Purdy Lodge, Belford

...in Northumberland and stayed at Purdy Lodge, which is a Travelodge/Premier Inn type hotel, next to a service area on the A1.

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LOCATION
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Purdy Lodge is located right next to the A1 at Adderstone Services, which is located at the turn off for Bamburgh on the A1.
When travelling through Northumberland you cannot fail to miss the hotel. It is in a great position to use as a base to explore ...
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The Purdy Lodge is a perfect base for exploring Northumberland. Bamburgh castle is a ten minute drive away, with Seahouses a few minutes further south. Dunstanburgh Castle, Ford and Etal estates and Chillingham Castle are all within easy reach.
Holy Island is a 15 - 20 min drive further up the coast.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay here, it was an ideal base for us, comfortable, quiet and the restaurant was ... more

I have recently returned from a short break in Northumberland and stayed at Purdy Lodge, which is a Travelodge/Premier Inn type hotel, next to a service area on the A1.

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LOCATION
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Purdy Lodge is located right next to the A1 at Adderstone Services, which is located at the turn off for Bamburgh on the A1.
When travelling through Northumberland you cannot fail to miss the hotel. It is in a great position to use as a base to explore Northumberland, which is exactly what I did.

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BOOKING A ROOM
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I had passed the hotel many times, and often thought about staying there. I only live around an hour and a half's drive away further down the North East Coast, but like to visit Northumberland often for days out and short breaks, as there are some fantastic places to visit.

I googled the name of the hotel and was taken to the website www.thepurdylodge.co.uk.
The website is clearly laid out and you are able to book online or telephone the hotel direct to make a reservation.
It states that the room rate is £64.95 per room, per night, but there seems to be a lot of special offers available, such as 3 nights for £135 and 2 nights for the price of one etc.

I was quite keen to book one of the offers, but when I was entering the dates I wished to stay, it was coming up as normal room rates. I noticed that it does tell you to ring the hotel if any rooms/rates are not available for the dates you require, so I decided to do this.
The receptionist was very friendly and helpful as I explained I was looking to stay for 3 nights, and wondered if there were any offers available as the normal rates were showing when I tried to book online.
She told me I could have the 3 nights for £135 offer, which I accepted, and the booking was made. I was given a reference number and was asked if I had an email address. The full booking confirmation arrived in my inbox minutes later.
I had given my credit card details, but no deposit or payment is taken at the time of booking. I was very impressed with the service and helpfulness of the staff when making my booking.

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THE HOTEL
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The hotel is situated to the left of the services area which contains a garage and large shop. There was ample car parking available.
Checking in was quick and problem free. We arrived at 2.30pm and were greeted warmly and given our room key, which was a swipe card.

We were told that hot and cold food is available 24 hours a day in the coffee shop 'Cafe One' which is attached to the hotel. Next to Reception is a bar and also a restaurant which serves breakfasts and evening meals, although snacks are available throughout the day.

Our room was on the ground floor. There are only 20 rooms in the hotel, they are all non-smoking, and they all at the rear of the building facing the coast and away from the busy A1.
On entering the room the first thing I noticed was the huge king size bed! Also in the room were two chairs, a wall mounted 26" flat screen TV, with freeview channels, hanging space for your clothes and shelves, bedside cabinets, hairdryer, telephone and a workspace area. Free wi-fi access is also available.
A kettle was provided along with plenty of tea, coffee, Cadbury hot chocolate and Walkers shortbread biscuits.
The room was spacious enough for our needs, clean and decorated in shades of cream and brown.

The en suite bathroom was fully tiled and consisted of toilet, bath and overhead shower. Towels and little bottles of shampoo, body wash and bars of soap were provided. I used both the bath and the shower during my stay and both were fine with plenty of hot water.

The view from the window was lovely, overlooking the fields down to the coast to Bamburgh Castle which is lit up at night, and a beautiful sight. The hotel was very quiet and you could only hear faint traffic noise from the A1 if you had the window open.

Overall the room was very comfortable and we had no complaints. The room was cleaned daily and towels replaced, as were the tea/coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits.
There is a note in the information file placed in the room which contains useful info and informs you if you wish to stay an extra night, then contact reception and they will try to secure you a discounted rate. So it would seem that whenever you book here it is worth asking about discounted room rates as they will do their best to secure a good deal for you.

On checking out we were given an itemised bill and then payment was taken from my credit card.

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RESTAURANT AND COFFEE SHOP
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The restaurant and bar area has recently been refurbished and looked very cosy with its dark purple and white decor, hardwood floors and candles and floating flowers placed on the tables.
The bar area has the same decor with a large wall mounted flat screen TV, leather chairs, tables and stools.
Drinks were reasonably priced at £2.35 for shorts and £2.65 for beers. Wine was available by the glass or bottle.

If you do not wish to eat in the restaurant you can have your meal in the bar area, but seeing as how I was celebrating my birthday we opted to eat in the restaurant.

Now I will mention here that the reason we opted to eat here was that we were both impressed by the decor of the restaurant, and also the fact that we had read a statement by the chef which was placed in our room with the menu. This stated that they pride themselves on providing high quality, well presented meals and an a la carte menu, using locally-sourced ingredients. The names of the local butcher etc were given which they use.

Room service is not available but you can ring Reception and place your order then when it is ready, go and collect it and take it to your room if you wish.

The menu was quite impressive, with starters, mains and desserts available. My partner had his eye on a dish of shelled mussels for starters which he saw someone else having, but opted for prawn cocktail instead.
He fancied the sea bass for main course but changed his mind again and opted for gammon, which was served with mushrooms, egg and hand cut chips.
Everything sounded tempting, and glancing around at the meals other diners were tucking into, they all looked lovely and well presented.
I opted for delicious home-made lentil soup, followed by pan fried chicken with rice, korma sauce and nan bread.
Our meals were well presented also, equal to any meal I have had in a 'posh' restaurant, served on separate little dishes and all cooked to order. Both meals were delicious and at £8.95 for my main course and £10.95 for my partner's, they were very reasonably priced! The starters were £3.95 and £4.95. We had no room for dessert!

The staff were very efficient and friendly, asking us where we were from and chatting about the area.

The coffee shop 'Cafe One' is also very nice and we enjoyed a few Latte's there during our stay. Meals as well as sandwiches, panini's, cakes etc are available 24 hours a day. My partner had an all day breakfast there one day and I had a panini with home made coleslaw which was delicious.
Overall the food served in both the restaurant and cafe is very nice and at reasonable prices.

Breakfasts are served until 12.30pm in the restaurant and 24 hours a day in the coffee shop.

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IN THE AREA
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The Purdy Lodge is a perfect base for exploring Northumberland. Bamburgh castle is a ten minute drive away, with Seahouses a few minutes further south. Dunstanburgh Castle, Ford and Etal estates and Chillingham Castle are all within easy reach.
Holy Island is a 15 - 20 min drive further up the coast.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay here, it was an ideal base for us, comfortable, quiet and the restaurant was fantastic. I would recommend Purdy Lodge to anyone visiting Northumberland.

Purdy Lodge
Adderstone
Belford
Northumberland
NE70 7JU

Tel 01668 213000 for reservations or visit www.thepurdylodge.co.uk

*Review also appears on Dooyoo 

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