AS WE are in the midst of a climate emergency, I have coerced my reluctant husband into no longer flying for our holidays. Given that just one return flight to Rome emits more carbon than the average person in Africa emits in an entire year, it’s really not a sustainable option if we want our children to have a decent future. But where to go in the UK in dreary January? The Swinton Estate, set in the stunning rolling hills of Yorkshire, answered our prayers.
Swinton Estate, Exterior
The palatial mock-castle country manor creates an awe-inspiring impression on arrival that carries on throughout every aspect of the hotel. Passed down through generations of just two families since its beginnings in the 1600s, the property is the ancestral home of the Earl of Swinton until it was sold by the Cunliffe-Lister family in the 1970s to a management training company, due to the financial burden of maintaining such an enor-mous and aging property.
However in 2001, Mark Cunliffe-Lister along with his wife, mother, brother and sister made the brave decision to buy back the estate, completely refurbish it and see if they could restore it to its former glory and local importance by turning it into a hotel.
Swinton Estate, Dining Hall
Since then the estate has been a boon for the local economy and community with the family using profits to support local organisations, charities and arts as well as employing all local staff. The hotel is also a visionary example of green innovation. A woodchip boiler which is fuelled entirely by wood from the estate provides carbon neutral heating and hot water for the entire hotel.
Other impressive initiatives include a grey water system which recycles all of the estate’s water and UV-filtering in the pool and laundry room to reduce the need for chemicals. In addition, the hotel’s enormous walled kitchen garden, the largest in the UK, provides the majority of the two restaurants’ fruit, vegetables and herbs – thus creating a healthy menu with a very low carbon footprint.
Swinton Estate, Swimming Pool
Inside the manor it is as though nothing has changed in hundreds of years and portraits of all the estate’s previous owners, including earls, barons and MPs hang on the walls. Breakfast is served in an incredibly opulent gilded dining hall that even prompted my two-year-old to keep repeating “wow!” While a fire crackles in the fireplace, herds of deer stroll past the window. (Some will end up as venison on the dinner menu).
Swinton strikes the perfect balance between grandeur and cosiness. Staff are warm and friendly and even young children are welcomed – with teddies and toys waiting for them in the rooms.
Even the January leaden skies couldn’t diminish the magic of the place – complete with spa, swimming pool, acres of landscaped gardens, on-site fishing and the plethora of nearby ancient castles to visit.
There are even seasonal options to stay off-grid in the estate’s meadow yurts or tree lodges hidden deep in the forest near an ancient druid temple.
by Nicola Kavanagh
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