Langley Castle Hotel

About Langley Castle Hotel

Langley Castle was built around 1350 and is one of very few medieval fortified castles in England still lived in and open to guests. It sits in ten acres of woodland west of Hexham, close to Hadrian's Wall and the North Pennines. The walls are seven feet thick in places, the spiral staircases are original, and there is a genuinely atmospheric quality to the building that reproduction country houses cannot manage.

Rooms are split between the castle itself and two converted buildings in the grounds, the Castle View lodge and the former coach house. Castle rooms are the ones to book if the setting is the point: several have four-poster beds, window seats set into the thickness of the wall, and in a couple of cases a sauna or spa bath. The lodge rooms are more conventional in shape and a little easier on the budget, and they still come with the same access to the castle's public rooms.

The Josephine restaurant serves a modern British menu and has held AA Rosette recognition, and afternoon tea in the drawing room in front of the fire is a fixture. There is no spa or pool, which keeps the focus on the building, the food and the grounds. A rooftop walk on the battlements is open to guests and gives long views over the South Tyne valley.

It works best for couples wanting somewhere with real character for a short break, and for anyone touring Hadrian's Wall, Vindolanda or the Northumberland dark-sky sites. Weddings are held here regularly, so a quick check of the calendar is sensible if you want the place to yourself. Access around the older parts involves stairs and uneven floors.