Grays Court has become well established as one of the best small hotels in Yorkshire since being taken over by the Heraty family just under a decade ago, who have painstakingly worked to restore it to the standard this historic building deserves. Central to any prestigious hotel should be an appropriate food offering which, at Grays Court, is fulfilled with characteristic competence by Adam Jackson at The Bow Room restaurant. Now, though, they’re ready to add a slightly more casual string to their bow with a menu that’s perfect to enjoy in their stunning garden, bounded in part by York City Walls. This may be more casual than a multi-course tasting menu but that’s not to say it isn’t suitably indulgent, with a theme that picks the best of French and British caviar and sparkling wines to compare.

Caviar from either Exmoor or Pettrosian is served with blinis, sour cream and pickled cucumbers and starts from £90 for a tin; pairing that with a bottle of champagne or Nyetimber sparkling wine would make a suitably indulgent afternoon and a memorable experience. Also on the menu are a beautifully dressed steak tartare and potted shrimp with crab meat as well as fish platters and plenty of oysters of course. It’s fair to say that this is priced as a premium experience, and it really does deliver on that. Top quality seafood and a high end drinks offering in the grounds of one of York’s most spectacular buildings really is a thing to savour and serve as the foundation of great memories. What could compare to sipping the finest English sparkling wine in a garden abutting York city walls while trying to decide if English or French caviar is superior?

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This striking collection of buildings has been quietly going about its business for many years, offering a calm refuge for when the rest of the city gets a bit too much. I must admit also to having great personal affection for the place since I actually got married there way back in 2015. For this Spring, they’ve teamed up with the lovely people at York Gin to offer an outdoor bar from which to enjoy their award-winning products, making Middletons York an even more attractive destination. With the day after lockdown easing happening to be the day after our wedding anniversary, it felt like a perfect opportunity to reacquaint myself and indulge into a meal out at the first possible opportunity.

Admittedly the first day on which we were allowed to eat out again was on the chilly side, but being giddy with the excitement of a trip to see Pat the Barber and meal out, we weren’t to be put off. It’s a little while since I’ve visited Middletons but its attraction hasn’t waned, in fact the removal of a tree that was becoming dangerous has even opened up views to and from the street from the gardens. The menu is understandably limited at the moment and, as with most places, liable to change to suit circumstances, so I won’t dwell on it in detail but there was enough to make up a very nice couple of courses for us.

We opted for mains and desserts, with gammon, egg & chips and a chicken hanging kebab on duty first. Ham, egg and chips is the archetype of a basic but satisfying dish that I often bemoan is missing from too many menus and the lightly elevated version here using duck eggs and quality gammon certainly did the trick along with thick cut chips. Hanging kebabs might not be a material improvement on their perpendicular siblings, but these chunks of meat had been given a good char, and not at the expense of moisture and were interspersed with onion, tomato and aubergine. Thin cut chips and a roti with garlic butter finished things off for a hearty and well resolved dish. Second courses were a cheese plate – my usual go to given my lack of sweet tooth – and a sticky toffee pudding, which both delivered on their promise and left us full of plenty of calories to combat the chill.

Middletons York is a real under-appreciated gem that is well positioned to come into its own this year with the focus shifting onto outdoor dining. The addition of a bar stocked with York Gin’s top notch products only makes it more compelling and one of the most attractive gardens in York in which to relax.

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Oxo’s at the Mount Royale has a few steps up to the front door but nothing the two of us found tricky to carry Baby Fork’s pram up. I was very taken with the building and gardens on our last visit for Sunday lunch a while back and was pleased to find us seated in a comfortable drawing room at low sofas that gave the perfect ambience for leisurely indulgence.

The Afternoon Tea offering here certainly leaves nothing on the table, so to speak. The breadth and quantity on offer put many other offerings to shame and took a little bit of ingenuity to squeeze onto the table! Our place settings were pre laid with a bag of crisps on which to munch before we started proper with a sweet passion fruit milk shake. The sandwiches included usual suspects such as egg mayonnaise and ham & tomato but the Coronation chicken was good enough to justify swiping Mrs Fork’s portion as well as my own.

Scones of course came with generous amounts of clotted cream & jam, hitting the expected high standard. These were quickly dispensed with, allowing us to get into the serious business of cakes. The cake selection was impressively broad and inventive featuring various flavours of macarons, Battenberg, brownie, cup cakes and an Eton mess. I have to admit that the selection overwhelmed us, though this was a function of their quantity rather than any lack of commitment on our half. Leftovers were happily packaged to take home and even more happily shared with a neighbour.

For £19.95 a head, this is a something of a conspicuous bargain, just as much so at £26.95 with a glass of something appropriately cold and fizzy. Not only does that get you the fabulous afternoon tea but also licence to explore the beautiful gardens attached to the establishment. Afternoon tea might not be my most favoured meal, but this was an exceptionally pleasant way to spend an afternoon. Baby Fork is still working on her walking but we’ll certainly bring her back in the summer to explore those gardens on the back of more sweet treats in the summer.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for our attendance. Opinions are impartial.

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We started the day meeting some lovely family bloggers from the region for a picnic on a lawn in front of the beautiful Banqueting House. We were very lucky to have plenty of sun as we ate given the catastrophic forecast, so made the most of it. Our hosts had laid on croquet, bubble wands and a host of ways to have fun that will serve to prompt us for entertainment when we return with Baby Fork as she grows older. The Banqueting House was a lovely backdrop and also housed the opportunity to get dressed up in period clothes before we started our tour of “Folly!”.​

Our first port of call was the Gazing Ball, a polished sphere that reflected the tranquil, still ponds in the near distance. The ball was perched on what looked like a stylised climbing frame with windows of varying shapes framing the horizon in different ways. While the smaller members of the group busied themselves scaling the structure, we enjoyed the views and noted the small sculpture of a human heart proudly presented at the top.

Next up was the product of a young mind, a cloud designed by 11 year old Foster Carter​ which was​suspended from a frame. His was the winning entry amongst over 1800 that were submitted, so I’m sure he’s enormously proud to see his design come to life. It’s fair to say that the recent weather has been rather extreme so we pondered the irony of sheltering under a an artificial cloud on a blazing hot day while playing chicken with a weather forecast that suggested impending doom.

The next part of our journey took in some spectacular views across the gardens, placid lakes and trickling waterfalls as we approached the Listening Tower. This houses a mechanism to maintain a constant, gentle dripping of water, audible when you put your ear close to one of the listening holes punched into the tower. I loved the symmetry of the distant, gentle drip of water in my ear while looking over another stunning view, this time of the serene lakes beneath us.

The last folly was reached by a bit of a steep climb that the more ambulatory kids tackled with more enthusiasm than I could make apparent while pushing a buggy. The climb was rewarded not just with a much needed ice cream, but also with the sight of an enormous stylised parrot with a rotating head housing the lens for a camera obscura. The children (and adults) loved the bright colours and striking design of this one that contrasted neatly with the more traditional layout of the garden. The folly’s innards hid the opportunity to take in the parrot’s eye view, projected onto a plate in the middle of the space that had to be in otherwise pitch blackness. It’s rare to get the opportunity to mess around with a camera obscura, especially with views such as these to take in. I think the last time I got my hands on one was in Dumfries, lovely in itself but perhaps less picturesque than Studley Royal Gardens.

Having taken in the follies, we carried on pushing our luck with the weather to take a stroll around the Abbey ruins. These were just as imposing and evocative as my childhood memories suggested and something I’d more recently spotted in the recent BBC drama Gunpowder. Having been to a recent evening event in which the Abbey was illuminated, my partner was able to pick out some carvings revealed then that wouldn’t otherwise have been obvious. As we made it back to the car, raindrops had started falling, which quickly turned into sheets of water that tested our windscreen wipers to the limit, but did nothing to dampen the enjoyment of our visit.

At five months, Baby Fork isn’t doing too much in the way of listening for water, climbing sculptures or marvelling at the camera obscura, but it was a delightful to see in attendance the other kids of varying ages all enjoying their visit, as were the adults. Between the gardens, abbey and sculptures, there’re plenty of attractions here to fill a day out. I’ll be keeping a close eye on the schedule to make sure Baby Fork gets to appreciate it in the future.

​Disclaimer: No charge was made for our attendance. Opinions are impartial.

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