With the opening of the luxury hotel, spa and golf resort Rockliffe Hall – a £50m development – only weeks away, Deborah Johnson pays a visit.

NOVEMBER 23. It’s a date that’s been etched on the minds of everyone involved with Rockliffe Hall for a long while. Now it’s just over a month away.

It’s the date when all the scores of workers have to be off site, when all the rooms have to be ready, all the beds made, all the pictures straight, and all the surfaces dusted.

Perfection is the key at Rockliffe Hall – and November 23 is when that will become all-important.

In short, November 23 is the date the venue, in Hurworth, near Darlington – which is to be the region’s newest fivestar hotel, spa and golf resort – opens its doors and welcomes its first guests and spa visitors.

The date of that first peek inside the property that only a few months ago stood as a derelict 19th Century mansion house, and has taken Rockliffe Hall Developments – founded by Middlesbrough FC chairman Steve Gibson – a rumoured £50m to regenerate, build on an extension and spa, and turn into the kind of exclusive resort it desires to be.

Nick Holmes, managing director of Rockliffe Hall – which will employ 300 people, as well as 200 during construction – is remarkably relaxed about everything.

“It was probably worse when we didn’t have a date for the opening, but once we named November 23, we knew everything had to be completed for then,” he said.

“What probably looks like a big job isn’t really a big job.

The construction work is in place – the challenge now is the period between the building being handed over to us and the opening, the decorating and attention to detail. But we’re on track and, basically, it has to be finished for us opening.”

The opening of the golf course and clubhouse in July has set the bar high for the main hotel development – with the likes of Alan Shearer, Sir Ian Botham and Graeme Storm singing the praises of the Championship course, the pressure is certainly on for the 61-bedroom hotel and its adjoining spa to come up to the same standard.

And what’s more, less than a week after its opening, the venue will host an engagement party. Its Christmas programme starts at the end of November, and its first wedding is booked for January. Clearly, there’s no room for slip-up.

Touring the venue with Mr Holmes, as workers add the finishing touches to each room, the smell of paint and newly-laid carpets hanging in the air, he is confident the months of hard work will pay off.

“It’s the quality and attention to detail that will be all-important here, and from that first day the standards have to be high,” he said.

“The reputation of the course is mushrooming – had you asked me before it opened would the feedback have been this positive, hand on heart, even I don’t know if I’d have said it would be as good as it has been. It is becoming one of the most talked-about courses in the country, and that’s something we are keen to repeat with the new opening.

“This has been planned and worked on for a long while, and every effort has gone in, and is still going in, to making this how we want it to be. We believe we do justify the cost of staying here by offering the best we can. It’s the difference and that bit of quality we will pride ourselves on.”

The attention to detail at Rockliffe is undeniable, the list almost endless.

LOOK in any room and there will be something that proves the development has gone that extra mile to add a bit of class – televisions in the bath, for example; the beds, made to order and sourced from Ireland, each one given the okay by Mr Holmes; or the Spa Butler to attend to your every whim while lounging by the pool.

“We think the idea of the Spa Butler is a good one. The Butler, it could be a man or woman, will show you around the facilities, and will be able to talk you through the process properly. They will also be on hand to get drinks or smoothies from the pool bar, or be available for advice or help at any time,” he said.

“Although the cost of coming here may be seen as high, it’s touches like this that help to justify it, and the ratio of staff to customers will be very high, so the service becomes a lot more personal.”

The spa, as with the main hotel, definitely has the wow factor – the hydrotherapy pool is a vision of calm, and the main swimming pool, with the light streaming in – through both clear and stunning stained-glass windows – looks utterly idyllic.

With eight heat-based therapy rooms scattered around, and 13 treatment rooms in the upper storey of the spa – all with their own ensuite facilities and changing areas; attention to detail is, after all, everything – the facility serves as a perfect answer to the quality of the hotel.

“The juxtaposition of the modern design of the spa, and of the hotel extension, with the main hall is really nice.

We’ve tried to keep everything as much in keeping with the original Rockliffe Hall as possible, and we’ve retained a lot of the original features,”

he said, pointing to the stunning staircase and stained glass window at the east end of the venue, and contrasting them with a nearby radiator cover, which looks like it could well date from 1863 along with the hall itself, but is in fact new.

The interior of each room is With the opening of the luxury hotel, spa and golf resort Rockliffe Hall – a £50m development – only weeks away, Deborah Johnson pays a visit designed, by interiors company RTR Design, to look as true to the 19th Century as possible – some look so authentic the light switches and plasma-screen televisions look slightly out of place.

The history of Rockliffe Hall is something Mr Holmes and his team are keen to hold onto, and efforts have clearly been made to do that. As well as original beams and woodwork being the most stunning features of the neutral-themed Morning Room and more sumptuous Drawing Room, the bell used by the St John of God order – which formerly owned Rockliffe Hall – hangs above reception, and many of the rooms in the development bear testament to the building’s former residents and creators.

There is the Backhouse suite, a tribute to the former mansion’s first residents; the Southampton room, after Lord Southampton who has links with Rockliffe Park; and a Waterhouse Bistro, which takes its name from the old building’s architect Alfred Waterhouse.

In a tribute to botanist Alfred Backhouse, all the treatments and the products in the spa by the exclusive Ila brand are themed around his favourite flowers, and those that continue to grow in the Rockliffe grounds. Sweet pea, rose petal and pine nut will be some of the staples on the spa’s treatment sheet.

“The history of Rockliffe Hall, as well as the surrounding community in Hurworth, is something we have always wanted to consider and is very important to us. There was also a small chapel in the grounds which has now gone, but we have kept its stained glass window and have used it in the new development – there is some in the spa, and the window in the Campanella room includes a window which otherwise would have been lost. Not only does it create a feature for the hotel, it pays tribute to the history,”

said Mr Holmes.

As preparations continue ahead of the opening – which will be a “soft launch,”

according to Mr Holmes, in that it will be open for business, but without a major ceremony or event – plans are also being made for Rockliffe Hall to play a role should the North-East be chosen to host part of the 2018 World Cup.

The venue is part of Sunderland’s – and also Hull’s – bid, which could be chosen to form part of England’s submission to Fifa to host one of the world’s greatest sporting tournament.

“It’s something we would love to be involved in, and we’d like to think we would be a flagship venue. We would be able to accommodate teams or executive guests and supporters, but I suppose there’s always a risk involved, in that the team staying at Rockliffe may be knocked out very early – but the World Cup would be fantastic for this hotel and for the region, so we are keen to be involved,” he said.

With a month remaining before opening, Mr Holmes said he is aware that excitement is building among people, particularly local people, keen to have a look.

“We’re confident in what we have here, and are as sure as we can be we won’t disappoint expectations. I don’t think we will,” he said with a smile.

Considering the way Rockliffe Hall looks this far ahead of opening, Mr Holmes need have few concerns the development will do anything other than impress.

■ For more information log onto rockliffehall.com or call 01325-729999.