Ye Olde Bell still ringing on..

We’ll be going another 340 years, says boss Kate

Ye Olde Bell at Barnby Moor, one of the North’s finest hotels, was swift to re-open for bed and board, after the Corona Virus lockdown.

The Bell has been going for more than 340 years now and will be going for another 340, boasts mein host Kate Firth, who started at the Bell 38 years ago and has worked her way to the top.

Barnby Moor? Well it’s not really on moorlands. It’s a fabulous place for a night or more’s stop on the old Great North Road – just a couple of miles from the A1 and nestling quietly in Nottinghamshire’s farming countryside.

Barnby Moor sits in the center of England, and is excellent for visits to nearby and scenic Clumber Park, Robin Hood’s Sherwood Forest and for the horse racing at Doncaster, where many A-lister guests have lodged at Ye Olde Bell, and include oldies such as crooner Bing Crosby and film stars Joan Crawford and the late Oliver Reed, who I’m assured did not misbehave for his visits.

I’m forgetting to mention the old coaching Inn’s most famous patron, Queen Victoria, who stayed at the Bell to visit both the races and Historic York in the days before the railways opened.

Ye Olde Bell, was built as a coaching inn in the 1680s, and the beautiful old house has been modernised and extended to become a destination resort – but still retains all its old fashioned charm.

Nowadays, a big draw is the great Northern food, most of which is grown locally, and arrives in huge platefuls. We found we could manage hardly more than a single course.