Houndgate Townhouse Hotel & Saltfish Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in England

We thoroughly recommend the Houndgate Townhouse Hotel, for the following reasons:|- Our bedroom was comfortable, spacious, clean and quiet|- The breakfasts were lovely, with a wide-ranging choice. The kedgeree was the best I've had since college days|- The hotel building is a good example of an 18th century town house. It is situated in the centre of the town. The train station and array of bus stops are a short walk away|- Saltfish, the hotel restaurant, offered an excellent range of delicious food. As its name suggests, fish and seafood dominated the menu, but there were meat and vegetarian options too. Another great thing is that the menu changed during the course of our four-night stay. We ended up dining in Saltfish for the first three nights, and then at a very good Indian restaurant up the street for the other night. Saltfish is closed on Sunday evenings.|- Above all we were delighted with the staff. Everyone without exception was friendly, helpful and professional. As soon as we arrived we were noticed how each member of staff genuinely cared about the enjoyment and well-being of the hotel guests, and the restaurant customers. But we were never fussed over. It came as no surprise to see that the hotel restaurant and bar were frequented by many local people.||For years we have been passing through Darlington, but this was the first time we had explored the area. We were delighted to see that many of the attractive older buildings have survived.||Darlington is a major transport hub. Trains run every 30 minutes to and from London, and they continue northwards to Durham, Newcastle and Edinburgh. There are many bus services serving various destinations in Durham, Newcastle and North Yorkshire [notably Richmond].||We meant to spend a day exploring Darlington itself, including the Hippodrome, the Hopetown Darlington railway museum [which is due to re-open from 16 July, after a thorough makeover and upgrade], the South Park, the lending library which dates back to 1885, but we were enticed away to Barnard Castle [just 40 minutes away by bus], and the Auckland project at Bishop Auckland [accessible by train and/or bus].||Bishop Auckland contains the new Museum of Faith. This is a splendid and informative museum, with superb exhibits, and covers 6000 years of history from the point of view of faith. We were engrossed by the museum, and, having only been able to cover half of the exhibits we returned to finish off the following day. This is part of the Auckland Project, which, amongst other things, includes the Spanish Art Gallery, and a large, newly created terraced garden.||We plan to return to the Houndgate Townhouse next year, as there is so much...

What a marvellous “find”! A family-run establishment with excellent attention to detail, a warm and friendly welcome and very comfortable room. We needed an hotel for a couple of nights and”chanced” on the Houndgate Townhouse. We could not easily have made a better choice.||We arrived quite late in the afternoon from Surrey. We had booked into Saltfish their restaurant and wine-bar as the result of a courtesy call received en route. The room was lovely with a great wet room and a big stand alone bath in the bedroom. The bed was comfortable and the Owners had all bases covered with ear plugs supplied lest the traffic noises disturbed us and fans in case we became too hot!||Good towels and bathrobes supplied and a lift up to the 3rd floor where our room was situated. The room was pristine and very clean and well decorated. We enjoyed sound sleep (without need for the earplugs!). Our Dinners and breakfasts were excellent. Good ingredients were well cooked and nicely presented. There was an extensive choice of wines at competitive prices. At dinner there was a good 3 course option as well as a La Carte and an Oyster Menu. Kira looked after us very well and was able to answer any questions we had. Jack, one of the Owners, looked after us at breakfast and we had full English the first morning and kedgeree and eggs royale the second.||We will definitely use the Hotel again when in the area and also Saltfish. We invited a foodie friend for Dinner on the second evening; they catered for his gluten intolerance and there were vegan and vegetarian options too. Was it perfect? Not quite since my wife has mobility issues. Parking could be a challenge as nearby has ridiculous 24 hour loading bays. There’s some disabled parking and a multi-storey not far away. The only things lacking in our room were skirt hangers and some long hanging. The prices were competitive and the Team was top-notch. We travel a lot and dine out regularly. The food was top quality and the accommodation was truly luxury boutique standard. They also won the “award” from my wife for the best disabled toilet she had used in anything other than a deluxe hotel - praise indeed.||We wish them well and they certainly...

What can I say except wow!

My partner booked a surprise night away for my birthday at the houndgate townhouse as he knows I love period properties and this place was just amazing!!! The entrance hall and beautiful winding staircase lead up to the beautiful rooms and our room was stunning. So large, tastefully decorated and oozing class.

As soon as I entered the room all I could say was wow, the room was huge with 3 large sash windows over looking the town with a huge freestanding bath in front of it. The bed was stunning to look at but was equally as comfortable to lay in. The bedding was high quality, you could tell no expense had been spared on the covers and pillows and the mattress was lovely!

The added extras in the room were second to none with high quality tea and coffee on our dressing table. Spa quality toiletries in the bathroom with so much thought put into them down to a shower cap with hair band for ladies to tie up their hair. The towels were soft and fluffy and absolutely huge (lovely touch as most places are tiny) plus a fan, iron and board, hair dryer, books to read should you want to…they literally have everything!!!

The atmosphere of the b&q was so welcoming, all Staff we came across were friendly and couldn’t do enough for you. The high standards of the hotel didn’t make it stuffy at all, it was relaxing, welcoming and homely.

We didn’t eat at the restaurant at night but when we came back that evening it was full of people all smiling and looking like they were having a wonderful evening, the following morning we visited the restaurant for breakfast. I had high hopes as everything so far had been perfect and we were not disappointed at all! I had the eggs Benedict which was cooked perfectly and my partner had the full English which was also amazing. Very high quality produce cooked fresh. Great coffee and juice selection too.

All in all houndgate has been one of the best places we have stayed and I can highly recommend a stay here. We cannot wait to return!

Thankyou to all the staff for such a...