Travel review: Mottram hall, Cheshire

Who knows, you may even be looking to take a peek at how the other half live or even fancy a little celebrity-spotting? What about a drink in a bar frequented by footballers and the in-crowd?

Yes to any one or more of the above? Well look no further, I may just have the answer for you. Just over an hour up the motorway is the answer; the superbly appointed Mottram Hall in the leafiest part of leafy Cheshire, just a couple of miles from the footballer hotspot of Alderley Edge.

This Q Hotels spa, hotel and golf centre is nothing short of excellent in every department. Perhaps that’s why you roll up the sweeping drive to the 18th century hall, you are greeted by a phalanx of supercars the likes of which would cost more than my house.

Believe me, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for yours truly.

A place like this is all about a peek through the keyhole of millionaires’ row. Leaving the humdrum behind and lapping up a slice of the high-life. Sure, you’re not going to enjoy a weekend like this for the sort of money you’d pay for a couple of nights in a Blackpool B&B.

But that’s not to say Mottram Hall is the exclusive preserve of the super-rich. Neither is it sniffy. The places oozes class and its staff have that happy knack of making you feel both happily relaxed while also ensuring the place retains its upmarket feel.

My brother-in-law and I travelled for a night at Mottram Hall for the golf. And pleasingly, the manicured championship-standard course proved just as impressive as the hotel.

Nine holes on the first day of our overnight sojourn – it started raining sideways halfway through our round, and being golfing lightweights we packed away the clubs and headed to our room to dry off and change.

Those nine holes whetted not only our golfing appetite for the next day but also built up a thirst for a Saturday evening drink. And, as we were just a five-minute taxi ride from Alderley Edge, we though it would be rude not to try out the local hostelries.

First stop on the Alderley Edge high street was the Bubble Room. Now, ordinarily, both the brother-in-law and I would happily eschew a celebrity haunt in favour of a nice pint in a proper pub. But this was a weekend away and, well, who can resist a spot of people watching?

And if that’s your game, Bubble room doesn’t disappoint. We didn’t see any celebs or footballers. But we did enjoy a very amusing hour watching a few wannabe WAGs popping in, scouting the bar for a nice young man with a ready source of available income and slinking out again when there didn’t appear to be any.

All good fun – but at a price. You’re not going to get much change from £15 for a couple of pints of some of their beers. “Better sip it,” was my solemn advice after getting the first round in.

An hour or so later it was time to head back to Mottram Hall for dinner at the hotel’s in-house Carrington Grill.

Cunningly names after the training grounds of both Manchester United and City, pictures of football great adorn some of the walls. However, this is not theme restaurant. This is a top notch restaurant in it own right.

We both dined on steak with fat cut chips. And it was superb. Juices oozed from the perfectly grilled slabs of meat which begged to be soaked up by the ample fluffy-centred fries. (We had excellent starters too but the sublime memory of how good the steak was has managed to erase the earlier course from my memory. . . my apologies to the chef. . .)

Too stuffed for a dessert, we retired to the bar for a nightcap. Again, you couldn’t have asked for a better setting. Style and elegance and the perfect way to round off an evening ahead of another day on the golf course – that was of course the main reason we were here.

After a solid slumber in our excellently appointed – and healthily proportioned – en-suite room. it was time for breakfast. In truth, such was the standard of the meal the night before, neither of us truly needed breakfast but, or the purposed of the review (and not least the perfectly browned sausages) we managed to go the extra mile and tuck in to an excellent full English.

And from there back out on to the golf course and thankfully the weather had dried off and the autumn morning sun was glinting off the fairways. The weather had been bad previously, but the course remained in tip-top condition.

The golf course exudes class and the Claret Jug bar over looking the first and 10th holes was more than a faint echo of the clubhouse at the world-famous Augusta National; home of the US Masters.

Without (hopefully) becoming too much of a golf bore about it, the first nine holes were terrific fun. Testing but also playable. Reward for risks.

And if the front was good, the back nine were brilliant.

Wending their way around the circumference of a large woodland, every hole proved the perfect balance of being both picturesque while proving the right level of difficulty to test the average golfer as well as the expert.

It’s a long course but that served to increase the enjoyment. By the time we had reached the 18th we were thrilled to have played such a course. Modesty prevents me from revealing my score (or more realistically the need to save myself from embarrassment) but rest assured, should you travel to this course you will not be disappointed.

The same too can be said for the hotel and spa. And the setting. And the staff and facilities. So take my advice, tee up a visit and enjoy a slice of the good life with the Cheshire set. Fore right!