Another Top 6 slot for The Ashton in The Sunday Times Travel, it was from October last year, which reminds me just how slack my blogging has been recently!
No draughts, no soggy toast:these homely hideaways rival the swankiest hotels for style & service, and says Helen Fry, trump them nicely on price.
For vintage charms: The Ashton, Lancaster.
If a trip to the city of Lancaster isn’t yet on your to-do-list, it’s time for a rethink. No, honest. For such a compact place it’s got plenty to see. What’s more it’s perfectly positioned for trips to Morecambe Bay, the Lake District and the (underrated) blustery beauty of the Trough of Bowland – all fells and peaty moorland. Lancaster has yet another string to its bow – one of the best B&Bs in the country.
The Ashton’s owner, James Gray, is a former television set decorator, and his considerable creative talents have worked (seemingly) efortless contemporary magic on this Victorian villa on the edge of town. In 5 bedrooms, set over 2 floors, expect the unexpected: silky Egyptian cotton, five-star comfy mattresses and sleek wetrooms with underfloor heating.
Downstairs (you will notice on arrival, over tea or a glass of something chilled,) framed vintage-magazine covers brighten smokey grey walls, tweed and velvet cohabit with chandeliers, while mood-enhancing music soothes road-weary nerves. And just in case you thought you had to trudge out for food, here you can scoff breakfast, dinner (3 courses or a deli board) and elevenses – homemade cakes beneath glass domes on the sideboard.
The Ashton Lancaster 