Fit for a King and Queen (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Fit for a King and Queen

Cotswold Essence visits the historic Tudor castle at Thornbury, South Gloucestershire.

I always fancied being a medieval princess. With central heating anyway. Of course, if I had mentioned this during my stay at Thornbury Castle I would have been told that this 'magnificent castle-palace' was Tudor, and not medieval.

Tudor princess it is then, but not queen because they had this knack of losing their heads...

Talking of being careless with heads, Anne Boleyn and some bloke called King Henry VIII stayed at Thornbury Castle, so we were in good company. 500 years old, the castle was built by the Duke of Buckingham in 1509, but had a short lived residential existence when the said Duke was executed in 1521 for treason. Not a good time for heads all round, then.

So it was unfinished and fell into ruin until the reliable Victorians took an interest and began the restoration work which continues to this day. Nowadays the castle does have central heating in addition to realistic-looking fires powered by gas, so you can still enjoy the fantastic fireplaces without worrying about cleaning out the grate.

We slept in The Duke's Robe Chamber, the kind of room whose wow factor, on entry, banishes all stress from the journey to get there (two hours, not one, from Swindon to Thornbury due to wall-to-wall road works and Friday night traffic? Please, put away your violins.) The authentic-looking four poster bed, wood panelling and large fireplace made it worthwhile.

The welcoming concierge showed us to our room (and parked the car), pointing out the complimentary sherry, sweets and fresh baked cookies 'that chef had baked for us.' Yum, lucky us. He was a little disappointed that the door to the bathroom was open.

This wasn't due to some gentile Victorian issue with water closets being on show, rather that it spoiled the 'hunt the bathroom' moment. One of the walls was wood panelling with a brass cross in the middle.

The trick is to turn the cross and the door to the toilet opens. This is a particular favourite of regular Duke's Robe Chamber guest, historian and Tudor specialist Dr David Starkey. The irony of a renowned atheist having to turn a Christian symbol to use the toilet (Dr Starkey used more earthy terms) wasn't lost on him.

I was surprised to discover the historical looking woodwork throughout the hotel (including the wood-panelled wall and cupboard hiding the TV) is in fact modern and made specially for the hotel by a gem of a woodworker. When he has to use modern wood he invites the castle staff to a 'distress the wood' party to make it look old!

I loved the bare stone walls of our chamber, which causes English Heritage to tut, as the Tudors plastered, painted and adorned their walls with tapestries. Well I like being reminded I'm staying somewhere 500 years old with several feet thick walls.

Most of the rooms in the hotel are tastefully wallpapered, however. On this note it's worth bearing in mind that when booking your stay, request how much history you want in your room as the 'contemporary' rooms are hotel standard. The management aren't averse to doing upgrades, either, if they have the capacity.

The meal was top quality. We started with pink and white champagne, followed by canaps while we relaxed by the lounge fire, waiting for 'chef to be ready for us.'

For starters, we ordered open ravioli with ham hock and red snapper (the latter reminded me, in a very good way, of cockles and mussels), proceeded by a complimentary appetiser of chicken consomm.

The main dishes were herb encrusted halibut and sea bass followed (always my favourite bit) by mini orange desserts and white chocolate panacotte, served with the recommended pudding wines.

The food was big on taste and small on servings, with the advantage that we didn't feel overly full (but with my healthy hat on, not enough veggies to satisfy the 'five a day' rule).

As well as a full range of breakfasts the next day I, as a strictly continental girl, was really pleased to see that the muesli was home-made (with pistachios and walnuts) and they fulfilled my request for rice rather than cows milk.

We finished our visit with a wander round the grounds. The church next door is worth checking out too. And if you stay and fancy a change from the castle (but why would you?) Thornbury town centre is a short walk away.