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Olivia Greenway, travel journalist and copywriter

Northcote Manor Hotel, near Blackburn

December 20, 2009
By olivia

Northcote Manor hotel, near Blackburn is a lovely surprise.  Country House makes it sound posh and pretentious; it’s not.  It’s a small privately run hotel in an unfashionable part of Lancashire, set in beautiful countryside.

 

Walk in on a cold winter’s day, just before Christmas, and you will be greeted with a brightly lit log fire, comfy sofas and armchairs, a skilfully decorated Christmas tree and people enjoying themselves.  A party of older women tucking into a fabulous-looking cream tea, a trio of business suits having coffee after lunch, an elderly couple doing a crossword and a journalist and her partner gawping at everyone.

 

Our spacious room was furnished with a few older pieces of furniture, including an enormous wardrobe.  These items are now too big for most homes, so they are put in hotel bedrooms and called antiques.  The large bed was very comfortable, however and the bathroom was well appointed and filled with Molton Brown toiletries.

 

Dinner was exceptionally good.  I eat out a great deal and find that food in hotels is often a let down, but here it is the bee’s knees.  We had the five course gourmet spread which includes a half bottle of champagne.  After this leisurely feast, we plonked ourselves in front of the aforementioned roaring fire to enjoy delicious home made petit fours and excellent coffee.

 

Breakfast is a meal often seen as either unimportant or something a less experienced chef can manage.  As a result I have suffered years of truly bad breakfasts.  So my expectation was perhaps just off the floor.  It needn’t have been.  The room itself felt a bit cold; with the curtains closed and different lighting it had a cosy feel the evening before.  Hushed, library-like whispers of other guests added further to this odd ambience.  But the breakfast itself was really good.  My tea was fresh, the toast was warm, and my eggs were gorgeous.

 

The whole enterprise is master-minded by Nigel Haworth and Craig Bancroft.  Nigel arrived as head chef in 1984 and became joint MD five years later.  Lisa Allen is currently head chef.  I wish they would all move down south.

 

Northcote Road, Billington , Blackburn, UK

Contact tel: +44 1254 240555, e-mail: reception@northcote.com

Cost standard double room: ££££

Useful links
Northcote Manor hotel, near Blackburn

 

Categories : Hotel Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Reviews, UK
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Trips 2018/2019

2019

January: Zanzibar

March: Cape Town & Pretoria

May: Slovenia

October: South Africa (tbc)

November: Kenya (tbc)

 

Trips 2018

March:  New York, including Frick Gallery

May:  Vietnam including Halong Bay

June:  Giverny and Monet’s garden

June:  Majorca

December: Hyderabad and Chandigarh, India

Trips 2017

January: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
February: Bangalore
April: Lake District
May: Malaga
September: Mexico, Cancun
November: Delhi, Agra, Shimla
December: Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Venice

Trips 2016 (not clickable)

January: Oxford, Tenerife
February: Hampshire
March: Manchester
April: Sicily, Germany
October: Bangalore, New Delhi
November: Bangalore, New Delhi
December: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

List of trips 2015 (not clickable)

January: European ski resorts; Milan
February: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
March: Istanbul, Jersey, Vienna, Prague, Budapest
April: Road trip Ireland
May: Road trip France, Germany, Benelux and Copenhagen
June: UK luxury hotels
December: Cannes

List of trips 2014 (not clickable)

January Weimar, Vienna
February - Berlin, London
April - Chicago, Toronto, Montreal
May/June - Driving trip, Spain
July – Majorca
July - Paris
August - Southern UK
September – Northern Italy including Venice
October - South of France
October/November - Germany, Austria and Switzerland
December - Cape Town, Durban, driving along Garden Route South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda

List of trips 2013 (not clickable)

  • January - Tenerife
  • March - Istanbul
  • April - Italy luxury hotels - mid and southern Italy including Sicily
  • June - Las Vegas
  • June - Massive west coast road trip - Vancouver, BC
  • June - Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Napa Valley, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Diego
  • September - Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia
  • September - Carolinas, Georgia, northern Florida (Talahassee area)
  • September - New Orleans, Orlando, Miami; Vancouver
  • October - Puglia, Italy and Milan

List of trips 2012

  • January - Hawaii, USA
  • February - France - Le Touquet, Lens, Lille
  • March - Nelamangala, India
  • July - Milan, Italy
  • August - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • August - Iguazu Falls, Brazil
  • August - Montevideo, Uruguay
  • September - Delhi, India
  • November - Dubai, UAE

List of trips 2011

  • January - Madeira, Portugal
  • February - Bangalore, India
  • April - British Virgin Islands, Caribbean
  • May - Sicily, Italy
  • May - San Francisco, USA
  • June - Bangalore and New Delhi, India
  • July - Prague, Czech Republic
  • July - Munich, Germany
  • July - Washington DC, USA
  • August - Lake District, UK
  • September - La Grande-Motte, France
  • Annapolis, USA
  • October - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • December - Helsinki, Finland
  • December - St Petersburg, Russia

List of trips 2010

  • February - India - Kerala & Chennai
  • March - Manchester & the North West
  • March - Austria
  • April - Czech Republic
  • May - Lake District
  • June - Cologne
  • July - India - Bangalore and Delhi
  • August - Eastern Cape & KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
  • September - Grasse, south of France
  • September - Wick, Scotland
  • October - Utah, USA
  • December - Montreal, Canada
  • December - Madeira, Portugal
Olivia Greenway, travel journalist and copywriter
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