Rockliffe Hall (The Orangery)

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Rockcliffe Hall Hotel, Golf & Spa 
Hurworth on Tees 
Darlington 
County Durham 
DL2 2DU 

01325 729 999 
www.rockcliffehall.com 

In theory, people living in Darlington should have had two stellar fine dining restaurants to choose from for the last few years. 

To the north west of the town, James Close and his small team turn out dishes of pristeen and precise flavours from their tiny kitchen at The Raby Hunt. It continues to offer the very best cooking in the North East, earning it the region’s only Michelin star, and a solid 6 stars on my last two visits. Close is a genius; if you haven’t yet eaten there, you should book today. Meanwhile, immediately to the south is The Orangery, centerpiece of the formidable sprawl of hotel, golf course and spa that make up Rockcliffe Hall. Except that’s where, up until now, things have gone a bit awry.

The Orangery, Rockliffe Hall

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Rockliffe Hall Hotel 
Hurworth Place 
Hurworth-on-Tees 
Darlington 
DL2 2DU 

01325 729999 
www.rockliffehall.com 

It’s three years since I last visited Rockliffe Hall. Back then, it was to try Kenny Atkinson’s food. Sadly, he was off that night (although the restaurant pretended otherwise), and it showed. As a result, the cooking only deserved 3 stars from me and Kenny was cross. 

I hope he has forgiven me, now that I’ve given his excellent new House of Tides 5 glowing stars. It should be on course for a Michelin gong, once it’s sorted out its front of house. But what of the place he left behind? 

Rockliffe Hall is an important venue for the North East, a place to take clients or the inlaws. But a 5-star hotel with a 3-star restaurant? Surely that’s wrong – it was time to set the record straight. 

The Orangery, Rockliffe Hall

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Rockliffe Hall (Kenny Atkinson at The Orangery)
Hurworth on Tees,
Darlington, County Durham
DL2 2DU

01325 729 999 

www.rockliffehall.com

They called themselves “Halls”, with pretensions of grandeur and fine living. The big houses of the Victorian rich are now open to all for weddings, banquets, and special occasions: no jeans allowed. We started at the bottom: Rockliffe Hall is as far south as our region gets, beyond Darlington.

I took Mrs Diner with me, for there’s no way she’d miss the cooking of our region’s culinary Wunderkind. Poached from his White Room at Seaham Hall, the winner of the BBC’s Great British Menu is now “Kenny Atkinson at The Orangery”. They’ve spent millions converting this Victorian gothic house into a five star leisure resort. You can spot the new extension: the bricks and tiles don’t match and the interior is like a Marriott. But then you don’t come here for the architecture or the décor. It has a fantastic golf course; and it has Kenny Atkinson.