Review of Blagraves House - Dine in Historic Setting in Co. Durham

A truly historic dining experience in an ancient market town in the north east of England.

A unique historical setting in Barnard Castle

Blagraves House Restaurant sits on a steeply sloping street in the heart of Barnard Castle, County Durham. It is one of many attractive old stone buildings in a town where the castle dates back to 1125.

Diners enter the four-storey Blagraves (pronounced Blay-graves) House via an oak-beamed sitting room. It’s the perfect place to take a pre-dinner drink on a comfortable sofa – before a blazing log fire in winter months.

In the dining room above you can see the crested ceiling, dated 1672, and a magnificently carved door. It is a rare pleasure to be able to sit and eat in a building whose English historical connections include King Richard III, Oliver Cromwell and John Wesley.

Both the food and service at dinner are of good quality, without pretensions or fuss. The short set priced menu, which changes monthly, offers four choices at each course. When we visited, the options included Braised Brisket of Beef with Horseradish Dumplings and Breast of Chicken with Tomato, Onion and Olive Sauce. All main course dishes were served with generous portions of freshly prepared vegetables.

You can chose to take your coffee downstairs in the sitting room – perhaps to ponder on rumours of a secret passageway from here to the nearby ruins of Eggleston Abbey. Perhaps the monks were tempted to pop over for pudding.

And for a Place to Stay Nearby

Check out Greta House, a reasonably priced 5-star Bed and Breakfast also reviewed by Valerie France.