Now everyone knows how much I love Laura Ashley as a brand and I’m also partial to  a luxury hotel mini break so when I got the chance to go and stay in the beautiful Laura Ashley hotel The Belsfield  I quite literally jumped at it! My husband had a week off work when the hotel had availability so we booked flights to Liverpool from Belfast and hired a car to drive to the gorgeous Lake District.

The Belsfield is set in 6 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens and looks right over Lake Windermere with stunning views wherever you look. We were so lucky to have blue skies & sunshine during our stay and the views from our suite were out of this world!

Our room was absolutely stunning with beautiful Laura Ashley soft furnishings and accessories with a lovely seating area with a sofa and chairs to sit and relax. The bed was huge and super comfy with Egyptian cotton bed linen and the most gorgeous velvet headboard which I now want in my own bedroom!

The Hotel itself is the most stunning period property and is a wonderful example of  Victorian Italiante architecture. It was built in 1845 as a private residence for Baroness Von Sternberg and was then bought in 1869 by the steel magnate Henry Schnieder and was converted to a hotel in 1892 and was extended shortly before the First World War. I’m a great lover of Victorian properties as my childhood home was a beautiful old Victorian bank house so all the details hugely appealed to me. There is beauty wherever you look in this stunning building and I was in my element snapping pics of all the beautiful reception rooms.

The hotel was refurbished in 2014 by Laura Ashley designers and the result is utter perfection. Laura Ashley interior designer Kay Cullen used the archive chinoiserie range of wallpapers within the hotel to stunning effect thus enhancing all the beautiful period features whilst remaining true to the buildings heritage and the Laura Ashley furnishings throughout create a feeling of luxury in keeping with such a beautiful period property.

My personal favourite had to be the Drawing Room with its duck egg blue & gold decor and we sat there after dinner at night having tea and looking over the lake as dusk fell which was magical.

There are two dining rooms to choose from, both with beautiful lake views, the more informal Brasserie is where we ate on the first night and the food was amazing. There is also a Lounge Bar in the centre of the building with lovely seating areas and gorgeous decor where you can sit and watch the world go by.

The AA Rosette awarded Belsfield Restaurant is the more formal dining room with spectacular views over the lakes and hills and breakfast is also served in this beautiful room.

The Hotel is perfectly situated in the pretty little Lakeside town of Bowness and it’s literally a 5 minute walk from the hotel grounds to both the Lake and the town centre.

Of course I needed a little look round the local shops and hubby was delighted that we had only booked hand luggage as I saw so many things I wanted to buy but couldn’t fit in my case! One shop that I did manage to make a couple of purchases in was the beautiful Huttons Chocolates which is a proper old fashioned sweet shop and I’d love to have bought lots more from them!

The shops and restaurants are all super pretty and quaint and we enjoyed wandering around them all having a look and trying some of the yummy local ice cream!

I posted lots of pics of our stay on my FB & IG while we were there and got so many messages from people who had completely fallen in love with the beautiful Belsfield and it’s stunning decor and surroundings  and the hotel staff couldn’t have been lovelier which just made the whole experience such a wonderful treat! We enjoyed every single minute of our stay and I can’t wait to go back ( with a bigger suitcase next time!)

Louise xxx

 

*This is a collaborative post but all opinions stated  are of course entirely my own.