This village inn makes a perfect base for exploring the north Pennines but a few fusty, old-fashioned touches take the shine off this step back in time
Anyone who fails to love this heartbreakingly rugged and underexplored corner of the north Pennines should be put in stocks and have rotten tomatoes thrown at them. And, handily, the sweet village of Romaldkirkhas a set on one of its three greens. You could mistake this village for the Cotswolds, so quaint are its cottages. They’re warm honey-grey, gentle and welcoming, not glowering and flinty as you might expect in the far north of England.
Completing the scene – one notch back from chocolate-boxy – are a bunting-festooned village hall, the part-Norman Saint Romald’s church and, beside it, the ivy-covered, 18th-century Rose & Crown. It is this renowned inn that is putting me up. The entrance feels olde worlde: squeaky dark wood doors lead to a passage with an exceedingly cosy-looking bar that makes me instantly feel like ordering whisky (though I hate it), and there is a reception desk tucked away where I gather chatty leaflets produced by the hotel. (Their titles: Sling Your Hook, On Your Bike, which mentions “hero points” for jumps, and Take A Walk.)
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