Bites

While Gordon Ramsay tries to be child-friendly, these other swanky hotels really do indulge children as much as adults

Charlton House

There's no age limit in The Mulberry Restaurant, even though the cooking is Michelin-starred and the whole mansion upholstered in the Mulberry manner. So it's organic salmon with morels, asparagus and broad beans with garganelli pasta all round. A vegetarian menu should appeal to teens and older meat avoiders, and the £46 dinner menu is fantastically rewarding.

Shepton Mallet, Somerset (01749 342008)

The Clarence

Kids are such an accessory with the rockstocracy who use Bono et al's hotel that it takes them in its stride. Over the summer, the three-night package includes a meal and babysitting for children, and dinner in the Tea Room restaurant for adults. But kids are welcome in the lovely restaurant, and if they don't like what's on their menu, let them eat Clare Island organic smoked salmon, or hand-rolled mushroom macaroni (with John Dory and parsley cream) from the €41-for-two-courses dinner menu.

4-8 Wellington Quay, Dublin, Ireland (00 353 1 407 0800)

Cowley Manor

Lewis Carroll is said to have met young Alice in the gardens of this 19th-century mansion, now a hip hotel for stressed metropolitans. Children are not discouraged in the grounds or the restaurant. Sunday lunch mixes the modish - grilled tuna, caperberries and tapenade - with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and so should appeal to all. In the evening the restaurant is studiedly informal and the brasserie food comforting.

Near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (01242 870900)

Seaham Hall

Lord Byron's home on the Durham coast has become a luxurious and stylish hotel and the food's as thrilling as the conversion. That doesn't mean children can't enjoy it too - this isn't a stuffy country house. See how goat's cheese panna cotta with pickled mushroom salad and red pepper crisps and chocolate fondant with pistachio ice cream go down; or let them eat nuggets - either in the restaurant or in their room.

Seaham, County Durham (0191-516 1400)