Macdonald Portal Hotel, Golf & Spa

Set in the rolling Cheshire countryside just outside the village of Tarporley, around 11 miles east of Chester, Macdonald Portal Hotel, Golf & Spa offers 45 holes of golf, a four-star hotel and a spa on one estate.

Portal opened in 1990 and has become one of the best-known golf venues in the North West, featuring in National Club Golfer’s Top 100 golf resorts in Great Britain and Ireland. Its location makes it an easy base for Chester, North Wales and the championship courses of Cheshire and England’s Golf Coast, with Manchester and Liverpool airports both around 40 minutes away.

The golf

The Donald Steel-designed Championship Course, alongside the hotel, is the headline act: a par-73 parkland layout of more than 7,000 yards that winds around mature trees and water features to large, tournament-standard greens, with fine views across the Cheshire countryside.

The Premier Course, around a mile away, is no poor relation. Its standout hole is the par-3 7th, cut out of an old sandstone quarry, and many golfers rate its closing stretch among the best finishing holes in the county. The nine-hole, par-30 Arderne Course is ideal for a warm-up, a short-game test or a relaxed round for mixed groups, and a large indoor golf academy, driving range and short-game area complete the facilities.

Stay and relax

The four-star hotel has 85 bedrooms and suites, plus the Brabazon Lodge for small groups of up to eight. After golf, guests can unwind in the spa and health club, with its indoor pool and treatment rooms, and dine in the hotel’s brasserie or lounge bar. Oulton Park motor racing circuit and the historic city of Chester are both close by for non-golfers.