Peta King lives life in luxury at an exclusive country house retreat

FIONA Cook visibly flinches when I mention the H word.

"We were determined we didn't want to become an hotel,"

she says. "This is our home and we just like to invite people to share it with us."

And that's exactly what Fiona and her brother James Allison have achieved at Middleton Lodge at Middleton Tyas, near Richmond, North Yorkshire.

There are no TVs, no "tea making facilities"

in the bedrooms - "just come down to the kitchen and help yourself", Fiona tells guests - and no locks or numbers on the doors, just brown paper labels with a name tied on with pretty ribbon.

The Allison family bought the house in 1980 and it was in a desperate state of repair. (James recalls that when they took it over, water was running through the roof and down the main staircase.) Now this beautiful Georgian mansion set in 200 acres of glorious parkland with views up to the Yorkshire Dales has been brought back to its days of classic elegance and has become established as an upmarket country retreat for weekend parties, weddings and conferences.

With 16 luxurious bedrooms, all with fabulous views over the gardens, a charming dining room, four reception rooms and a billiard room, plus an amazing circular central hall with a sweeping staircase just right for photographs, it's easy to see how the Lodge is the perfect setting for that special day.

Outside, guests can enjoy croquet, tennis, or even a game of cricket.

Middleton Lodge was chosen as the setting for the Channel five wedding drama, The Perfect Day, and has since played host to several wedding receptions.

But now it has gone one better and is celebrating being awarded its own civil wedding licence.

For smaller parties, the house dining room can seat 45 people; for larger gatherings, a marquee in the garden can cater for up to 250. The Allisons arrange all the catering to suit their clients - and if the dinner we enjoyed from Clive Wilkinson Catering was anything to go by, they're in for a treat. But, unlike hotels, the personal touches, the totally relaxed atmosphere and having the house exclusively to yourself make guests feel, quite literally, at home. As one couple wrote: "We loved playing mansions".

It's an engaging idea: open your house to guests without making them feel like customers. But it can only be done successfully with the sort of easy hospitality and charm the Allison family has in spades. It's got to be a recipe for success.

In fact, I felt so at home during our stay that, after breakfast, I wandered into the kitchen and offered to help with the washing up. Now, you wouldn't do that in an hotel.

* For more details of Middleton Lodge, contact www.middletonlodge.co.uk or telephone 01325-377977.

10:02am Saturday 1st March 2008

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