This is an objectively great hotel. At the most basic level I need hotels to be easy to use; this includes being able to park easily, being clean and comfortable. After reading some of the negative reviews I was a little hesitant. The hotel was absolutely spotless, there is loads of parking and our room was excellent. The staff were really helpful and the breakfast was efficient and delicious.
The hotel is an architecturally wonderful old building that has been decorated sympathetically. The grounds are also beautiful and their garden room restaurant really allows you to appreciate it even in winter.
My only negative was on check-in I had to give them a physical credit card from which they typed in all the details including the number, CVV, end date, then took my home address and finally they put the card in the machine and I had to enter my PIN. This was after I had prepaid for the visit using ApplePay. The point of ApplePay is that you never hand over useful information and here they had to put a £70 hold on my account for any extras, so they opened up a security risk.
But this is only a small detail and I will be back at Jesmond Dene House for my next visit soon.