We were invited to stay at the Ox Pasture Hall hotel in Scarborough and it fit perfectly in with our Great Northern Adventure, which you can hear about here, here and here.  We have never been to Yorkshire before and Scarborough is to the North East of Leeds.  I think.  I never was very good at geography!

 

Ox Pasture Hall Country House & Hotel is only a ten minute drive from the town centre and beach but is also in the middle of the countryside.  In fact, as we drove from the beach to the hotel, we followed the sat nav and couldn’t find the hotel at first.  We just hadn’t driven far enough and after calling reception, we were guided in.

 

It has an imposing entrance with a long driveway and fields surrounding the hotel either side and there were plenty of parking spaces, but we were visiting at a particularly quiet period, which was fine by us!

 

We were taken straight to our room which, in hotel room standards, was really big, with the lounge area being set up for Dexter – he slept on a good quality sofa bed which was all set up for him.

 

I’ll share a few photos with you but to get a really good feel of the room, we made a special video which you can also see below:

 

THE VIEW FROM OUR ROOM

 

 

THE BATHROOM WAS REALLY BIG

 

 

ONE OF THE DINING ROOMS – WE WERE EARLY FOR DINNER

 

 

JUST ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL VIEWS

 

THE FRONT OF THE HOTEL

 

BEAUTIFUL GARDENS – I WOULD IMAGINE THEY ARE STUNNING IN THE SUMMER

 

THE FRONT DOOR

 

 

MORE GARDEN

 

STUNNING COUNTRYSIDE

 

WE LOVED THE STONEWORK

 

 

A FARMER HAD BROUGHT HIS COWS UP TO THIS FIELD ON THE LEFT

 

 

THE DRIVEWAY LEADING UP TO THE HOTEL

 

 

THE EDGE OF THE HOTEL

 

 

SEVERAL SEPARATE SEATING AREAS LIKE THIS DOTTED AROUND THE SITE

 

We decided to go for an early dinner at 6pm, but that’s what happens when you travel with children right?  Consequently, we ended up the first (and only) people in the restaurant, at least for an hour or so.

 

The food was the highlight of our stay.  From the amuse bouche of a delicately spice tomato soup, to the fresh-from-the-oven differently flavoured breads, everything was delicious.  I was actually surprised at the high quality of the food … it certainly wasn’t standard hotel fayre.

 

They did offer Dexter a child’s menu but I don’t think he’s eaten from one since he was six, and he was more than happy to eat from my menu.  As you can see, there were plenty of choices:

 

THE CHILDREN’S MENU

 

ALWAYS GOOD TO HAVE A VARIETY OF DRINKS!

 

DELICIOUS AMUSE BOUCHE OF SPICY TOMATO SOUP

 

 

I DID THAT ANNOYING SOUTHERN THING OF ASKING FOR OIL & VINEGAR … BUT THEY WERE HAPPY TO OBLIGE!

 

DEXTER WENT FOR MUSHROOM RISOTTO FOR A STARTER

 

 

I WENT FOR A SMOKED SALMON AND HORSERADISH ICE CREAM STARTER

 

 

AFRAID THE QUALITY OF THE PHOTOS DON’T DO THIS FOOD JUSTICE … THIS IS DEXTER’S MAIN COURSE OF COD

 

 

THIS WAS MY MAIN COURSE OF ‘BEEF’ … WHICH WAS ACTUAL PERFECTION

 

ANOTHER AMUSE BOUCHE OF STRAWBERRY SOUP WHICH DEXTER, OF COURSE, DEMOLISHED!

 

 

DEXTER CHOSE ‘LEMON’ AS A DESSERT – A SELECTION OF DESSERTS WHICH HE LOVED (APART FROM THE YOGURT ONE)

 

 

I CHOSE A RASPBERRY CREME BRULEE WHICH CAME WITH A HOME-MADE SHORTBREAD BISCUIT AND RASPBERRY MILKSHAKE

 

 

IT WAS DELICIOUS … BUT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A PLAIN CREME BRULEE WITH RASPBERRIES AT THE BOTTOM.  THE BISCUIT WAS AMAZING THOUGH!

 

 

BREAKFAST THE NEXT MORNING WAS STILL OF THE SAME HIGH STANDARD – CHECK OUT THE END OF MY VIDEO TO SEE THE PERFECT POACHED EGG!

 

Here’s a video of our stay!

 

 

PROS:

• Beautiful surroundings – the Yorkshire countryside really is stunning.
• Outstanding food – the best food we’ve had in a long time.
• Fantastic service – friendly, not too intrusive, helpful whenever needed.
• The size of our suite – it was exceptionally large.
• Quiet and peaceful.

 

CONS:

• There was a bit of a fly issue. The staff did their best to rectify it and even brought me a tin of Raid to get the last 2 flies that were annoying me, but not something I really wanted to deal with. Opinion of how they got there was split between the farmer moving his cows near to the hotel, hence bringing the flies with him to … a small nest of flies being disturbed further up the block of rooms.  Either way, it was pretty gross but didn’t ruin our stay.
• The windows in the bedroom only open at the very top and if you’re like me, and like fresh air in your room, you have to try and get up on the windowsill (I had to hoist Dexter up there) in order to open the top windows.  Which was a pain.
• Although the bathroom was big, there was no bubble bath (not really a massive deal, granted,) but it would have made a nice touch.  In fact, with just a little extra thought to the finishing touches, it would have made the world of difference.
• The coffee was pretty awful.  I don’t know if that’s just my taste, but both times I had coffee … well, it needs to be looked at.
• We would have liked to have tried Afternoon Tea but told we were too late to book it.  It would have been nice if they had at least tried to sort that out for us.
• The wifi was really patchy.  Yes, I know we’re on holiday but having a good wifi connection is really important for me and, I’d imagine, a lot of other guests.  I found the best reception in the dining room and … sitting on the loo!

 

CONCLUSION:

 

Overall, Ox Pasture Hall is definitely somewhere I would choose to stay in again.  The pros certainly outweigh the cons in my opinion and we had such a lovely relaxing time.  In fact, I would have loved to have stayed an extra day to have a really good look around, to experience the Afternoon Tea and to have just chilled a bit more.  So if ever we’re in North Yorkshire again, I would most certainly be back.

 

 

* We received one night’s bed and breakfast, including dinner, in order to review this hotel.  All opinions are honest, and totally my own.  Obviously.  We would also like to express our gratitude to the hotel for inviting us.