Best food & drink

1. Skylark Pizza Shack

Skylark treehouse itself has all the cooking utensils you’ll need during your stay, and we did a fun shop at Waitrose to stock up on treats before we travelled up to Hesleyside Huts. We enjoyed cooking an egg parpardelle dish on the first night with a spicy pasta sauce, country music on in the background and the fire crackling. But the highlight was Skylark’s very own pizza shack on the grounds. We made the dough beforehand and brought it, and a variety of toppings with us. Firing up our own pizzas surrounded by dramatic trees and big epic skies was something you need to experience during your stay.

2. The Pheasant Inn

In the heart of Northumberland countryside near Kielder Water we discovered the most delightful family run pub a short drive from Skylark and Hesleyside Huts. The interior’s traditional, cosy and charming, the welcome and hospitality here was exceptional, as was the quality of the food. The menu is locally sourced and changes seasonally. We ordered the cheese souffle and the parma ham and melon starters and the Northumbrian lamb and pork belly with crackling mains, sharing a brioche and marmalade bread and butter pudding for dessert. Everything was beautifully presented, incredibly tasty and exactly what we needed to warm us up on a chilly January evening. We only had dinner here, but The Pheasant Inn also has rooms if you’d like to check them out, along with dates, pricing and book on Expedia by clicking on the buttons below.

3. Bouchon Bistrot

In the nearby town of Hexham we discovered chic French restaurant Bouchon Bistrot. The restaurant itself is wonderfully curated, with an elevated dining feel without any stuffiness. But the food was the showstopper. We enjoyed one of the best French meals we’ve ever had. Olives and tapenade and pork rillettes and comichons with artisanal French beers for starters, followed by moules marinieres with frites and classic cassoulet with half duck confit, Toulouse sausage and lauragais beans for mains with a perfect wine pairing, and profiteroles au chocolat with vanilla ice cream and a classic tarte tatin for desserts. Classic, indulgent and cooked to absolute perfection. We’d highly recommend a visit.

Stay

Skylark has a cosy but roomy living room, the sofa and big statement wooden chairs and table look out through the glass sliding doors across the deck to the treelined field beyond – it’s some view. The bathroom is on the ground floor complete with spacious shower, stylish sink and flushing toilet. The treehouse is more luxury hotel suite than glamping. A spiral wooden staircase takes you upstairs to the two single beds and then separate master bedroom directly beneath the turret. The high ceiling, dreamy king-sized bed with oversized wooden pillars, wooden butterfly decorations on the walls, robes hanging from the walls, and long narrow windows with the trees looking in make this room feel like something straight from a luxurious fairytale. It was such a pleasure tiptoeing down the spiral staircase in the mornings, boiling the kettle on the hob slowly, waiting for its whistle while taking in the view before cradling a cafetiere of coffee back up the stairs to bed to soak in our surroundings as we fully woke up. Skylark at Hesleyside Huts is the ultimate place to stay for a digital detox, where nature, books, and dreams become the focus.

Explore

There’s plenty to do on site, including a telescope for stargazing, rocking chairs for restful reading moments, a firepit, and nature strolls through the woodlands at Hesleyside Huts. But venturing further afield is also recommended as there’s a lot worth seeing. We walked a couple of times to the nearest town, Bellingham, and further on doing the Hareshaw Linn Walk past rare ferns and lichen to a waterfall. It may sound strange but the lichen in this area were a highlight for us, we’d never seen anything like it. Pale green and almost luminous they add to the otherworldly feel.

But the standout trip was to see Hadrian’s Wall, a 73-mile coast to coast wall started in AD 122 to mark the north-west frontier of the Roman empire. We did the famous Sycamore Gap walk, which was marked by what was called the ‘Robin Hood’ tree (it featured in the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 1991 film) until it was vandalised and cut down in 2023. What we loved most is that the stump is still there, and it’s started growing again. The view is spectacular. When we visited the eerie mists and low skies added to the ethereal feel of the whole area. When you’ve finished walking, we’d recommend a stop at Twice Brewed Inn nearby which has excellent beer and is a great spot to look through your photos and remind yourself that what you just saw was really real, and as epic as you remember it.

Click on the link below to book a Hadrians Wall tour.