AA Restaurant Awards 2022: Goldsborough Hall in North Yorkshire given three AA rosettes

It was confirmed today that Goldsborough Hall near Knaresborough is one of 15 new restaurants across the UK to have been given three rosettes.

The hotel, owned by the Oglesby family, was given three rosettes in 2020, but lost them following a change of chef.

The arrival of new executive chef Josh Barnes last September has led to the dining offer regaining its accolade. Mr Barnes has worked in Michelin-starred London kitchens and is a keen forager who works closely with Goldsborough's head gardener to source produce from the organic kitchen garden.

Goldsborough has a fascinating history - the estate was once the dower house for the Earls of Harewood, and used by heirs-in-waiting and dowager countesses while the Earl's family lived at Harewood House. In the 1920s, Henry Lascelles and his new bride, Princess Mary, took up residence at Goldsborough and their two sons, the eldest of whom was a future Earl of Harewood, were born there and christened in the village church.

The royal connection meant the house was visited by King George V and Queen Mary, Princess Mary's parents, and her siblings - including the Queen Mother, who was married to her brother, the future King George VI, and who planted a tree in the grounds.

The Queen is a cousin of Princess Mary's sons George and Gerald, but it is not known if she ever visited Goldsborough as a child.

The estate was sold off in the 1950s and the Jacobean mansion was for a time a school and then a care home before the Oglesbys rescued it from dereliction in 2005 and restored the house and grounds.

Recent guests have included Prince Harry and Sir John Major.

Elsewhere in Yorkshire, gastropubs The Angel at Hetton and The Black Swan at Oldstead and Leeds restaurant The Man Behind The Curtain have retained their four-star rosettes, and Goldsborough Hall has joined 10 other existing three-star rosette holders: Yorebridge House, Bainbridge; Burlington Restaurant, Bolton Abbey; Forge, Middleton Tyas; Horto, Harrogate; Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall; The Hare, Scawton; Roots, York; The Bow Room, Grays Court, York; Joro, Sheffield and The Box Tree, Ilkley.