Reprieve From A Wet Tent - The White Bear Hotel, Masham

Hi-de-hi campers!.....Or maybe not!  Last weekend Mr Custard and I had planned to go camping in Masham at the Old Station campsite.  We had had it planned for a good while because there was to be a Geocaching event held there over this particular weekend.  However, in the lead up to the event, the Met Office weather report got worse and worse and began to show heavy rain for the whole weekend...boo!  Camping in the rain?  I don't think so - where is the fun in that?

After seeing the dreaded double raindrops on the weather reports for a good few days solid, we decided to take action and started to look for a hotel room in Masham instead.  That would then mean rather than climbing into a soggy, wet, cold and muddy tent at the end of a fun day with friends, we could go to sleep in a nice comfy bed in a room that was dry and warm - there's no contest if you ask me!  So, after a bit of a search, Mr C came across The White Bear Hotel - right in the heart of Masham! When I saw the first picture on their website I was sold.......how would you not be with an image like this?

Picture from The White Bear Hotel

As it was so close to the event, we weren't sure that we would get in at this late stage so we crossed our fingers and sent an email to the hotel regarding availability........an hour later there were songs of joy because the hotel staff emailed back and they had a room available!  Woohoo!  My smile that day was one of the biggest ever because I didn't have to get wet on a weekend away!  Hallelujah! Mr C booked the room quick sharp before it went - and that was that!

Right from pulling up to the hotel, we had a good feeling about it - it was very close to the main square in Masham and right next door to the Black Sheep Brewery visitors centre.  We arrived at lunch time and right from our first contact with the staff, we felt very at ease because they were so friendly!  We told them how pleased we were to be staying there rather in a tent because of the forecast - and as we were having this conversation the heavens opened - check out Mr C's picture:

Camping in that?  Don't make me laugh!

We had definitely made the right decision!  So, rather than get wet, we sat down, ordered lunch and breathed a sigh of relief and then discussed our adoration for cozy pubs with rooms!  The lunch was beautiful - very simply, we had a sandwich and a portion of chips but the roast meat was gorgeous (with plenty in it) and the chips were fried properly like my Grandma used to make - they were what we would call 'proper' chips.  Delicious!  Even better washed down with a pint of real ale for Mr C and a glass of red for me.

After lunch we checked into our 'dry' abode and were chuffed to bits when we went through the door to our room - it was beautiful - with a super king size bed to boot!  Every little touch was there like hot chocolate (a measure of a good hotel for Mr C and I), lovely toiletries and even 2 wine glasses and a bottle opener - something which I haven't seen before as standard in a room - you normally have to ask for those! Arrrrrrr!  This was going to be a fab weekend! 

Picture from The White Bear Hotel

After a chill out in our lovely room while we waited for our friends to arrive in Masham, we began a little pub crawl in the village (starting at The White Bear of course) before we ate our dinner and then watched the England versus Sweden game with the locals. 

After a great night out with our friends (England won too so that was a bonus!), I have to say it was the best feeling ever to walk around the corner to get to bed, rather than have to walk back to a wet campsite.  The huge bed was amazingly comfy and for the first time ever, Mr C and I were last down for breakfast (we didn't want to get up!).  The breakfast was superb, just like the rest of the place and the young staff were extremely chirpy - at breakfast I think this is important to a customer as it starts your day off with a smile!

Yum Yum!

After breakfast we reluctantly went to get our bags to check out - we were very sad that we couldn't stay a second night but they had no rooms left.....what a shame, however, we will just have to go back someday and stay again!  Again, upon checking out, the young lad that served us was absolutely lovely and even went so far as to ask us what we had planned for the rest of the day - a nice little touch I thought!  We will definitely go back to this place I think!

The White Bear Hotel at Masham is another deserving establishment of the 'Custard favourite places award' and we hope that after reading this you will take a trip to this lovely place and grab some rest and relaxation here!