Holdsworth House, Halifax

I recently spent a long weekdend at Holdsworth House in Holmflied just outside Halifax. My single room was comfortable and well appointed including extra hand hair dryer,ironing and tea making facilities. The bathroom had all that I needed. The reception and restaurant staff were at all times helpful and welcoming. Breakfast and dining were excellent.

I would recommended this hotel to all my friends either for a holiday or on business. I had all information I needed through their website.

I visited the restaurant at the Halifax Holdsworth House for a special anniversary treat in August, 2003.

The restaurant is situated in the front rooms of the old house and provides a lovely intimate atmosphere with a number of smaller dining areas, my favourite of which has to be the beautiful wood panelled room.

The hotel is a popular wedding venue. On the Saturday we were there, a wedding was in full swing however this did not detract from our dining experience at all and we found the level of staffing in the restaurant more than adequate and the food was cooked to perfection without delay.

The gorgeous cyprus olives and chilli almonds (!) served with aperitifs were just a taster of some of the mouth watering tastes to follow.

We were lucky that the weather that evening was lovely and, once the wedding had cleared from the garden at the front of the house, we had lovely walk through the lavendar scented sunken italian garden in front of the hotel, sipping aperitifs and drinking in the continental atmosphere.

The restaurant is relaxed and dining is casual which was emphasized by the greeting from the restaurant manager as we sauntere back in from the garden - all part of the feeling of winding down that drifts over you when you arrive at the hotel.

There is a fixed price menu available but the 'A La Carte' menu proved just too tempting with a starter of West Coast Scallops seared with truffle butter and wild mushrooms. The knowledgable Restaurant Manager was full of interesting information about the source of many of the menu ingredients without encroaching on the intimate atmosphere of the restaurant.

For the main course, I chose Fillet of beef with Foie gras, creamed wild mushrooms and Madeira sauce accompanied by a delicious green salad. Cooked to perfection, the beef was superb. My wife chose Teriyaki pork with tiger prawns and stir fired vegetables. Portions are generous and the flavours superb.

For dessert, I tried the Roast peach with ginger ice cream, raspberry tart and chilled peach soup. My wife had Apple panna cotta (an architectural cone of creamy apple texture - absolutely gorgeous) with mini toffee apples.

Overall, I have to say that this was a lovely evening, combining the candlelit atmosphere of the wooden panelled dining room with superb food and excellent service

The hotel offers a weekend break rate of £135 per room which includes £55 (i think) towards dinner and breakfast for two. The restaurant is no smoking. The restaurant was reasonably busy and I would recommend booking.

Overall, highly delicious and highly recommended.