Not that there's much evidence of it at first glance. The narrow streets are clogged with unsuitable vehicles, from Bentley convertibles driven by impossibly made-up young women to the giant 4x4s of gentleman farmers and their families in town for a spot of retail therapy.

Then there's the plethora of restaurants and bars. You seriously wonder how they can all survive in a place of this size, until you try to find a table on Saturday lunchtime and realise they're all full.

First impressions can be deceptive, of course, but that didn't extend to the Hotel du Vin, our base for the weekend.

From the moment we arrived and saw fellow guests relaxing deep into the leather sofas with a drink and newspaper, we knew this was our sort of place.

This highly-successful chain of hotels bases its business on quality and luxury, but not at the expense of the friendly personal touch sometimes sadly lacking the higher up the hotel ladder you climb.

Our room was massive and hugely comfortable, with a walk-in shower and cast-iron bath close to the the window with a glorious view over the green expanse of The Stray. Clever use of the blinds meant it was entirely possible to lay back in the bath with a glass of wine watching the world go by.

By then, of course, it's time for dinner and here again the Hotel du Vin scores highly. The 90-cover Bistro offers spectacularly good food and has proved popular with residents and locals in equal measure.

An example of the quality and attention to detail is the cheese board, a peculiar feature to focus on, perhaps, but well worth a mention in this instance. If you were ever forced as a young child to play a game at Christmas which consisted of a slightly sozzled senior relative bursting into the room with a tray laden with lots of unconnected items, before disappearing and asking you to remember them, you're already halfway there. I lost count of the cheeses at 20 but the waiter responsible had no such worries and reeled off a bewildering range of names I had never heard before.

The whole meal was sensational and for a more intimate experience there are two private dining rooms, plus a champagne and claret bar at lobby level and a downstairs snug to recover from your over-indulgence.

The hotel has 43 bedrooms (it is currently being extended), ranging from standard doubles – which are anything but standard – to the four loft suites. The largest of these spans the whole end of the building and features a giant bed, huge sofa and 42-inch plasma screen television. The suite's bathroom is of equally epic proportions: in the middle stand two side-by-side scroll top baths and behind a frosted glass partition along the back wall is the party shower (their words, not mine) with two side-by-side monsoon showers.

All bedrooms are decorated in the Hotel du Vin trademark style, which combines original features of the building with modern touches.

Bedrooms are decorated in a comfortable yet uncluttered fashion, with shades of straw, olive, slate and moss to offset startling white Egyptian bed linen.

Bathrooms – nearly all of which offer separate baths and walk-in monsoon showers – are lined with wood and mosaic tiles and furnished with piles of fluffy towels and plentiful Arran Aromatics, amenities that guests are encouraged to take away.

Harrogate remains a great weekend break destination, with plenty of great shops, restaurants, the spa baths and glorious gardens in the town centre.

Slightly further afield are the Yorkshire Dales and if you need somewhere utterly sumptuous to relax after a long day in the open air, you've just found it.