Shallowdale House - Bed & Breakfast in Yorkshire

Phillip and Anton have a true affection for their guests so you will be treated like angels in small-hotel style. Sumptuous bedrooms dazzle in yellows, blues and limes, acres of curtains frame wide views over the Howardian Hills, bathrooms gleam. Breakfast on the best – fruit compote, dry-cured bacon or Whitby kippers, homemade rolls and marmalade – then walk it off in the garden. By the time you get to the top of these two very lush acres you will feel you’ve had a country hike... so perch on a bench and drink in the Yorkshire air. The many specimen trees planted when the house was built 40-odd years ago are growing up beautifully. Weeping birch, cypress, cherry, maple, acer and copper beech hover over swathes of grass underplanted with bulbs, a double rockery groans with shrubs like viburnum, rosemary and choisya; hardy geraniums, ceanothus, fuchsias and potentilla are popped in for colour. Lose yourself in the landscape – a lovely park-like atmosphere prevails. Nearer the house there are more formal beds, a mini-orchard, a sunny terrace and clematis and roses romping over the arches... mixed planting everywhere but in such good taste.