There’s nowhere quite like Grantley Hall. Not in its native Yorkshire, not in the north of England, not anywhere in the whole of the UK for that matter.
This is an ongoing project of such lavishness that apparently house prices in the area have risen by 20 per cent.
And it’s all due to Valeria Sykes who, following her divorce from the billionaire and Brexit-backer Paul Sykes, has spent an unconfirmed £100 million on saving this 17th-century mansion and turning it into a glitzy and glamorous resort hotel a few miles from Ripon.
Arriving after dark is a thrill, the driveway lit up, with the River Skell flowing beside it.
Handsome young men in tweed waistcoats greet us outside the front door — one takes the luggage (and it’s important to turn up with lots of luggage here), while another parks our car.
Then it’s a seat in the drawing room and a glass of champagne during check-in before being escorted to one of only 47 rooms (with more than 400 staff).
There are five restaurants, including Shaun Rankin’s Michelin-star outlet; a nightclub; casino; the swankiest of gyms (44 running machines, including one that’s underwater); cryotherapy chamber, Formula 1 car simulator; lifestyle consultant; indoor/outdoor pool in the Three Graces spa; a ‘snow room’; gift shop; Japanese garden and so on.
At times, it feels like Dubai. At others, it’s Claridge’s or The Dorchester — with prices to match.
Footballers and their wives come here to splash the cash, but most of the guests we meet are, like Ms Sykes, Yorkshire born and bred — and proud to have such a statement hotel in the county.
We eat in the Pan-Asian restaurant, EightyEight, in the basement of a separate building where there’s also a wedding reception area. This seems to be the brash part of the resort. Service is slow but apologies come thick and fast.
Generally, there’s quality at every turn — which makes me wonder why on earth so many paintings are fake copies of Old Masters in tinny frames. And there’s piped music almost everywhere.
Even in low season, you won’t get a room for less than £500 a night but, frankly, anyone who quibbles at the cost probably shouldn’t be here in the first place.
