Waterton Park Hotel, Wakefield

The Waterton Park Hotel, Wakefield

The Waterton Park is a Best Western Hotel situated deep in Yorkshire and only 4 miles from the M1 motorway. However, when my husband and I went for a mid-week one night break recently we were surprised at how remote the location really felt. The hotel itself is in beautiful surroundings set in the countryside near Wakefield.

Access to the hotel is along a rather winding route from junction ...
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The Waterton Park Hotel includes two separate buildings - Walton Hall which nestles on its own private island in a large lake and the Waterton Park building on the "mainland" but with many views of the lake. According to the hotel's own promotional material, Charles Waterton transformed the lake and surrounding parkland into the worlds first nature reserve during the 19th century.

We arrived rather late in ... more

The Waterton Park Hotel, Wakefield

The Waterton Park is a Best Western Hotel situated deep in Yorkshire and only 4 miles from the M1 motorway. However, when my husband and I went for a mid-week one night break recently we were surprised at how remote the location really felt. The hotel itself is in beautiful surroundings set in the countryside near Wakefield.

Access to the hotel is along a rather winding route from junction 39 of the M1 motorway. After initially passing a large lake and the local Asda you travel through the leafier outskirts of Wakefield before going into the countryside on the approaches to the hotel. The hotel comes into view after you pass through the adjacent 18 hole golf course, which surrounds the site.

The Waterton Park Hotel includes two separate buildings - Walton Hall which nestles on its own private island in a large lake and the Waterton Park building on the "mainland" but with many views of the lake. According to the hotel's own promotional material, Charles Waterton transformed the lake and surrounding parkland into the worlds first nature reserve during the 19th century.

We arrived rather late in the afternoon and had to pass through a six foot high security gate before entering the car park. This was rather full so we went onto the overflow car park adjacent to the lake. From here we could clearly see the wonderful setting of the Walton Hall on it's island with pedestrian access over an iron bridge flanked by two jetting fountains.

As well as the access to the island I noticed a hut on the lakeside offering trout fishing opportunities and boats can be hired here to go and fish. They even offer to give lessons for those not familiar with the art of fly fishing.

We carried our luggage over the footbridge and along the path on the island to the hotel reception. Overall the hotel boasts more than 60 rooms and the friendly reception staff booked us in efficiently and gave us information about the hotels facilities. We paid the balance of our room fee of £130 as the hotel has a policy of room payment on arrival. This payment was for two and included bed and breakfast. When we booked the room we had already paid a £40 deposit.

Our room was on the first floor and it was a traditional room with wonderful views over the lake. To get there we had to ascend a wonderful old wooden staircase and we did this on foot. Disabled facilities are available, but I would recommend a ground floor room if you have mobility problems as some of the higher floors have some quant narrow access passages to the rooms.

The hotel seems to have an obsession with cushions as on entering our room I counted four on the bed and two on the armchairs. With or without the pillows the large double bed was very comfortable. We also had all the usual modern conveniences of internet access, TV (including some of the satellite channels), direct dial telephone, voicemail, hairdryer & the usual tea & coffee making facilities. The traditional wardrobe contained a full iron and ironing board and there was also a trouser press in the room. Our on suite bathroom was well equipped with plenty of towels and a full bath with shower. It was well lit and had the usual complementary toiletries. The large sash windows provided extensive views across the lake and golf course and onto the countryside of Yorkshire.

After settling in the room we both decided to have a dip in the hotel indoor heated pool before getting ready for dinner. When we went into the pool it was fairly quiet but we soon found out that the hotel is popular with conferences when a large number of delegates joined us for an early evening swim. There are also the other leisure facilities that you'd expect in a country hotel and as you'd can imagine these were very popular with conference guests.

Fully refreshed after our swim our thoughts turned to dining. We had a number of choices from the Table d'hote and A La Carte menus in the Bridgewater Restaurant to the Bar Menu in Charlies Bar. Always looking for value for money we looked at the Restaurant Menus with interest. It looked like we would be paying upwards of £25 a head and it soon became clear that those conference delegates had a large portion of the restaurant pre-booked. By eight o'clock they were well into party mood, and we wanted a relatively quiet meal!

We opted for Charlies Bar with it's bar menu and comfortable seats. In mid summer there was also the outside patio, but we were past the best of the summer evenings and stayed inside. The bar has a large flat screen television and unusually it wasn't showing sport or 24 hour news. We found this helped the TV to blend into the background within the bar.

For our meals I had a lovely Steak and Ale Pie at £7-50 and my other half had the Cod and Chips at £7-95. We both had a glass of wine with our meals at £3-25 a glass. The menu also has Sandwiches costing £4 to £5 for those wanting a lighter bite. Our food came within ten minutes a was extremely tasty and well presented.

After the meals we returned to our room for a relaxing time over coffee. Seeing the moon rise over the lake was very impressive and some might say romantic.

In the morning we walked down the large stairway and made for the restaurant for our inclusive breakfast. As it was nine o'clock most of the conference delegates were long gone and I noticed the lawn outside prepared for some of those mandatory "team building" challenges. This took me back and I was pleased that my days of climbing through "the spider" were over.

A buffet was available for cereals and fruits which initially appeared to be all that was on offer. However, when we sat down we were asked for our preferences from the full English breakfast menu, and I noticed smoked haddock was also available. I had bacon, sausage, egg, tomato and mushrooms. Toast came as standard and butter and jam was on the table. I also had coffee, but all the other normal hot drinks are available at breakfast time.

After a long breakfast our thoughts turned to packing as the hotel has a 10-30 checkout time. It didn't take long to pack after a one night stay and we were soon back in reception checking out and paying for our meals from the night before. As we headed to the footbridge the hotel front lawn was a hive of activity with all those conference delegates in weird and wonderful positions trying to achieve their team building objectives. I must admit on the sunny day that it was this was an excellent setting for such training.

To leave the site we had been given a security code (which is changed regularly) so we could pass out through the exit gate. Looking out over the lake and watching the golf buggies going slowly across the golf course I felt regret that we only had one night to stay here. Sadly family life beckoned and I knew we would soon be back on the M1.

In summary, I couldn't recommend this venue more highly. You do need to have a certain level of means to pay, but because of the superb location I think for a short break it is definitely worth it. I found this a refreshing setting, and in nice weather, I would challenge you to find any more unique experience in Yorkshire. 

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