The Comb · Northumberland · Self-catering
The house where nobody looks at their phone.
Two houses on a private 60-acre estate in the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park, on the edge of Kielder Forest, with no mobile signal. Each is let to one party at a time; take both and there is nobody here but you. The dark-sky season runs from mid-September to April.
The Comb Lodge sleeps 20 · The Farmhouse sleeps 10 · Both together, 30 · Dogs welcome in both
Two weekends, the same price
A hotel weekend and a Comb weekend.
The other place
A smart country hotel
Beautiful rooms. A spa. Excellent Wi-Fi. The children find the television, the teenagers find the signal, and by Saturday afternoon everyone is in a different room with a different screen. You have a lovely dinner. On Monday nobody can quite say what you did.
This place
The Comb
A house full of things to do and nowhere to hide from them. No signal on the hill. The fire pit at dusk, the stars at ten, a fierce game of cards at eleven. On Monday the car is full of mud and the children are asking when you are going back.
It is not a hotel. It is a lived-in stone hill farm that has been doing this for years. You arrive, the children are outside before the bags are in, and by Sunday the family has done more together than in the previous six months.
On hand, all of it
More to do than you can shake a stick at.
Below is what comes with the Lodge, and none of it needs booking. Around it is enough to fill any holiday: mountain biking and bike hire at Kielder Water, clays on the estate, the Observatory, Hadrian’s Wall, castles, bastles and the coast. We send the contacts with your booking and you make the weekend you want.
Outside · the lawns and the woods
Out of the door
- Lawns for games, with football goals
- Walks from the front door, on the hill and through the wood
- The burn, the woods and 60 acres of estate
- Kielder Forest at the end of the drive
- Clays on the estate, booked direct with Kielder Sports
- The fire pit, with logs
Inside · the games room and every table
In from the rain
- Board games in the games room, and plenty of tables for a quiz
- A country kitchen for sociable cooking, and a dining room for 26, or 30 if needed
- A bar for you to stock
- The snug, with the log burner
- One television, in the games room. The bar, lounge, kitchen and dining room are television-free
After dark · the dark-sky park
Look up
- The Dark Skies Balcony, every light off at the flick of a switch
- The fire pit under the Milky Way
- Kielder Observatory nearby; book tickets with them direct
- Dinner beneath the stars
- A walk on the estate, torches optional once your eyes adjust
- The log burner in the snug, and the bar afterwards
The house
Well used and well loved.
The Comb Lodge is a converted stone hill farm. Ten en-suite bedrooms, five of them on the ground floor, a bar, a big country kitchen, a dining room that seats 26 and stretches to 30, a snug with a log burner, a games room, a boot room, and 60 acres of lawn, woodland and burn. The rooms are big and it is warm. It is a lived-in house rather than a boutique hotel, and people come for the space, the countryside and the night sky.
No hot tub: the water comes from a spring. No mobile signal: the hill is in the way. Wi-Fi in the house for the one person who needs it.
Three ways to stay
Choose the house, or take the whole estate.
Two houses on one private estate. Book one and it is yours. Book both and there is nobody here but you.
Sleeps up to 20
The Comb Lodge
Ten to twelve in the quieter months
The house with the lawns, the games room, the bar, the balcony and the fire pit. Ten en-suite bedrooms, a dining room for 26 and a kitchen built for a full house. Everything on this page comes with it.
The Farmhouse next door has its own garden and drive, so you will rarely notice anyone else. For the estate to yourselves, add the Farmhouse.
The Lodge in detail
Sleeps 10 · dogs welcome
The Farmhouse
A family house on a dark-sky estate
Five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a separate loo. The big room upstairs is kitchen, table and sofas in one, with the log burner and the valley out of the window. Its own garden, parking and front door, and Kielder Forest at the end of the drive.
The Farmhouse in detail
Thirty of you
The whole estate
The Lodge and the Farmhouse together
Both houses and the lawns yours alone. For a bigger crowd, or two or three families who want their own space and one shared table. For a big party, the Dark Skies Barn can be hired on top, with our staff.
Who comes
The people you want to get off their screens.
Families, and families of families
Two or three generations, cousins who see each other twice a year, grandparents in the Farmhouse.
Landmark birthdays
The 40th or 50th where the party is the weekend, not the dinner. Up to 50 for the party itself, if you ask us first.
Reunions
University, school, the old team. Back round one table with 60 acres to walk off the night before.
The dark months
Dark-sky season runs mid-September to April. Two-night weekends November to March, the log burner lit, dark by four.
Christmas and New Year
Four nights, one house or both, the public rooms decorated, nobody driving anywhere on the day.
Hens and stags who want a house
Your own bar, 60 acres, and the nearest neighbour half a mile away. We ask that you leave it as you find it, and no glitter or confetti.
Beyond the gate
Northumberland, within the hour.
Kielder Forest at the end of the drive and Kielder Water a short drive on. Hadrian’s Wall, Bamburgh, Alnwick and Cragside for a day out. Hexham for the market and the shops, Bellingham for the Co-op and the Heritage Centre, and pubs with proper food for the night off; we will send you the list. You will want the cars for the days out. You will not want them for anything else.
Drive times, shops and pubs: Getting here and the area.
November to March
Dark by four, the fire lit, supper beneath the stars, and no phones to kill the conversation. Frosty walks out, fires in, and the sky only one of the reasons.
How it works
Yours for the weekend, or longer.
Never shared
A house is only ever let to one party. Book both and the houses and the lawns are yours alone.
Stays
Three-night weekends April to October; two nights November to March; four over Christmas and New Year. Midweek by arrangement.
Self-catered
Cook together in the country kitchen, or book one big supper with one of the local cooks on the card in the kitchen. You book them direct.
On hand
The games room, the lawns, the balcony and the fire pit come with the Lodge. Nothing to book, nothing to pay extra for.
Smaller groups, quieter months
Ten to twelve can take the Lodge between November and March, midweek or at weekends.
Booking
Half to secure your dates, the balance 30 days before you arrive, and a £500 damage deposit returned after you leave. Terms and booking.
More in Questions, answered.
Enquire
Tell us who’s coming.
Rough dates, rough numbers and which house. We reply personally, usually within a day, and we would rather ring than email if you leave a number.