Spiralling stone tower steps and creaking corridors lead to richly decorated rooms with heavy drapes and patterned wallpapers, many with canopied four-poster beds, at this atmosphere-steeped 14th-century castle (there are also more modern courtyard rooms). Within the castle's hefty walls are a fine-dining restaurant and antiquarian book–lined library bar; regular events include Elizabethan banquets. It's 7 miles northeast of Durham.
Guests can wander through the state rooms when they're not being used for private functions.