A Luxury Family Staycation at Rockliffe Hall Hotel

*This post is a collaboration with Rockliffe Hall

Rockliffe Hall is a five-star luxury golf and spa hotel. Nestled in a quiet village on the edge of County Durham, I really believe this resort is one of the North East's best-kept secrets.

You may remember we spent the most blissful spa day at Rockliffe Hall last year and I still stand by the fact that I think the spa here is the best in our region. I was delighted to be able to return this summer, but this time with kids in tow......

The words 'five-star', 'spa' and 'luxury' are not necessarily words you'd associate with a family staycation, but Rockliffe Hall has been working hard to improve their facilities for children and families and I have to say, we were blown away with the facilities on offer.

There's no denying that Rockliffe Hall is one of the more expensive places to stay in our region - five-star luxury does come with a price tag, but I honestly believe the value you receive staying here is fantastic and there is nowhere else in our region providing this level of service.

School's Out Summer Staycation 

Rockliffe Hall's School's Out Summer Staycation is available from £435 for 3 nights per family and includes a whole host of treats including:

• Curious Cabins, Mini Mercedes Car Hire, Bike Hire
• Summer Holiday Activity Programme including Golf Lessons, Crafts, Falconry and more
• Children's Swimming
• Access to the Spa for Grown-Ups
• Breakfast every morning
• Splash Pads, Adventure Play Areas, Tennis Courts
• Tickets to Beamish 
• & more....

Find out more about the School's Out Summer Staycation here

Family Rooms at Rockliffe Hall 

Depending on the size of your family and availability, children are able to stay in a variety of different hotel room styles at Rockliffe Hall. If you're a larger family like us, I'd recommend Armstrong House Apartments or the self-catering accommodation within the hotel grounds.

As a family of five, finding hotel accommodation that can fit us all into one space is such a chore and I love that Rockliffe Hall offers options for larger families as standard.

We stayed in a gorgeous 3-bedroom lodge which offered more than enough space for us and included lots of lovely touches such as mini bathrobes and activity books for the kids, a large HD TV in the lounge (we spent the evening snuggling up watching a movie together), cookies, magazines & toiletries for the whole family - we were well taken care of.

Our lodge had its own kitchen and dining area too so perfect if we fancied staying in or ordering room service. 

MischMasch and Children's Facilities at Rockliffe Hall

MischMasch is Rockliffe Hall's new Wonderland of Curiosities. It's a new area dedicated to providing children and families with THE best fun. First up, there are the Curious Cabins. Nestled in woodland, these cabins are available exclusively for overnight hotel guests and spa members to use (pre-booking may be required) and feature lots of little treats and surprises.

Each cabin features a different theme and there is something for all ages. We particularly enjoyed the cabin featuring the private cinema and Xbox and another featuring a pool table.

You can order room service to be delivered to the cabins for an additional charge and I honestly think they're perfect for tweens and teens. My children are not easily impressed but they adored these cabins and were actually excited about spending time here which says a lot. 

The second part of MischMasch is available to all hotel guests, diners and spa member to use. I honestly do not know of any hotel in the region that boasts it's own splash pad (check out our splash pad Facebook live here) and adventure play area.

We spent most of our time here and it really ensured our hotel stay was really focussed around the children and spending proper time together having fun as a family.

There are also tennis courts (racket hire available from the spa), giant outdoor games and there's a beautiful glass function room which can be hired for events and parties - I bet it's a gorgeous spot to host a Christening.

Of course, Rockliffe Hall is also home to a rather special golf course and junior lessons and activities are available. If you'd like to get more of a feel for MischMasch, take a peek at my video below:

Visiting the Spa with Kids at Rockliffe Hall

I am a huge fan of the spa at Rockliffe Hall and think it is the best in our region. Use of the spa is included with your stay and you'd be mad not to make use of this facility. The spa is open from 7am until 10pm Monday-Friday and until 9pm on Saturday and Sundays. Read this post to gain an idea of just how good it is!

There are a couple of options available for visiting the spa with kids - the first (and most inviting) is to make use of Rockliffe Hall's new childcare service.

Again, I think this is another first in the region. If you're interested, enquire on booking to find out more. Spending 2 hours child-free in the spa really would feel like a huge indulgence and has to be the ultimate treat I think.

My kids love swimming and as we were staying in order to test out Rockliffe Hall's facilities, I thought it was only best that they had the opportunity to visit the pool too.

Children are allowed to visit the spa/pool area between 8am and 11am and then again between 3pm and 6pm. We squeezed in a quick swim before dinner.

Robes, slippers and towels are provided and the changing rooms feature everything you'd expect from a 5* resort - even cleanser, toner and moisturiser.

I must admit I was a little nervous taking the children to a spa but it was fine. There's no lifeguard and children cannot be left unsupervised so Steve and I took it in turns to stay with the kids in the pool whilst the other one explored the therapy rooms.

Every single second spent in the steam rooms and saunas were absolute bliss.  Children are only allowed in the main pool area - they can't access the outdoor hot tubs, treatment rooms, spa garden or hydrotherapy pool.

This is actually a good thing as in my head I knew there were plenty of places for grown-ups to escape my children if they needed to so I wasn't too concerned about anyone raising their eyebrows at children being allowed in a spa.

The main pool is 1.2 metres deep - Jack and Heidi could just about touch the bottom but I think younger children/non-confident swimmers would benefit from taking a life vest/floatation aids.

The spa is open until late into the evening. I have to say, I was very tempted to just escape there again in the evening after dinner and leave Steve and the kids in our accommodation. This could also be an idea if you are yearning for some 'me time'.

Dining with Kids at Rockliffe Hall

We dined in the Clubhouse restaurant which is hidden away by the golf course. The atmosphere was lovely and there was a nice mix of other families and couples enjoying drinks on the terrace, dinner and beautiful views of the golf course and surrounding countryside.

The children's menu features lots of favourites and H, H and J had no problems choosing something to eat - fussy eaters are easily accommodated and mushy peas were switched to garden peas without a problem.

Everything was perfectly cooked, the portions were generous and my children were made to feel extremely welcome. The Clubhouse is beautiful and the service and food are both fantastic but it's also one of those places you can actually relax and take dinner at a slower pace if you'd like to.

Service was prompt and we spent just under 2 hours here enjoying three courses, a bottle of wine and coffee. I honestly felt fully relaxed and it was one of the nicest family dining experiences we've enjoyed together in a long time.

The kids were given Alice in Wonderland themed activity sheets on arrival - nice theming!

Children's Garlic Bread

Children's fish

Definitely leave room for dessert - the boys loved their sticky toffee pudding and Heidi had lots of fun with her tuck shop pudding. 

Children's Sticky Toffee Pudding

Tuck shop dessert 

There are a couple of different dining options for grown-ups - I dined from the market menu which offers incredible value at 3 courses for £30 and Steve opted to dine from the a la carte.

We honestly cannot pick a favourite dish - as you'd expect from a 5-star hotel, it was all perfect. The sommelier recommended a lovely wine to accompany our meal and as Steve and I finished our coffees, the kids were able to play outside where we could still keep an eye on them yet enjoy the peace and quiet as well.

It's worth noting that Rockliffe Hall has recently launched a new children's afternoon tea menu. Competitively priced at just £12.50 per child, I think when combined with a trip to the adventure playground and splash pad in MischMasch, this had all the ingredients for a special family afternoon out this summer.

After dinner, we popped back to the MischMasch area and the kids played on the adventure play area until dusk - it was lovely and quiet and we had the place to ourselves. If I had planned in advance, I think I would have ordered an extra drink and enjoyed this on the outdoor seating as the kids played.

Breakfast is served in the Orangery until 10am which allowed us a little bit of a lie in. There was so much choice and we could help ourselves to cereals, pastries and fruit before ordering a cooked breakfast from the kitchen.

The kids were delighted to see pancakes, porridge and waffles on the menu too - they definitely filled their boots! 

Check out is at 11am - we were heading out for the day and I was very thankful that we were all provided with a complimentary bottle of water for our journey.

It's little touches like this that really set Rockliffe Hall apart I think. If you're looking to extend your break, there are lots of days out to enjoy in the region with Beamish, the Bowes Museum and Diggerland all being around a 30-minute drive away.

The epic Kynren is also just 18 miles away - a staycation at Rockliffe Hall and an evening at Kynren is pretty much my perfect way to spend the weekend with the family.

As you can probably tell, we loved our stay at Rockliffe Hall. There was not one single aspect we could fault about our staycation and there was so much to keep the whole family entertained. If you're looking for a luxury staycation with kids in the North East, I can guarantee nowhere will do this better than Rockliffe Hall.

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