A group of NHS colleagues wanted a different type of night out to the usual Christmas Fayre resulting in 10 of us booking apartments, a banquet anad ghost tour at Chillingham on the 26th of November.
Some slight confusion in our ability to find the correct entrance (!) but we were warmly welcomed and shown to our accomodation, which included a lovely log burning stove in the Courtyard. Our double room (The Lookout) was clean, comfy and warmed by two electric heaters (which were great).
The banquet was a massive surprise being a three course meal ( vegetable broth, roast chicken, pork, sublime crackling, roast potatoes, veg. chilli, lentil roast, spicy tomato sauce, local sausage , bread then home-made apple crumble and cream!!!) produced by local chef Julie (a complete star) and in the atmospheric Minstrals Hall. The staff suggested the lights be turned down and we ate mainly by candlelight, adding to the experience. The colossal inglenook (burning half trees !) was amazing and quite mesmerising. The other amazing factor were the reasonable bar prices - bottle of Cava for £12.
The ghost tour was facilitated by Graham who was an absolute gem. The tour lasted around two and a half hours - great value for money! Plenty of 'orbs' caught on camera. To be honest, the tour couldnt have been better facilitated by Stephen Speilberg himself - the stormy conditions resulted in the most spectacular moans and creaking from the woods - aagh! The strength of the wind resulted in one window being blown clean out of the frame - scary stuff.
Breakfast next day included cereal, juice, croissants, full English and vegetarian options. There was toast aplenty, delivered with smiles by the staff who couldnt seem to do enough for us. Despite being busy in the kitchen with a local Funrun, we were also offered home made soup if wanted, after our ramble around the beautiful grounds.
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, despite not seeing any ghosts or ghouls!! The staff are an absolute asset to Chillingham. The castle is not a colour co-ordinated '5 star' hotel, but is full of gothic bric a brac; loads of weird photographs, and yes, there are cobwebs visible. None of this should put off prospective visitors from this amazing place.

My other half took me here as a suprise for 2 nights over my birthday. We stayed in the Dairy Apartment. We were welcomed by staff and shown around our appartment and all the areas we had access to after the castle was closed to the public.

During our stay at the appartment, we found it so relaxing. There was so much to see in the apartment itself and we liked the guest book of other guests' experiences although forgot to write in this ourselves. We thought the appartment looked and pleasantly smelt very authentic and almost in a different time. Loved the bathroom with the old original dairy shelves and tiles.The kitchen had everything you could need... I'd taken kitchen roll, cleaning products etc expecting there not to be any and didn't need them, they took up handbag space!! We needed oil, butter, milk etc for cooking - there isn't anything more than tea/coffee there.

We took some wine to a communal room which has the dungeons in, having been told by the lady who showed us round that we could do this. We took loads of photos and poked our heads into the dungeons, but were far too scared to go in before the night watch man came up and told us off for being in the communal areas and also for having the alcohol. It was only around 9pm. We laughed it off and apologised then went back to the appartment and I lit the log fire in the living room and got the sofa bed out in front of this to watch TV - fabulous! We fell asleep on the sofa bed, but almost cooked in the heat from the fire, so went down to the double room at about 2am. There was something really spooky about the twin room, so we kept that door closed!! (We also left a lantern on in our room!!) I would have really liked a DVD player within the room, as there are only the 4 channels and the old 'fat' style TV, however, we both agreed a more modern TV would look out of place. The DVD player would've been useful on our chill out night snuggled in front of the fire.

The next day we cooked a full English breakfast (hangover cure!) before travelling out to see the cattle, which we enjoyed. We also had a good wander around the castle. It seemed really quick, as we both tend not to read a lot, just look at things, so could easily have spent longer. Found that there was plenty of space in each room so you could take your time to look at everything you wanted without a queue building up behind you. We spent ages milling about the gardens and the outer castle grounds following a steam and saw some wildlife, which was great.

Unfortunately nothing out of the ordinary happened during our stay, although it certainly felt very spooky as if there were other people in the room and I didn't like wandering around the appartment alone, often finding myself pretending not to be scared / talking louding to the other half as if to warn any ghosts I was coming as I entered rooms and turned corners. Didn't get any orbs on our photos :-(

Despite this, we had a great stay and can't wait to return. The is no mobile phone reception within the rooms and the remoteness and quiet of the place was an appreciated change and gave us some good quality time together. Romantic even!!

The BEST bit is that my other half proposed to me whilst in the appartment... then I had no phone reception to tell anyone after I'd accepted, d'oh!!

Chillingham may not be a recently renovated, chic establishment, but that is all part of the appeal of this glorious historic building. The character and history of the main castle follows through into the apartments which were very comfortable, my husband especially noted the quality of the linen. The room was a little chilly when we got to bed but was soon warmed up by the electric heater already supplied in the bedroom.
We will defintiely be returning!

The below rewiew is incorrect , admission to chillingham castle and gardens is £8.50 for an adult . £7.50 for concessions .£4.00 for children aged 5-15 years (under 5 are free)