The Old Deanery, Ripon
Located across the road from Ripon Cathedral, with fine views of its soaring façade, this beautiful stone building is the former home of the cathedral deans. Dating back to 1625 and blessed with character and period detail, it still has its impressive original oak staircase and is full of individual quirks, like the gently sloping floorboards and thick-walled window seats. There are just eleven rooms altogether, each one totally individual. Live the life of a cathedral dean for a day. (Theolddeanery.co.uk; from £100)
Grays Court, York
Just a short cobbled-street’s walk from York Minister, this wonderful hotel was the first official residence for the treasurers of the minster, commissioned by the first Norman Archbishop of York, Ealdred. With part of it dating back to 1080, it’s possibly the oldest continuously occupied house in the UK and has the only private access to York’s city walls, which surround the edge of its lovely gardens. Inside it’s all luxury boutique hotel and beautiful design, just what you’d expect from a building that was owned by royalty when the treasurers moved out in the 16th century. It was given as a gift by King Edward VI to the Duke of Somerset and has been voted Visit York Hotel of the Year for the last three years. (Grayscourtyork.com; from £200)
Littlecote House, Berkshire
Famously associated with royalty and political intrigue, it was here that Henry VIII wooed Jane Seymour, in the house that her grandmother lived in. A 16th century Tudor manor, it has also hosted the likes of Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II and William of Orange. The D-Day landings were planned within these very walls, which also hide a secret passage behind the library bookcases. There’s a Roman villa in the grounds, which also offer a putting green, tennis and bowling courts. And, like any self-respecting 16th century building, several rooms are said to be haunted with the ghosts of former residents. You can even bring some history home with you; nearby Hungerford is famous for its antique shops. (Warnerleisurehotels.co.uk)
Tulloch Castle, Dingwall Ross-Shire
Wake up in a four-poster bed in a 12th century highland castle. Overlooking Cromarty Firth and the Black Isle, close to the ancient town of Dingwall, the former home of the Bains and Davidsons has been beautifully restored as a 22-bedroom hotel. Wander through the 250-year-old panelled Great Hall, admire original period fireplaces and ceilings, eat in The Turrets Restaurant and after you’ve finished being Laird of the Castle, explore the nearby Cairngorms National Park. There’s easy access to Inverness and the coast is just a six-minute drive away. (Part of the Bespoke Hotel Group, Bespokehotels.com/tullochcastlehotel; from £127)
Billesley Manor, Stratford upon Avon
The manor house of Billesley can be traced back to 705AD and was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. It’s said that William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in the 8th century church in the grounds in 1582, and that his granddaughter also was married here. The charming hotel is a warren of twisting corridors and winding staircases, there’s a priest hole, grand stone fireplaces and an imposing Great Hall which hosts the morning breakfast buffet, a drawing room to take morning coffee and a library that Shakespeare purportedly visited. After its 17th-century heyday, the manor fell into disrepair, was refurbished in the early 20th century and has been a hotel for the last 50 years. (Billesleymanor.com)
Stonefield Castle, Mull of Kintyre
The 19th-century baronial home of the Campbell family (pictured top of the page) is set in 60 acres of woodland gardens and boasts a famous collection of Himalayan rhododendrons. From the wall-mounted stag’s head in the entrance hallway, enjoy one finely proportioned room after another, from drawing room to library and bar, into a long lounge with crackling open fire. Deep window seats look out to front and back gardens leading down to the broad expanse of Loch Fyne. It’s just two miles from the idyllic fishing village of Tarbert, one of the most attractive villages on the Mull of Kintyre peninsula. (Part of the Bespoke Hotel Group, Bespokehotels.com/stonefieldcastle; from £130)
The Midland Hotel, Bradford
Love the glamour of the old railways, with their puffing steam trains and waving white hankies on the platform? You’ll love The Midland Hotel in Bradford, a throw-back to the heyday of railway hotels and dating from 1885. It still has many of its attractive Victorian features, including grand foyer, glittering chandeliers and old-world appeal – and obviously it’s conveniently placed for transport, right beside the train station. It’s hosted the great and the good over the years, among them Laurel and Hardy, The Beatles and George Formby. It also attracted quite a lot of publicity when the Shakespearean actor Sir Henry Irving died on the main staircase, following a performance at the nearby Theatre Royal. He was attended to by his manager, no less famous a personage, Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. (Peelhotels.co.uk/Midland-Hotel; from £70)
Oatlands Park, Surrey
Overlooking Weybridge’s Broadwater Lake, this was once the site of Henry VIII’s grand Tudor palace which he had redesigned for Anne of Cleeves – Elizabeth I, James I and Charles I also spent time here. Rebuilt as a Gothic mansion in the 18th century, it has been a hotel since 1856, and has welcomed several notable guests over the years including the poet Edward Lear and writer Emile Zola. On 10 acres of gardens and wooded parkland, the hotel has 144 rooms and still sits close to royalty – Windsor Castle is just down the road. (Oatlands-Park-Hotel; from £72)
Buxton Crescent, Peak District
The 5th Duke of Devonshire’s fashionable 18th century Georgian crescent is home to the newest ‘old’ hotel on our list, opening later this year for the first time. The 81-room, five-star hotel, with renovated Assembly Rooms and rooftop pool, has a thermal spa built on the site of the original Roman Baths, situated over the main mineral water spring. A medieval place of pilgrimage and fashionable spa town in the 1700s, Buxton has one of only two sets of warm springs developed by the Romans in the UK – the other is at Bath. (Buxtoncrescent.com; from £155)
Mandarin Oriental, London
Once the 19th century Hyde Park Court and Club, these days the 138 former bachelor flats, (along with the bachelors’ drawing, dining, billiard and smoking rooms) have been transformed into a very swish five-star hotel. Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor and Gandhi have all stayed here, royalty has its own entrance opposite Hyde Park and Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret had dance lessons here as young girls. The Sultan of Zanzibar brought 12 goats to stay with him on his visit in 1929 and Rudolph Valentino stopped traffic when he stepped out on to the balcony to wave to several thousand screaming women on the footpath outside. Winston Churchill took refuge here during the Second World War and soldiers on leave from the trenches in World War 1 were given beds in ballroom if they had nowhere else to go. (MandarinOriental.com/London; from £740)
A version of this article was published in The Scotsman in summer 2020
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]]>History, shopping, award-winning doughnuts and the sea! Boston is a fantastic destination for a short trip or longer family holiday, being that most fantastic – and unusual – of urban spaces, a city with access to beaches where skyscrapers and scenic coasts merge. Extend your stay to include a few days in Cape Cod, an easy train journey from the city to sand dunes, the place Bostonians get their seaside kicks
Take the Freedom Trail
Acquaint yourself with the city’s fascinating history – this is the place where the American Revolution really began. You’ll meet some of the key names of that auspicious period in US history on the Freedom Trail, a walking tour of 15 historic city landmarks that you can follow by yourself or with a guide. ($14/$8). Learn about Paul Revere’s famous ride on that fateful night when the British troops were dispensed to stem the rebellion. Meet John Hancock, who gave his name to Boston’s highest building. Visit the grave of Samuel Adams, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and one of Boston’s great revolutionaries.
We signed up for the guided tour and gathered on Boston Common outside the Information Centre to find our guide in full revolutionary-era costume – no joke in temperatures of over 30-degrees. He was playing the part of John Singleton Copley, whose father-in-law was the unfortunate owner of the tea which ended up in Boston harbour, during the infamous ‘tea party’ that was the instigator of the whole revolution. Copley escaped the revolutionary unrest by moving to the UK and wound up his days in Croydon, South London, where he is now buried. Less than two miles away from my own flat it turns out.
Visit the Boston Tea Party Museum
You can learn more about the events of that famous tea party in a re-enactment of the entire event at the Boston Tea Party Museum ($29.95/$18) – you even get to walk out on the re-created vessel itself, moored on the Charles river in its original position, where you can throw some tea overboard! Afterwards you can drink a selection of that fateful tea in the tea room and pick up a tea party souvenir mug.
Eat in America’s oldest restaurant
As well as visiting his grave, you can also drink Samuel Adams beer in every bar, including Boston’s oldest restaurant, Union Oyster House. In fact, not only is it the oldest restaurant in Boston, it’s also the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the USA – serving drinkers and diners since 1826. Located in a prime location near Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, it’s a friendly buzzy place and very popular. You might have to wait for a while for a table or you could squeeze in to eat at the bar. Great for lobster rolls and crab cakes.
Go to the top of the city’s second-highest building
While you can admire the soaring glass frontage of the aforementioned 60-storey Hancock Tower, Boston and New England’s tallest building, its observation deck has been closed since the attack on the Twin Towers. Opt for the city’s second tallest tower instead, the 52-floor Prudential Building ($20/$14). Zipping quickly to the top in a high-speed lift, we enjoyed amazing views of a beautiful city sunset and also the history of its immigrants in an exhibition that tells us, here, all are welcome. It’s a poignant admission in the middle of very public rages about walls and Mexicans, Muslims and travel bans and reminder of the people throughout history who travelled from all over the world to make America great.
Visit the John F Kennedy Library
It’s hard to walk around Boston and not be reminded of its immigrants. We get a detailed look into the lives of one of them when we take the Paul Revere transportation company shuttle bus from the JFK/UMass T subway station to the JFK Library on the edge of the bay at Columbia Point ($14/$10). The story told here through live footage, newspaper clippings, and photographs of the political rise of the 35th President of the United States is both powerful and moving. And his story started back in Ireland, when both his maternal and paternal great-grandparents left the famine-stricken country in the early 1800s.
Go to Harvard
Not all immigrants who came to Boston were penniless. You may not realise when you go to Cambridge – a great place to spend a leisurely day around the green squares and red-bricked buildings of Harvard university – that John Harvard was a Puritan from London. He came to the US in 1637 and willed his both his extensive book collection and his fortune to the university, which thoughtfully named the prestigious college after him. Interesting to note then that the fortune was made by selling his mother’s alehouse in London’s notorious Southwark area. Making it a rather unlikely beginning for the Puritan foundation of one of the most famous centres of learning in the world.
Eat all-American
But no matter how many reminders we see of England and Ireland in Boston, once we hit the restaurants, bars and diners of New England, we are big time all American. You know you’re in the US when you find yourself eating a very large burger served with fried banana, peanut butter, cinnamon and bacon. (Boston Burger Company, Cambridge). We eat breakfast in diners that are happily serving cocktails before 10am, making our tasty (food!) choices from a menu that is veering towards the length of War and Peace and includes bacon sandwich doughnuts and spicy Mexican beans (The Friendly Toast, Back Bay, pictured).
Discover seafood
Don’t leave Boston without trying the seafood, particularly its famous lobster roll. The Barking Crab, overlooking the Charles River, is one of the best spots to indulge – a local seafood institution, loud, raucous and partly open to the elements, with timber benches and bar stools overlooking the glittering lights of the skyscrapers of the financial district just opposite.
Sample the best doughnuts in the country
Early one morning we joined a queue snaking around the outside of Kane’s on Oliver St and found, when we got to the counter, that its doughnuts have been ranked in the Top 10 Doughnuts of America. Get there early if you want to try them as they regularly sell out by lunchtime. I chose a glazed swirled cinnamon creation as big as my head and we took our sweet treasures to the nearby Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, the pretty park near the river that was formerly a highway. It’s another nod to Boston’s famous ‘immigrants’, the Kennedy matriarch, who gave birth to nine children, including one US president and two senators, and lived to be 105.
Do Italian
Another must-eat while in the city is the tasty and very authentic Italian food in the North End – Regina Pizzeria is one of the best. For dessert, try the Sicilian cannoli pastries from arch rivals Mike’s and Modern Pastry on Hanover St to see if you can pick a favourite. For upmarket Italian – starched tablecloths, gleaming silverware, amazingly affordable prices – try Venezia in its stunning location along Boston Harbour, looking out over the water to the city skyscrapers.
Lunch at a food market
Quincy Market is where all the tourists head but we followed the locals’ tip to lunch at the Boston Public Market with its rows of fresh food stalls – great for seafood and organic salads.
Go 5-star
For accommodation go central and treat yourself to 5-star. The Boston Park Plaza has a fashionable city centre location in the buzzy Back Bay area, reclaimed from the sea in the 19th century. Right in the heart of the city, it’s a historic building brought bang up to date with a recent $100 million makeover (rooms from $229). A swish marbled lobby leads to an elegant lounge and dining area, with a glamorous Art Deco bar to the rear – or you can chill out in the library. Rooms are spacious, comfortable and well fitted out. And what a location – the brownstone-lined Newbury and Boylston shopping streets are just a short five-minute walk.
Another great option is the Langham Hotel, right in the middle of Boston’s business streets and a throwback to its financial history – it’s the former Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, given a very plush makeover (rooms with 2 double beds from $359). Providing a very stylish welcome for guests since the mid 1800s, the interiors are rich and opulent, with the open plan lobby bar the perfect place to sit and relax with a glass of Champagne. While the area is quiet in the evening and at weekends when the banker go home, it’s just a short walk from here to Boston Common, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market.
Shop
If you’re staying in the Plaza, you’re right on the edge of stylish shopping away from the downtown crowds at nearby Newbury and Boylston streets with their beautiful Victorian brownstone buildings. Downtown city malls are located at the Prudential Centre and Copley Place; just outside on Copley Square, you’ll find a farmers’ market on Fridays. Here also you’ll find Boston Public Library, with its tucked-away courtyard café, a hidden gem in the city. And, a plus for UK visitors, tax-free shopping is available on clothes and shoes under $175 made in a single purchase.
Bag a bargain
Bargain hunters should head for Nordstrom Rack on Boylston St for knock-down designer finds, while bargain outlets at Assembly Row are located just 10 minutes on the T from downtown Boston. Or you could travel further out to Wrentham Premium Outlets, a 50-minute drive from the city – take the bus or hire a car. Great for families and children’s shops, Natick Mall is just 30 minutes from Boston and has over 250 stores.
Keep it in mind for Christmas
Boston is a great place to go Christmas shopping, less crowded than its busier New York neighbour and easy to get around on foot in the compact city centre or on the city’s fast and efficient T subway system.
America As You Like It is offering a 3-night Boston Christmas shopping package from £535 per person including direct return flights from London Heathrow to Boston on Delta Airlines, 3 nights at the Omni Parker House in a double room and 1-day car hire, valid for travel 7-10 December 2018. For more information contact 020 8742 8299 or visit Americaasyoulikeit.com. Keep up to date with the latest offers for Christmas in Boston at Massholiday.co.uk.
Take in a game
Go native at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team and enjoy the entertainment in the crowd – dancing, waving, performing to the cameras that beam pictures of the crowd onto a huge on-pitch screen – as well as what’s happening on the field.
Breathe the sea air
Castle Island is a wonderful amenity on the edge of the city, with its walks by the bay overlooking Boston Harbour. Once an island, it was connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land in the 1920s. It is now a 22-acre recreation site and has also been the site of a fortification since 1634 – Fort Independence.
Share your stories with the locals
Boston is that sort of place, a city that is smaller, cosier and more intimate than you might have expected, where people chat to you on the subway and in restaurants. Everywhere we went we were met with great welcome. While the US’s perception abroad is going through a difficult time, the people there are friendly, open, curious, delighted to talk, to learn about our lives and to swap stories about their own. Americans have faced tough times on their journey to independence and I’m sure there are tough times ahead. But I really hope that despite all of their difficulties, the people can manage to retain the welcoming openness and friendliness that we experienced everywhere on our trip.
Read more about Boston in Why we should all visit America right now
Add a trip to Cape Cod to your holiday: see 10 things to do in Cape Cod
Read my travel feature on Boston and Cape Cod published in The Scotsman
Photos: Boston main shot and Boston Tea Party Museum by Kyle Klein