Close encounters

The name Close House on the cap of former World No1 Westwood during the 2013 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club next month (April 8 to14) will help the Northumberland hotel and golf resort catch the eye of a worldwide audience of hundreds of millions.

And undoubtedly, wise-cracking Geordie duo Ant and Dec are the sort of potential fourball partners guests would travel across most of Britain for, if not from foreign shores. But surely the real coup of this relatively new star of its genre is to get former Newcastle and England star Shearer, now a key member of BBC’s football punditry team, to open its doors to guests as they arrive on rain-laden evenings.

“Thanks Alan,” I said with a familiarity earned from being a regular Match of the Day viewer, Magpies fan and fellow ex-centre forward.

“Oooh… hello there,” my wife had offered seconds earlier.

“It’s my new job,” Shearer explained generously, holding the door wide.

“You’re doing it very well,” my wife answered, having regained her composure, which she lost several moments later when I pointed out the couple of sesame seeds marring her best smile – but more of that later*.

Close House Hotel and Golf, at Heddon-onthe- Wall, roughly seven miles, or 20 minutes, from the centre of Newcastle, is the latest in a growing stable of high-class golf venues in the North-East based around a stately home – Linden Hall, Matfen Hall, Longhirst Hall, Ramside Hall, Slaley Hall and, more recently, Rockliffe Hall, leap to mind.

As a golf resort, its pedigree is still in the early days of being fully established, though The Colt championship course, designed eight years by Scott Macpherson, was ranked in the top 100 in England in its first year, and its reputation grows as the course matures.

Last month, The Filly –- the original Close House course – was closed to be redeveloped into a second championship course.

As a teenager wielding golf clubs for the first time, and football boots for that matter, I honed my questionable sporting skills at Close House, then Newcastle University’s principal sporting complex.

Fine Dining at Close House Argent D'Or restaurant

The changes 30-odd years later are, perhaps not surprisingly, quite astounding – not least the long and stately tree-lined drive through the 400-acre estate to the 18th Century, 31-bedroom hotel which is the magnificent centrepiece of Close House.

Then there’s the “clubhouse”, newly built on the edge of what used to be the course’s 18th hole and no doubt dubbed the glorious 19th by members, a title encouraged by its No 19 restaurant. It overlooks a lake with an island green that is used as a sideshow during regular charity events (the accumulating hole-inone prize was recently won at £1,837. Did the winner turn pro?).

The changing rooms I used for football 30 years ago, which were then crudely housed in former stables, have been transformed – the only way to describe it – into The Courtyard, a complex separate from the main hotel and comprising 12 ultra-luxurious suites with marble- crafted en-suite bathrooms.

Each Courtyard room is named after a golf course designed by famous architect Harry Colt, whose work includes Wentworth, Stoke Park and Muirfield among some 300 courses, and after whom the championship course at Close House is named. This tip of the cap to a great of the game is a reflection of the sort of golf experience visitors can expect at Close House. The hotel provides complimentary shuffle transfers to and from Newcastle Airport and, for those guests with the means, has its own helicopter pad. When golfers arrive, their clubs are lifted from their vehicle and chauffeured by buggy to the No19; even cleaned, if desired.

Inspired by a restaurant in the Bond movie Casino Royale

Among those catering for golfers’ every whim is a team of PGA professionals - based at the course’s Golf Academy, a separate purpose- built facility with floodlit driving range, short game practice area, tuition bays and custom- fit suite which embraces the very latest software and equipment. Away from golf, a health spa is in the pipeline This feeling of being pampered extends to the resort’s two restaurants, where executive chef Simon Walsh has gone out of his way to develop partnerships with local suppliers, such as Wylam Brewery and the Northumberland Cheese Company. His specialities reflect this, not least a starter of locally-foraged wild mushrooms on toasted sour dough and main course of slow-roasted belly of pork, each exquisitely presented.

And while golf may provide the inspiration for much of Close House, unquestionably its most eye-catching feature is the Argent D’Or restaurant, a stunning tribute by Close House owner Graham Wylie, developer of the Sage accounts software, to a restaurant that featured in the Bond film Casino Royale and a perfect combination of elegance and extravagance.

All in all, Close House is a golf, dining and accommodation experience that is sure to leave its guests stirred, if not shaken.