A Coastal Gem: Seaham Hall, Durham – Review

With an award-winning spa, food that ticks every box and a stunning coastal location, Seaham Hall is a jewel in County Durham’s crown, says Margaret Hussey.

Hotel Review: Seaham Hall, Durham

Strolling along the Durham Heritage Coast at Seaham, you are struck by how many people are scouring for sea glass. The pretty green, white and aqua pieces are a reminder of the region’s industrial past, when waste glass from factories was dumped into the North Sea during the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Tumbled and turned in the waves, decades later the glass is now turning up beautifully polished on the beach and revealing itself again in a new light. Just like Seaham Hall, the five-star hotel overlooking this coastline, which like the sea glass is a North East gem.

Its decades of reinvention has seen Seaham Hall change from the Georgian country house where poet Bryon married Annabella in 1815, to a military hospital during World War One to a privately owned hotel with so much to offer.

First off there’s its location. Just 20 minutes from Durham city and three hours from London, it’s a great base for exploring the North East or taking a pit stop en route to The Scottish Borders or Edinburgh.

There’s also the award-winning Serenity Spa, two restaurants, 37 acres of land with bicycles for guests and 24 individually designed suites. And while it may look grand and imposing from the outside, the interior is as cosy as the fluffy slippers in the rooms.

I was lucky enough to stay in one of Seaham Hall’s two new Junior Suites with lush forest green hues and tactile velvet furnishings. The Victoria & Albert bath was big enough for two people – and the easily-reachable bubble bath was a nice touch.

The hotel is doing its sustainable bit too, with digital newspapers, compostable coffee pods for the Dualit coffee maker, refillable toiletries, LED light bulbs and EV charging points.

The home from home feel continues in the hotel’s five residences on site – which you can rent from the owners. Nineteen more residences are being built which will match the aesthetic of the hotel – while owners can make the most of the facilities on their doorsteps.

And talking of doorsteps, my lunch at the bar was a massive sandwich of vegan feta with sun dried tomatoes, pesto and watercress. Portions here are Northern and big, with as much local and seasonal produce as possible. And with such great seafood nearby like crabs from Whitby and oysters from Lindisfarne, not to forget the famous Craster kippers for breakfast, this really is a no-brainer.

The hotel also has plans for a kitchen garden and at the moment forage wild garlic, sorrel, pine, seabuck and gorse flowers from the grounds.

The Dining Room, where breakfast, lunch, afternoon teas and dinner are served, has recently undergone a refurbishment to create a more intimate feel – whilst still retaining the glamour with its 14 carat chandeliers. Dinners include everything from cauliflower steak with kale and walnut pesto to wild Whitby sea bass with fennel and mushrooms.

The afternoon tea is packed with delights and has a great sense of theatre when it is brought to the table. There are baked ham and piccalilli brioche buns, cucumber and whipped cream cheese sandwiches, carrot cake, a sublime Amalfi Lemon Tart and Valrhona Chocolate Eclair. Prices from £32 or £40 with a glass of fizz.

The high standard of taste and ingredients continues at the hugely impressive Serenity Spa. Its Ozone restaurant serves healthy Asian dishes like steamed vegetable gyoza and steamed salmon donburi.

Couples were having meals in their robes and slippers when we visited. The spa, which uses Ishga and Temple Spa products, is linked to the hotel by a tunnel, so you needn’t worry about being seen in your cossie as you head back to your room.

There are 17 treatment rooms, a 20-metre pool, a hammam, salt sauna, outdoor hot tubs, cold plunge pools and a hydrotherapy pool. There’s also a very well-equipped gym and a host of classes from yoga to Nordic walking, Pilates to boxing. From January, they’re launching Novara, which focuses on long-term skin health with injectables, peels and hydra facials.

I had the most incredible Top to Toe Ritual, which comprised a 30-minute back, neck and shoulder massage, followed by a 30-minute power facial. My skin was buffed and polished, leaving it smooth and gleaming. Just like that Seaham sea glass…

BOOK IT

Nightly rates at Seaham Hall start from £299 in a Junior Suite on a B&B basis. seaham-hall.co.uk