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Steve Hughes and family enjoy the high life in one of the UK's top tourist cities.

DECIDING where to go for our weekend break was the easy bit.

Newcastle, revived and re-branded as Newcastle Gateshead and now one of the UK's top tourist cities, was my wife's immediate choice.

She wanted to take in various exhibitions at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, located in the heart of the regenerated quayside, and to see the Angel of the North up close.

So, where to stay? We wanted to take two of our daughters, aged 11 and 14. Anywhere close to the shops and a takeaway would have been fine for them.

But I was hoping for a chance to unwind in more peaceful surroundings with the prospect of some time just for my wife and I over a good meal and a bottle of wine.

So it was that we discovered the Jesmond Dene House Hotel, set in a wooded valley but just ten minutes from the city centre.

As soon as we walked into the spacious lobby, to be greeted by the cheerful receptionist, we sensed we had made a good choice.

The arts and crafts style Victorian mansion, used more recently as a private school for girls, has undergone a £7m transformation into a 40-room luxury boutique hotel, providing the perfect combination of the old and the new.

Many of the period features have been retained including oak panelled walls, inglenook fireplaces, a beautiful wooden staircase and wide corridors and landings.

Yet, everywhere you go there are contemporary and high-tech touches, which, somehow, blend in seamlessly with the country house style.

Our room was huge, with a king size bed and plenty of room for a table and two antique armchairs in the bay window, overlooking the woods below.

There was a wall mounted flat-screen TV, w-fi internet access and mini bar.

But it was the art-deco bathroom that really stood out: Plenty of space, a walk in shower, giant bath tub, under floor heating and enough soaps, gels, lotions and fluffy towels to seriously jeopardise the timing of dinner.

With the girls happily fed and refreshed at a nearby café and installed in the next door room with a couple of DVDs from reception, I was beginning to contemplate a relaxing evening in the bar and restaurant.

We never made the bar, settling instead for champagne from the mini bar as we took our time to get ready.

Food and drink is a serious business at Jesmond Dene House, as you would expect from a hotel owned and created by Michelin-starred chef Terence Laybourne.

Laybourne, who won a Michelin Star with his first restaurant 21, Queen Street in Newcastle city centre and Jesmond Dene head chef Jose Graziosio, believe passionately in straightforward tasty dishes, using locally sourced produce where possible.

The menu was appealingly different. Starters included warm Medjool dates stuffed with goat's cheese, fresh Linguini with winter mushrooms and black truffle, and terrine of Northumbrian game with pear and saffron chutney.

For my main course I chose roast fillet of monkfish in a red wine sauce and my wife went for the fillet of organic salmon with watercress colcannon. Both dishes were simply delicious.

The desserts are mini works of art, all exquisitely presented.

I plumped for the chocolate fondant with white chocolate sorbet and on the advice of the restaurant manager, I coupled this with a liqueur Muscat wine from New Zealand. Not cheap at £8 a glass but worth every penny as a one off treat.

Service was exceptional, and so it should be for the price, but there can be no doubting the quality of the food or surroundings.

With check-out time at a very civilised mid-day, we took full advantage of a late breakfast before heading into the city for an afternoon of culture.

Newcastle and Gateshead on either side of the river Tyne have worked hard on the restoration of the quayside's old industrial buildings, turning the area into a thriving quarter of bars, hotels, restaurants and tourist and visitor attractions.

The Baltic is in a converted 1950s grain warehouse and provides a huge arts space on several floors, perfect for modern art and giant installations.

The variety of exhibitions usually means there is something here to suit most tastes.

It sits next to Sir Norman Foster's The Sage Theatre, a spectacular glass-covered concert hall.

A short walk across the Millennium Bridge takes you to Newcastle's quayside and the fashionable bars and restaurants, with the city shops and Tyne Bridge within easy walking distance.

We gave the shopping a miss, but should you be so inclined, Gateshead's Metro Centre, the biggest shopping mall in Europe, is only a ten-minute drive away.

All in all, Newcastle Gateshead - a two-and-a- half hour drive from Bolton - is a great weekend destination.

The Jesmond Dene House Hotel is exceptional. It's not cheap, but if you like your food and luxury surroundings, for a special occasion it's a real treat.

You can take the kids, as we did, but ideally, this is a place for some grown up self indulgence.

11:15am Wednesday 12th March 2008

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