So near, so spa

IT'S a bitterly cold, blustery day in March, the sort that reminds you that winter still has a sting in its tail. In the Spa at Middlethorpe Hall Hotel, just outside York, the temperature is touching the tropical.

There's something satisfyingly sinful about spending a lazy Sunday afternoon in a health spa, and combining a pampering day with a night at this beautiful hotel is about as good as it can get.

The Spa at Middlethorpe is set, somewhat surprisingly, in an Edwardian cottage in the grounds. Walk up the brick path to the front door, which opens onto a cosy room with a blazing fire where meals and drinks are served, and you begin to wonder how they've fitted in the treatment rooms, a swimming pool, sauna, whirlpool spa bath, steam room...

The answer, of course, is that the cottage has been sympathetically extended at the back, leaving the facade untouched, but it's still a snug fit.

The Spa also has three beauty salons where therapists offer treatments including facials, hot stones massage, reflexology, waxing and bronzing, using Clarins, Molton Brown, Caci Quantum, Decleor, Jessica and E'spa products.

And if you're planning a special occasion, the Spa beauty days are a perfect way to prepare. Ranging from a full body massage, a massage and facial followed by a champagne afternoon tea, or a facial and massage for the man in your life, the full or half-day treatments make a great present.

Middlethorpe Hall, one of only three Historic House hotels in the UK, is a stunning example of a William and Mary house. Set in 26 acres of gardens, it is within sight of the grandstand at York's Knavesmire racecourse. And although the racing fraternity are known to drop in by helicopter onto the lawn, the hotel is also conveniently accessible by road - just off the A64 outside York.

The beautifully restored house is furnished with antiques and original paintings, giving it a feeling of an elegant home, and the staff have perfected the art of being almost invisible until they appear at precisely the right moment.

Built in 1699 for Thomas Barlow, a wealthy Sheffield master cutler, the house had a chequered recent history, being converted into flats, then a nightclub and left in a dilapidated state. Acquired by Historic House Hotels in 1980, it opened as an hotel four years later, its restoration a remarkable achievement.

THE bedrooms in the house are individually decorated in period style.

Ours was sumptuously comfortable, the generous tub in the pretty bathroom just right for some deep clean therapy, while the view across the sweeping lawn to the ha-ha was reminiscent of a bonnets-and-breeches television drama.

There are a further 17 bedrooms in the courtyard, a garden suite and two more suites in an adjacent cottage.

We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink and canapés in the intimate, oak-panelled and candle-lit dining room as we studied head chef Nicholas Evans' menu.

I chose smoked salmon rillettes with crab salad and seared tuna carpaccio, followed by poached pigeon breast in braised lentils, pancetta and hazelnuts with mushroom ravioli and fondant potato; Peter roast quail with caramelised shallot tart and shallot purée, followed by pan fried mullet with bolangère potatoes, broccoli purée and fine beans.

Puddings were milk chocolate and praline mousse with roast banana ice cream for me, and hot passion fruit soufflé with blood orange and mint salad and dark chocolate cream for Peter.

With coffee and chocolates in front of the fire in the beautiful drawing room and a lazy browse through some glossy magazines, it was simply the perfect end to a wonderfully relaxing day. PK ■ Room rates at Middlethorpe start at £260 for a luxury double, including continental breakfast and the use of the Spa. Three course dinner is £43.

Health and Beauty Spa Days start at £60 for a half day and from £140 for a full day, including lunch.

Middlethorpe Gift Cheques are available for dinner, spa treatments, lunch or afternoon tea.

Middlethorpe Hall, Bishopthorpe Road, York. 01904-641241 www.middlethorpe.com

City chic

IF location is all-important to a business, then the Grey Street Hotel in Newcastle has hit the jackpot. Once a derelict eyesore besmirching the street voted the best in Britain by listeners of Radio 4's Today Programme, the boutique hotel is now the perfect pad for launching partygoers, culture vultures and shoppers into the heart of this vibrant city.

It opened in December 2004 and has 50 rooms (while still retaining an intimate feel) and conference facilities for up to 100. Behind the modern facade, the original grandeur of the Grade IIlisted building (formerly a bank) has been retained and we were shown up a grey marble staircase to a modern room on two floors, which proved a bright and comfortable sanctuary from the busy city streets. Towering Victorian windows shed plenty of light on the contemporary suite with huge bed, black veneered desk, white leather chairs and flat-screen TV.

To start off the evening we took a short walk to the Quayside into the Pitcher and Piano, which was abuzz by 6pm. Then it was back up the hill for a cocktail in the uber-cool hotel cocktail bar before dinner. Meals are served in The Living Room restaurant next door, which has dark walls, potted palms and bold, gold-framed paintings. Service here was superb - Britain's best waitress on Britain's best street? - and the food was too. My prawns tempura with sweet chilli sauce and wasabi were truly scrumptious.

We adjourned to the bar next door for some people-watching before retiring.

Trouble is, being so central makes you feel you're missing out, and after a short discussion about being old, and boring, and early nights, we poured ourselves back onto the street for another dose of the Toon at night.

Breakfast (£12.95 for a full English) was served in The Dining Room next morning before we headed two minutes up the street to the shops, then back down to the Baltic art gallery just five minutes' walk away. Then it was on to South Shields to buy a cut-price coat from the Barbour factory shop before testing it on the wild and storm-lashed harbour walls. Which, as a way of getting rid of a Newcastle hangover, I'd thoroughly recommend.

BARKING: The Grey Street Hotel offers a dog welcome pack of a doggy bed, doggy do not disturb' sign, bowl and biscuit. No charge. Just let the hotel know in advance.

PARKING: Guests can park in Dean Street car park 100 yards away from 4.30pm to 9.30am the next day for £5.

Pull up outside the hotel, collect your voucher and drop off your luggage, then park. Contact 0191-230-6777.JN * Standard double room £145 .

Prices include VAT but exclude breakfast. 0191-230-6777; www.greystreethotel.com The hotel is offering a two-for-one three-course meal at lunchtime on production of this article.

Trot along to this classic winner

HOTEL du Vin has added to its stable of classy hotels with the opening of their York venture.

Once again, they've taken a heritage building and given it a twist, modernising without taking out any of the history or character.

And once again, it's a great success.

In Oxford, they restored a 17th Century sugar warehouse; in Harrogate, a row of eight Georgian-style houses. In York, they've taken a Grade II listed Georgian property which has had many incarnations, even - briefly - as an orphanage in the First World War.

Now the 44-bedroom Hotel du Vin - HdV to its friends - exudes understated luxury. At reception there's a tongue-in-cheek nod to the city's history with stone-effect wallpaper, but this place is more Villeroy than Viking.

Black is big as the interior revels in the dark side, but it's moody rather than gloomy, with cosy snugs and tartan carpets. Upstairs, the theme continues, offset by exuberantly patterned wallpaper on a feature wall.

Our bedroom is the perfect retreat, a deep purple cocoon with huge sleigh bed, crisp sheets, comfortable pillows, flat-screen wall TV, chaise longue and deep roll-top bath. For those who prefer to scrub up in private, there's a cavernous wet room with monster monsoon shower-head.

Extra luxuries, which cost little but mean a lot, are fresh milk for the tea and coffee and an invitation to help yourself to any Arran Aromatics shower and bath goodies you've opened.

Before supper we negotiated the hotel's slightly confusing geography - crossing the grassy courtyard where al fresco meals will be served in the summer - to sample the bar and a perfectly icy vodka and tonic supplied by staff who were friendly and attentive.

The bistro offers a menu rooted in classic European cuisine with a contemporary edge. In the few months the hotel has been open, it has obviously become a magnet for York residents and was buzzing the night we stayed.

The standard of food explained why.

The decor is fairly traditional, dark wood and leather, but with quirky touches such as the life-size mural of a jockey, stable girl and horse. For a hotel which is just a short canter from York racecourse, it seemed appropriate.

Trot along the Mount - an elegant street lined with some of the city's most beautiful townhouses - in the other direction and you're through 14th Century Micklegate and just a few minutes' walk from York city centre.

They really do try to make everyone comfortable at Hotel du Vin even society's new pariah, the smoker. While others puff away in car parks and hastily erected shelters, the HdV offers smokers somewhere a lot more sophisticated for their post-prandial puff.

The Cigar Shack, situated at the back of the hotel, resembles an open-sided rondavel, but smokers can sit back in the comfort of leather armchairs and enjoy underfloor heating and a wallmounted plasma fire. And as we left after our night at the hotel we peeked in to see the ashtrays overflowing with big fat cigar stubs.

And after a surfeit of good food and wine the previous evening, I have to say it's rather nice to enjoy a guilt-free blow-out sometimes. JN * Hotel du Vin & Bistro, 89 The Mount, York YO24 1AX. Tel: 01904- 557350. From £99 for mid-week stay, £120 for weekend getaway.

www.hotelduvin.com