Gilpin Lodge and Lake House, Windermere: hotel review

It's not as if I haven't done the journey a few times recently, but the speed of the train to the Lakes these days still takes me by surprise. We southerners tend to think of the West Country as accessible for a weekend, but not the north. Wrong: hardly had we settled down, with laptops, papers, bags and coats scattered about us, than our arrival at Oxenholme was announced, causing us to stumble from our carriage in comic-book chaos, hurling our possessions on to the platform.

There are other spoiling hotels of course, but the fact that Gilpin Lodge is family-run by two generations hand in hand makes it special. Twenty-five years ago, John and Christine Cunliffe bought John's grandmother's former home, and created a six-bedroom hotel. Ten years ago their son, Barney ("the business brain"), and his wife, Zoe, joined them; six wildly popular garden suites with hot tubs were added to the mix of rooms; a Michelin star was won and lost; and a long-awaited grandchild, Zia, was born ("she's only three but she tells us that she plans to marry the chef's little boy and run the hotel, so that's all right").

And now – the reason for my latest visit – the Cunliffes have transformed Knipe Tarn, their private former fishing lodge set on its own tree-fringed lake a mile from Gilpin Lodge, into a six-bedroom mini-hotel known as Lake House. Barney's brother, Ben, was the talented architect; Christine, a human dynamo forever tweaking, changing, improving, freshening, is in charge of the look and ambience of the place, as at the main hotel.

You breakfast at Lake House, dine at Gilpin Lodge. A chauffeur takes you between the two. It's expensive, but worth every penny for the tranquillity that pervades and the impeccable mix of stylish luxury and private-home intimacy. It has been superbly done and includes an elegant, bookish drawing room leading to an open-plan kitchen and sun-filled conservatory and six unimpeachable bedrooms with good furniture and armchairs, lovely lamps, shelves of books and objects and piles of the latest magazines, plus iPads and iPods and classy televisions.

There are flowers everywhere, charmingly arranged; a homely utility-room-cum-office has stairs to a light-filled indoor pool and sauna, and a terrace by the tarn with hot tub, outdoor heaters, deck chairs and private corners.

Guests can stroll up to Cat Crag, with a 360 degree panorama stretching as far as the Isle of Man, but many simply stay put – they've even been seen rowing on the lake in their dressing gowns. Then, it's time to change for dinner and set off for Gilpin Lodge, as glamorous yet cosy as Lake House. It may take a while for fellow guests to start chatting, but soon everyone, from Geordie diva on six-inch stilettos to roly-poly matriarch in M & S knitwear, melds together, united by the sheer excellence of the place and the sense of peace and luxury.

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