Stuart and Sal Hope have owned the hotel since April 2002.

Stuart graduated from hotel school in Johannesburg having trained and served as a chef in the South African Air Force after leaving school. He worked for a number of hotel companies in Southern Africa before returning to his native England in 1978.

There followed a period working for Holiday Inn and Best Western Hotels that led to 12 years as a director of UK short break specialist Superbreak. Since 1996 Stuart has acted as a consultant to his old company, collaborated on turning around the fortunes of an ailing pub and returning a restaurant in York to its former glory. He has also undertaken a range of retail sales, marketing, merchandising and auditing projects for a variety of high profile clients. Stuart has driven courtesy buses at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and was an Accredited Betting Assistant with the Tote.

Stuart does the cooking, gardening and, unless he can escape to a steam railway, whatever else Sal tells him to.

Sal graduated from hotel school in Oxford and spent a number of years running campsites and escorting coach tours in and around Europe. Sal returned to London and joined Japan’s largest tour operator, JTB, spending 12 years in various roles including operations management and product development. Having achieved the accolade of being the highest ranking non-Japanese woman in the company’s history Sal switched to a rival operator for 2 years before setting up her own Destination Management Consultancy. For 6 years Sal specialised in sourcing facilities for conference and incentive travel to her favourite destinations Greece, Turkey and Portugal.

Sal looks after the bar, housekeeping and reception

We came to Dalswinton as guests in September 2001 with our dog Smokey. He enjoyed it so much we bought it! We had Smokey for over 10 years but sadly had to say goodbye to him in January 2008.

Mention must be made of Marianne Cox who provides outrageously good service in our restaurant and will keep you entertained as only she can! Marianne is originally from Coventry and retired early to her late husband Jeff’s native Cornwall in 1997.