Matfen Hall completes its transformation

A £50 million project at the Jacobethan mansion in Northumberland comes to fruition in September with the opening of The Retreat spa as the final touches are put to what has seen six years of meticulous restoration work.

The Grade II listed country house has been transformed into the county’s only five-star hotel by specialist local architects, tradesmen and builders. The extensive restoration spans the hotel, leisure and golf facilities. 

The Gothic Great Hall has been returned to its former glory and original role as the impressive principal entrance, complete with historic stonework, carved timber panelling, decorative ceilings and a vast stained glass window taking centre-stage.

Ten new guest rooms and suites were created, bringing the total to 63, all of which have been fitted with new furnishings and expansive marble bathrooms complete with freestanding baths. Meanwhile, original features such as fireplaces, mouldings and timber detailing were carefully preserved. 

Matfen Hall’s new spa is opening within an expansive new wing of the hotel, doubling the footprint of the former spa. At the heart of The Retreat is an 18-metre indoor pool set beneath a vaulted beamed ceiling. An extensive range of thermal and wellness facilities sit alongside six treatment rooms, a relaxation room, sun room as well as a TechnoGym-equipped gym with a Pilates and yoga studio.

Emerald, the hotel’s fine dining venue and Northumberland’s only AA 3-Rosette restaurant was once the property’s library, its elegance has been retained with oak panelling, book-lined walls, a cracking fireplace and large windows overlooking the gardens and golf course beyond. 

Cloisters, a new seafood, grill and champagne bar, was formerly an open courtyard used for service access which is now enclosed beneath a dramatic glass roof supported by sweeping curved timber structures and finished with brass detailing.