Ellenborough Park: The luxury hotel that overlooks Cheltenham Racecourse

Park and ride!

All eyes were on Cheltenham this week as perennial champion jockey Tony McCoy rode in his last ever festival there.

The highlight of the National Hunt season, Cheltenham week draws spectators from across Britain and Ireland and a few from far flung places around the world.

Bets and bar-takings from the four days of racing fund many a summer holiday for bookmakers and landlords.

But the hubbub of the festival is in stark contrast to the tranquillity of a hotel that is just a short gallop up the hill from the racecourse the majestic Ellenborough Park.

An original Tudor mansion, Ellenborough has passed through the hands of some of the most prominent families in England during its 500-year history.

It takes its name from the 1st Earl of Ellenborough, who bought the house in 1833 shortly before being appointed Governor General of India.

He was, by all accounts, a spectacular failure in the job and was recalled by Queen Victoria halfway through his first term. Getting back to his beautiful house in the Cotswolds must have alleviated the disappointment.

After the Second World War, the building became a private school before being converted into a hotel in the 1970s.

That three-star establishment was purchased by a group of investors in 2008 who saw the potential of turning it into something more luxurious.

Top marks for their vision. Five stars for the hotel. Entering its manicured grounds from the winding B4632, you’re quickly transported back to a different age.

Indeed, driving up the path to the house I felt I should have been travelling by horse and carriage rather than my fiance’s Volkswagen Polo.

Our spacious de luxe room, constructed during a three-year refurbishment and situated a short walk from the house, offered all the expected modern conveniences.

Thankfully, the house has lost none of its 16th Century character for being extended.

Sitting on a sofa in the log-fired Great Hall for a pre-dinner drink, playing backgammon or Scrabble while staring up at a portrait of Catherine Parr (she’s buried at the nearby Sudeley Castle) you get a real feel for how things must have been in Tudor times (or on the set of Wolf Hall at least).

The adjacent Beaufort dining room dishes up Ellenborough’s stand-out feature the food.

Chef David Kelman represented Wales in the most recent series of The Great British Menu and has cooked for Her Majesty the Queen.

You will certainly be made to feel like royalty tucking into his fayre fine dining at its finest.

It you want to eat a little more informally you can try the brasserie, which will have something for most tastes.

Being in the heart of the Cotswolds, both restaurants have a cheese board worth trying.

One local delicacy that can remain there as far as I’m concerned is May Hill Green cheese, which has been described as “like licking a wet dog” and “sticking someone’s sweaty foot in your mouth”.

When I asked for the “wet dog cheese” the waiter knew exactly what I wanted! I suffered so that you don’t have to but it’s worth tasting to see if you can add to the colourful descriptions.

I’d say it smelt like a used sock that has lain at the bottom of a sports bag for six months and tasted worse.

While not extensive compared to hotels of similar ilk, the breakfast menu is good value for offering eggs benedict and omelette at no extra charge.

Afternoon tea, served in the Great Hall, offered four different variations of scone (fruit, marzipan and spice, lemon and buttermilk and cranberry and white chocolate).

I really need to tell the Sunday Post’s Scone Spy about this place.

All the food is locally sourced where possible and it is apparent in the taste.

Edging out of the armchair with difficulty after one delicious meal too many, I went in search of what activities the hotel had to offer.

Ellenborough offers spa breaks and has won awards for being Britain’s leading spa hotel in its recent past but it does not class itself as a spa resort (winter visitors will be disappointed that there is no indoor pool).

That said, the range of different massages available is so extensive that I became stressed just trying to choose just one.

The bamboo massage I eventually opted for soon sorted that out.

More energetic pursuits that the hotel can arrange include clay pigeon shooting, cycling and golf.

Whenever there’s racing on, the hotel provides a shuttle bus to the racecourse for guests but before you get any ideas about going to see the Gold Cup next year there is a three-year waiting list for a room during festival week.

You’ll have more luck with the race meetings held in April, October, November and December or during one of Cheltenham’s four other festivals through the year literary, music, science and jazz.

Cheltenham town is a short drive away (contrary to my earlier thought about a horse and carriage, you really will need a car to get out and about) and numerous activities lay a little further afield.

We visited Cotswold Wildlife Park and came face-to-face with a giraffe (thanks to the inventive 12ft walkway erected in the giraffe enclosure).

It may have been a dangerous thing to do during Tudor times, but I’d stick my neck out and say Ellenborough Park is definitely worth a stay.