A DESCENDANT of Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll visited a garden in his honour at one of the region's hotels.

Caroline Luke, the great, great niece of the writer, whose real name was Charles L Dodgson, visited Rockliffe Hall's Mischmasch development.

She brought her grandchildren to explore the new Arctic cabins in the woods at the Hurworth hotel, the new adventure playground and the water feature, which have all recently been built in the grounds of the old mansion.

Staff at Rockliffe tracked Ms Luke down through the Lewis Carroll Society because they wanted a direct descendant of the popular author to give the development her seal of approval.

She said: "We were most impressed by the wonderful new facilities at Mischmasch and are sure they will be hugely popular with all the families that come to stay, or just visit for the day.

"The pods are such fun and beautifully equipped – I can see several Mad Hatter's Tea Parties taking place there."

Charles Dodgson grew up in neighbouring Croft-on-Tees, where his father was the rector of St Peter's Church, and is said to have drawn inspiration for some of his characters.