My stay at The Wensleydale Heifer, West Witton, North Yorkshire

Welcome to my latest blog in which I review my one-night stay at The Wensleydale Heifer, which is a bit of a Yorkshire institutions that draws people from far and wide. It has a connection with that most famous of vets, a certain Alf Wight, otherwise known as James Herriot, but not as I thought, because he and his new wife spent their honeymoon there in 1941. No, it seems the two of them just liked to dine there a lot. Whatever the reason, the Wensleydale Heifer has managed to forge a strong connection with James Herriot and the TV series, All Creatures Great and Small.

The Heifer is situated in the pretty North Yorkshire village of West Witton in Wensleydale. The surrounding countryside is a nature-lover's and Walker's paradise. If you like horseracing, then there are plenty of horses to see in and around nearby Middleham and Leyburn. 

I booked my wife and I in for a one-night Summer Stay and Dine package, which at £239 seemed very reasonable. As it happened, I booked us into the All Creatures Great and Small suite, made up of a bedroom, a sitting room, and an en suite bathroom. This was our first stay.

After a morning of visiting Middleham Castle, followed by a light lunch in the Richard III pub in Middleham, we drove the short drive to West Witton. Check in was 3pm: we were early, so after parking in the hotel carpark (it's got a very narrow entrance, is quite small, and is a first-come-first-served basis) we presented ourselves at reception, saying that we were taking ourselves off to explore the vicinity and that we'd return after 3pm to check in properly.

Our walk took us to St Bartholomew's Church, which is no more than 100 yards for the hotel. Inside, the church contained everything you'd expect a small parish church to hold. Outside, the temperature was approaching 30 degrees C; inside, it was considerably cooler, which was a relief.

We checked in and a member of staff carried our cases up the steep flight of stairs to our room. Rather than give you a description of our room, take a look at the website at all the bedrooms on offer:

The Wensleydale Heifer | Award Winning Luxury Yorkshire Dales Boutique Restaurant with Rooms | Seafood Restaurant & Grill | Leyburn Wensleydale https://share.google/UkGZzzbqINZpEW45c

I am pretty relaxed about stepping inside a new hotel room; I don't do that 'Four in a bed' TV show routine, but my wife does tend to give a room a thorough inspection. Inspection over, we unpacked then settled down in the comfy chairs in our lounge area, accompanied by a small glass each of complimentary sherry. Relaxing bath, before getting ready for dinner.

We had an aperitif in the small courtyard at the back of the hotel, and spent a very convivial half hour or so chatting with fellow guests. It was the model cows in the 'Photo Corner' that kicked off the conversation.

At the appointed time we made our way to the restaurant and were shown to our table. I ordered Classic lobster with scallops and prawns, which came with spinach and boiled new potatoes; my wife ordered seafood pancake with Parmesan chips. 

We received a complimentary starter small dish of prawn toast in a Chinese-style sauce, which was very tasty, and was a nice touch.

The Wensleydale Heifer has built its reputation on its hotel rooms, and also on its restaurant. I am writing this blog in August, but if I'd wanted to book a table for Christmas Lunch, I couldn't because it's fully booked! Everyone we know who has eaten here has said how excellent the food is. Imagine my wife's disappointment when her seafood pancake was less than what she'd expected, describing it as too wet, too many leeks, and frankly, quite bland. She reported her disappointment to the waiter, who said he'd feed this back to the chef. I did, however, tell the waiter that my lobster was excellent. The following morning we spoke with another couple and the woman made exactly the same comments to us about her seafood pancake. It was a one-off thing, obviously. We aren't foodies, but we do appreciate good food, which nowadays isn't cheap.

We slept well that night, only mildly disturbed by the occasional sound of a hand dryer coming from the toilets below.

The breakfast menu is comprehensive; I couldn't think of anything you couldn't have had. We both opted for kippers, which were very nicely cooked and tasty, followed by toast and marmalade, and plenty of breakfast tea.

Check-out was hassle free. We were given a discount voucher encouraging us to return, which we will do at some point.

My overall impression of The Wensleydale Heifer is that it's a very professionally-run business that endeavours to make its guests feel welcome and valued. Overall the food we had was at the top-end of any other place in which we've eaten over the years. It was a shame about the seafood pancake, but we put it down to the chef perhaps having an off day.

We have added The Heifer to our list of excellent hotels,  and will return one day.

You can read my TripAdvisor review by following this link?

I wanted to share this review of The Wensleydale Heifer Restaurant on Tripadvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g1205228-d1094710-r1024179399-The_Wensleydale_Heifer_Restaurant-West_Witton_Leyburn_North_Yorkshire_England.html

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope to see you next time.

© Mike Young 2025.