- Historic estate: Grade II listed building with 300+ years of history and grand interiors.
- Stunning grounds: Vast 20,000-acre estate with gardens, parkland, woodland and five lakes.
- Top dining & spa: Fine dining, cooking courses and a full spa & country club on site.
- Activities galore: Falconry, horse riding, fishing, clay shooting, golf and more on offer.
- Check dates & prices here
Swinton Park Castle is a luxury castle hotel in the Yorkshire Dales, England, and a Grade II listed building with a history going back over 300 years.
It is a fabulous building full of historical intrigue and ambience, and the huge estate is extremely picturesque with a mixture of gardens, parkland, woodland, and no fewer than five lakes.
The service and facilities at Swinton are impeccable, too, and it is seen by many as Yorkshire’s finest country hotel.
The Rooms:
- Spacious rooms: 32 spacious, comfortable rooms and suites with early 20th-century stately home charm.
- Luxurious bathrooms: Lavish bathrooms, some with romantic roll-top baths in the bedroom.
- Great value: Superior doubles often represent the best value compared with larger suites.
- Historic interiors: Grand halls, gilded ceilings, antique furnishings and classic paintings throughout.
- Modern wing: Spa and Terrace Restaurant are housed in a separate contemporary block.
- Check out all the rooms in detail here.
Their 32 rooms are all spacious, comfortable, and inviting, and they pack in lots of early 20th-century stately home charm.
The choices range from double or twin rooms to large suites with adjoining seating areas.
They all have spacious, plush bathrooms with bathtubs, and some also have classic roll-top baths right in the bedroom that pack an extra romantic punch.
The best value rooms might be the ‘superior doubles’, these are just as large as the more expensive suites and equally lavishly furnished, with the main difference being that the seating area in the suites is a semi-separate space.
The building is very historic, it was originally built in the 1600s and with its impressive-looking battlements and corner turrets, it has the look of a genuine Stuart Period castle.
Many of the external, typical castle, features though, were late 18th, and 19th century add-ons.
Internally the original building retains a great amount of historical ambience with grand old halls and drawing rooms, gilded ceilings, and an array of classic paintings and antiques.
There is also a separate, thoroughly modern, block that houses the spa and the Terrace Restaurant.
Prices:
Check out all the details on the booking page here.
Facilities & Things to Do:
- Dining choices: The Terrace for contemporary dining and Samuels for three-AA-Rosette fine dining.
- Cooking experiences: Half, one and two-day cooking courses and Chef’s Table demos with the head chef.
- Full spa: Spa & Country Club with pools, hydrotherapy, saunas and multiple treatment suites.
- Outdoor pursuits: Falconry, horse riding, clay pigeon shooting, fishing, cycling, mountain biking and golf.
- Estate highlights: Walled gardens, deer park, five lakes and the quirky Victorian Druid’s Temple.
For dining, they have two main choices, in very different settings. The Terrace is a contemporary, semi-formal restaurant in the new block while the three AA Rosette-winning Samuels offers fine dining in the lavish surrounds of the great dining hall.
The chef director at Swinton, the vastly experienced Stephen Bulmer, runs some very highly rated half, one, and two-day cooking courses along with ‘Chef’s Table’ cooking demonstrations in the converted Georgian-era stables.
The Spa and Country Club has a fitness centre and gym, an indoor swimming pool, a hydrotherapy pool, both indoor and outdoor saunas, and eight treatment suites offering a range of health and beauty therapies using luxury organic Elemis and Bamford products.
The grounds of the estate are vast with walled landscaped gardens, woodland, and parkland where 200 deer roam free, five lakes, and a quirky Victorian era, a faux ancient site inspired by Stonehenge, The Druid’s Temple.
There is also a bird of prey centre here and falconry demonstrations as well as owl and other bird of prey handling can be arranged.
Pony trekking and horse riding can be arranged too at the adjacent Masham Riding and Trekking Centre and a round of golf can be enjoyed at the, within walking distance, Masham Golf Club.
Clay pigeon shooting, fishing, mountain biking, and plenty more rural activities can all also be easily organized at Swinton.
The Location:
- Secluded setting: Peaceful estate location just outside the village of Masham in the Yorkshire Dales.
- Vast private land: 20,000-acre Swinton Estate with lakes, woodlands and moorland to explore.
- Nearby towns: Harrogate ~20 miles; York ~40 miles; easy access to Dales attractions.
The setting is secluded and peaceful, just outside the small village of Masham at the eastern edge of the famous Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The Dales have of course much stunning scenery, wild moorland, and forest but the broader Swinton Estate itself, which covers a range of 20,000 acres, is large enough and has enough natural beauty of its own, to keep guests happily staying within its boundaries for the duration of their stay.
The nearest large town is the spa town of Harrogate about 20 miles away with the city of York being roughly 40 miles away.
A Little History:
- 17th-century origins: Originally built in 1695 by Sir Abstrupus Danby.
- Neo-Gothic rebuild: Rebuilt and restyled in the late 1700s by William Danby in Neo-Gothic fashion.
- Victorian embellishments: Further additions by Robert Lugar added turrets and battlements.
- Long ownership: Cunliffe-Lister family ownership until 1980, then reacquired in 2000.
- Modern hotel: Refurbished and reopened as Swinton Park Hotel in 2001 under family ownership.
Swinton Park Castle and Gardens were originally built in 1695 by Sir Abstrupus Danby, a local wool merchant and Justice of the Peace for Yorkshire, though most of what we see today came later.
Abstrupus’ grandson, William Danby, almost completely rebuilt the house in the late 1700s, extending its area and restyling it in the, very fashionable at the time, Neo-Gothic style.
More alterations were to come in the proceeding decades with amongst other things, castle-like embellishments; turrets, and battlements, added by the esteemed Victorian architect Robert Lugar.
The castle was bought by Samuel Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Baron Masham and a famed inventor and industrialist.
His family kept it all the way through to 1980, with a brief occupation by the Harrogate Ladies Club during WW2, and with Samuel’s grandson by marriage, Philip Cunliffe-Lister (not a Cunliffe-Lister by birth he, rather unusually for the time, took on his wife’s surname), accruing the title of Viscount Swinton in 1935 and 1st Earl of Swinton in 1955.
The last of the Cunliffe-Listers to occupy the house in that era was Phillip’s wife Molly, who remained there until her death in 1974, after which time it was taken over by the Lindley Educational Trust.
In May 2000 the Cunliffe-Lister family bought it back, and after a year of refurbishment, it opened as Swinton Park Hotel under the ownership of Mark Cunliffe-Lister, Molly’s great-grandson.
Some Guest Reviews:
“Incomparable. Royalty for three days. 20,000 acres of incomparable natural and landscaped grounds. Deer park, multiple lakes, bucolic! Lots of walking and running trails, as well as a pleasant walk to Masham. Stunning manor home. Food was delicious and Terrace Restaurant a great value. Breakfast menu was extraordinary. Spa and steam room were complementary….”
“The property is a castle in superb huge grounds with deer roaming. The inside is second to none with a Hollywood actor staying at the same time as us. It is truly unbelievable….”
