://www.threechimneys.co.uk/

edit – didn’t spot the thread resurrection Doh!

redwoods – so glad you enjoyed your weekend. (nbt is my husband) We’re both really good friends of Emmy’s. She popped round today to drop something off for me and mentioned what a lovely weekend she’d had with you both.

If you come again we’ll all go out for a ride. Can’t promise the glorious sunshine that you had though.

luxury in mid wales

http://www.lakecountryhouse.co.uk/

I just went here with my wife. I left her in the spa for the day and did the uplift at cwmcarn but there is much nearer riding than that

Austwick in the Dales has the The Traddock, I would highly recommend this place. Food to die for, friendly staff, really restful.

http://www.thetraddock.co.uk/

Really good bike rides from the door. Hope you both have a good weekend.

For your info The Samlings is/was brilliant but it’s parent company has gone belly up and may not be up to it’s normal standard.

Trigony House Hotel
Thornhill

or the Blackaddie House Hotel
Sanquhar

you can ride into Drumlanrig, Ae is about 10 miles Mabie about 20….

Or I can do a guided ride up on the Lowthers…