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St Mary’s Park
Stannington Park
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 6BL
01670 293293
www.stmarysinn.co.uk
STOP PRESS (September 2018): St Mary's Inn has reopened after closing in May 2017. I'm delighted to see it back. The new chef is Chris Cheek (ex Jesmond Dene House and Northcote Manor). He aims to offer "more creative dishes as well as much loved pub staples". I'll be reviewing shortly,
I guess you’d call this a work in progress.
'We’re creating a thriving community in the great British countryside,' runs the online blurb from Bellway, the developers of Stannington Park.
'Inspired by the best of English village life,' it goes on, over a shot of a couple dressed in black tie getting into an open topped sports car, presumably off to the opera. The lady is wearing her partner’s heavy coat to protect herself from the spray on the A1.
Elsewhere in the same brochure, the couple is dressed more appropriately for village life, complete with spaniel and green wellies, then wrapped in jumpers as they cycle, 
without a care in the world, or even cycle helmets, down a wintry lane.
Built on the sprawling site of the old St Mary’s Hospital, or Asylum as it used to be called, like every self-respecting country village, Stannington Park will have its own cricket pitch, community hall and, of course, village pub.
Not any old pub, this is a gastropub. And better than that, one owned and run by Newcastle’s best hotel, Jesmond Dene House.
Food ✪✪✪✪ 
