The Elk's Head — Restaurant in England

We stayed at the Elk's Head, Whitfield recently; during mid-December 2024. This was our fourth visit there – so clearly we like it – but this time the hotel/pub is with a new team: a new Landlady: would it be as good as it had been? A bit of a concern I suppose, and a bit of a worry it has to be said, because you never know what might happen when an establishment – however good previously – changes hands.||But, what the heck, we'd give it a go ... nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that! ... yeah, right ... all that aside, as we swung into the car park late on a Friday evening (the M1 had just been hell) two hours late, pushing at the very limits of a late dinner ... well, the trepidation returned —this was testing things out considerably; and the fault for that was entirely ours.||Beth was tending the bar, coming to the end of a busy evening shift no doubt —and she couldn't have been more welcoming. Charming, professional and kind; efficient, sharp as a tack, and completely accommodating. Just the kind of person you wish to see behind the bar of a good country pub after 6 hours on the road!||Everything taken care of, signed in, luggage in the room and sitting down for a pre-dinner drink in under 15 minutes! Not everyone has a flair for hospitality, relatively few thrive within it – it takes effort and not an inconsiderable amount of talent – well, I can tell you this young lady has it in spades!||Rooms are clean, well-provisioned and well-tended; comfortable right from the get go. Well heated – important during the winter time in Northumberland! – but manageable; some of us like a coolish, ventilated bedroom. Certainly not the thermo-nuclear sauna that seems to be the norm with hotel rooms today.||And if the gentle burbling tones of the River Allen doesn't invite you to slumber, well, then, you are beyond any hope. Relax. It will, let go; you know you have to give in to it no matter how stressed you are when you get there!||The food is excellent; menu extensive; wine list is pleasingly long. We had planned to essentially base ourselves at the Elk's Head, have breakfast there, but eat dinner out.||You know, don't bother: we had dinner there each evening and were both heartily impressed. Oh, and a bit of a top tip here: when Hollie, our fantastic waitress for the weekend, (a young lady with a liking for motor-bikes and the science of volcanology) recommends something go for it straight away. I held out on the pana-cotta for two whole days, gave in at lunch on the Sunday, and have kicked myself ever since —quite literally, sublime!||Jenifer, the new Landlady of the Elk's Head introduced herself on the Saturday evening. She came over specially during a busy Saturday night – no doubt after a busy Saturday all-round, to do just that. Again, it is touches like this that mean such a very great deal to customers. ||With pubs, hotels and restaurants it is the person at the very top that drives everything —and that's often far from being a simple task. For it is they who motivate and drive; and when it comes to motivation and drive this particular Landlady is all there and half-way back! Clearly, hotels and hospitality is Jenifer's business and in this realm she absolutely shines; the Elk's Head is in good hands, indeed.||So would we go back? Of course we would. Do we recommend it? Yes, without reservation. Everybody, and every last thing you can think of is geared toward you enjoying your stay at the Elk's Head.||Now that all takes a good deal of effort and a great deal of skill as well as commitment. Oh, and something else – something we tend to overlook these days – and much, regrettably, to the detriment of the customer's hospitality experience generally: people have to care about what they do. And if it's care and attention you need and want, then the Elk's Head is the place to be. I cannot, in all honestly, think of a better...

My wife and I stayed at the Elks Head to visit the Roman sites in the surrounding area. Though the location of the pub is amazing per se, when put in relation to our visit it did not meet our expectations at all. Google maps depicted the place in a more conveniently located and close to both Vindolanda and the Roman site, whereas they are both 30 min far away. Clearly not a fault of the management here.

However, we have left the place not as much amazed as other people did. Our room was cold at our arrival; the radiator thermostat was set to 3 and by the time we came back from the dinner we had at the pub downstairs the room was almost warm. Thankfully the cosy log fire in the pub give us a boost, and the radiator left on during the night mitigated the situation. I cannot say the same for the day after; although the snowfall radiators went off thus making us frozen. Cleaning wise, I have to admit the place was good enough, though I would have never expected to see a lot of dead flies in the bathroom lamp. There were dump everywhere in the bathroom, which was somewhat disturbing. The bed was small, short and uncomfortable.

As for the food at the pub. We had just one meal here for an obvious reason. The soup was very nice, the same for the wild boar burger, but the cod filled batter was completely soggy when it was served; the same for the chips. Breakfast included in the cost was decent but not to the expected standard. On day one there were no croissants, whereas on day two I have been served re-headed bacon in my full English.

In conclusion, this is a nice place to be, but not at the price we paid (£75 per night). Other places around may be closer to any town centre around which can offer something to do other than watching tv or playing pool at...

Unfortunately we had a bad experience with the room no 09 due to noisy pipes / electrical pump that kicked in every 40 minutes it was horrendous and you could not sleep due to the noise my partner just wanted to leave and we had booked a four night stay The toilet seat would not stay up with out holding it also when you put the light on in bathroom it lit up the bedroom due to the internal window having no blind not good if like me you get up a couple of times as it lights up the bedroom not good for the other person with you Their was other issues three inch protruding bolts on back wardrobe door knobs No wifi as advertised tv did not work but too small to watch if it did work no complementary water In the morning we made are findings known to owner and he was in denial of any issues until i showed him video recording of noise pump/pipes The owner also the chef offered us another room but we had such a bad night we just wanted to go did not want to stay for breakfast They refunded two nights of the four we paid for I never complain but i would not want any one else to have to put up with the noise of the vibration noise The room was £90 inc breakfast but was a small loft room and its was a real shame as it...