Inside Swinton Park, the castellated Yorkshire bolthole in this week's Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby

Forget the sandy shores of St Lucia, Giles Coren and Monica Galetti are bringing Yorkshire to our screens this Thursday (Feb 18) for their first behind-the-scenes take on an English hotel.

When the likes of The Brando, Icehotel and Ashford Castle have featured as some of the world’s most incredible hotels on the programme, the boots to fill are very large indeed – huge. But this baronial pile, part of a 20,000-acre rural estate encompassing moorland, farmland and parts of nearby Masham, holds its own very nicely.

Prior to its incarnation as a "castle", the hotel as we know it now was a traditional Georgian country house. When the Cunliffe-Lister family bought the Estate in the 1800s they added floors, turrets and battlements to give the building a more unique, Gothic look. The deer park, lakes, woodland and gardens were already established, having been landscaped in the 1700s, but as the estate passed down through the family more features were added.

Current owners Mark, the Baron of Masham, and wife Felicity turned the building into a hotel in 2001, with a cookery school and a country club and spa to follow. They also added a bivouac glampsite (pictured) with tree lodges, tipis, yurts and a café, a smart yet cosy-looking deer lodge, and a couple of holiday cottages to the wider estate's offering.

Inside, the look is very much that of an English stately home, with tall ceilings sporting vast chandeliers; solid-marble fireplaces; gold-gilded cornicing along walls where heavily framed oil paintings look down at you; polished-wood floors with patterned rugs, and huge windows dressed with thick drapes giving onto views of the parkland. Rooms come with large beds (some four-poster), antique furniture and bathrooms one could get lost in.

Though fabrics and walls looked slightly shabby on my last visit, it's fair to say Swinton Park has a grand and old-fashioned feel with heart. Service was excellent; everyone was so friendly, helpful and eager to give you the best experience possible, which will be fascinating to unpick through Coren and Galetti's eyes.

On the other end of the interior design scale, the country club, spa and Terrace restaurant adjoining the main house are all light, contemporary, and glassy. The hotel has invested millions into the wellness facilities and it shows, with treatments by Bamford and Elemis, multiple saunas and steam rooms, hydrotherapy pools, an indoor pool, an outdoor natural (pond-like) pool, and relaxation rooms galore.

The Terrace offered some of the best light dishes I’ve tucked into on a spa day; think warm vegetable salads with rocket, wasabi and lentils; or Swinton trout a la plancha (seared and smoked) with charred cucumber, ginger and fennel – and a dessert of passion fruit baked Alaska that still lingers in my memory.

Food is a huge part of the experience here, and something I imagine Coren and Galetti will hone into greatly given their credentials. There's the bountiful kitchen garden, cookery school led by head chef Marc Williams who has worked with the likes of Shaun Rankin and Lisa Allen, and sumptuous fine dining restaurant Samuel’s, where tasting menus present dish after dish of theatrically presented and tongue-tingling fare, much of it sourced from the estate.

Canapes and pre-dinner drinks are served in the turquoise and gold Drawing Room before you’re shown to your table where starched linens, silver service and tinkling piano music await. It's the stuff of dreams during a long lockdown.

To burn off the calories, there are bikes to borrow, oodles of walking trails (in 2019 the permissive Parkland paths were opened to the public), golf, and plenty of country pursuits including fishing, falconry, clay pigeon shooting and pony trekking. Conservation projects, for the birds, mammals and the moor are run by the game department. Masham is known for its two famous rival breweries, Theakston and Black Sheep, and the Dales are on the doorstep. Coren and Galetti will have plenty to keep them busy.

Read the full review: Swinton Park, Yorkshire

BBC Two's Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby continues Thursday, February 18 at 9pm. Read more: Inside Jade Mountain, the £1,000-a-night star of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby