Hit Squad: How two former city workers turned a crumbling country manor into Cumbria's most stylish new hotel
Way back in the last century when I was young, everyone was happy, I jumped into my small, battered car with my friend, Leo, and headed for the hills. We were researching the first edition of the Charming Small Hotel Guide to Britain, conceived and published by my husband.
Some things never change. My car is still small and battered, I’ve got the same husband and Leo is still my friend. Over the next 15 or so years, we made many other similar trips in various battered cars, both in Britain and Europe.
But Cumbria was our first foray, and if Leo and I haven’t changed much (apart from the four horses of the apocalypse cantering across our faces), the hotels and guesthouses we unearthed certainly have. Nowadays, there are far fewer of the sort that we were searching for: privately owned, personally run and full of character – just like Brownber Hall.
Take Hipping Hall, a few miles south of Brownber Hall and one of our stops on that first trip. Nowadays it’s part of the Wildsmith collection of boutique hotels, with lavish bedrooms, a luxury restaurant and fancy prices, but back in the Eighties we encountered a dear couple who had owned the house for years, roaring fires, antiques and home-cooked suppers eaten communally. It ticked all our boxes and became a favourite of our guide.
Brownber Hall is in much the same vein, only updated to suit the modern era and a younger clientele. Two years ago, 30-something Peter Jaques and Amanda Walker were living in Hackney and working their socks off, he for a management consultancy, she as a barrister specialising in immigration. At weekends, whenever possible, they headed north, to cycle, hike and climb in and around the Lake District. Their hearts sank each time they returned to the smoke and they started to dream of permanent escape. When a friend spotted Brownber Hall for sale, they took the plunge.
The handsome house, built in 1860 for a wealthy landowning family, needed TLC and a fresh look, and Peter and Amanda set about painting, wallpapering (a lovely William Morris print in the main hall) and knocking down a wall so that the ground floor has become a series of three airy, beautifully proportioned interconnected rooms. Furniture from an assortment of sources, including eBay, features an amusing curved vintage cocktail bar bought for 30 quid. In the dining room, there are kelim cushions, reclaimed marble table tops, an antique sideboard and, across one wall, a blackboard that lists the day’s dishes, the weather and local events. The bedrooms are pretty, with new bathrooms (showers only). The place feels gently hip, eclectic, homely and genuinely relaxed.
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My fellow guests are certainly relaxed, pouring themselves drinks and jotting down on a notepad what they’ve had, bonding over someone’s pet dog, and playing Scrabble. Peter and Amanda make a good fist at looking relaxed too, but in fact they are still working their socks off, they haven’t had a day off in weeks and have precious little time for hiking or climbing. Do they regret their decision to chuck in their careers? Not for a moment. Is running an eight-bedroom hotel as intellectually challenging? Far more so, they say: it’s like running a mini-empire, with so many elements that need to be got right. “And we don’t spend our days wading through paperwork any more, thank God.”
Breakfast, featuring Peter’s home-made sourdough toast, is a feast of local sausages, black pudding, bacon, mushrooms, baked beans, eggs any way and more, cooked by Amanda and served by Peter and a helper. They offer simple dinners too: a menu of delicious pizzas made with their own dough and cooked in a pizza oven, plus a few salads and puds.
A good pizza turns out to be just the thing after a walk in this peaceful, little-known corner of Cumbria between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. Take the path below the house that runs through Smardale nature reserve, rich in wildlife and industrial archaeology left over from limestone quarrying. It follows a long disused steam railway line to an old viaduct that straddles Scandal Beck, a tributary of the river Lune. Surrounded by hills, with not another building in sight, it’s an unexpected and majestic sight. With such beauty all around them, it’s no wonder Peter and Amanda are glad they quit London. I really hope they can make Brownber Hall work for them and stay the course.
Doubles from £100 per night, including breakfast. Not suitable for guests using wheelchairs.
