Recommendations for 60th Birthday Trip

Northumberland is lovely. Beaches and countryside with Newcastle if you want a day in a city. There are castles you can stay in. But bring your thermals it gets B cold.

The Lake District. There is nowhere more beautiful. Grasmere would be my choice, or Ambleside ,Keswick or Bowness.

For a break like no other, I’d go to Portmeirion - unique.

I second Northumberland, you could combine it with a trip to Edinburgh, only an hour and a quarter on the train.

We had a fantastic time at Portmeirion in the late 80's, not sure what it's like now. I ended up helping them with their stray cat population with the Cat Protection league.

Casdon

For a break like no other, I’d go to Portmeirion - unique.

I was going to suggest that too.
We went for my 60th, but it was summer, not January.

The Nottingham one is good as is Holme Lacey in Herts
Holme Lacey is in Herefordshire, not Hertfordshire oopsadaisy (probably a typo).

In January you may need things to do rather than moors or coast.

Bath
The Cotswolds

Harrogate might be nice in January - Turkish baths, nice restaurants, lots of hotels, Betty’s tea rooms, gardens and countryside.
Other end of the country - Rye has a lot to offer , shops, galleries, walks, coast.,

You don’t say where you live or a broad indication of budget. Le Manoir and Oxford would be lovely but very expensive. Chewton Glen also not cheap. Some of the places mentioned are glorious but I’m not sure about in January. I celebrated my 60th in Portmeirion and it was fantastic but it was the end of May and good weather so my memories include wandering around the site in evening sunshine with a glass of bubbly after all the day visitors had left.
Subject to where you are, I would go south coast as best chance of avoiding bad weather. Southeast/ Kent can cop snow while southwest is wetter. Consider the Millstream Hotel in Bosham near Chichester. Loads to do - walk round the harbour with all the wintering birds, South Downs for walks, Chichester for Cathedral, Art Gallery and potentially theatre and much more such as Weald and Downland open air museum.
The Master Buiders hotel in Bucklers Hard would tick similar boxes but possibly more expensive.

The Pig hotels are lovely. I took DH to The Pig on the Beach in Dorset for his 60th. We had an amazing room ( one of the highest category in the main house) and could lie in an enormous bath looking out over the sea and "Old Harry" limestone stack. Food/Service/huge bed all wonderful.

Hever Castle do amazing luxury stays for an extra special birthday ?

I’d second Harrogate. Lots of good hotels, restaurants, shops, Harlow Carr Gardens and local walks.

The National Trust rents accommodation as your DH enjoys by the sea an apartment at Culzean Castle would be fantastic. Luxury, historic accommodation with absolutely unforgettable views. Of course there are other NHS properties offering accommodation.

I agree more info needed as to likes and preferences. I took mine for a 2 night stay at the Ritz for his 60th which was an experience. Other lovely breaks I have enjoyed were in Oxford, Bath and a weekend at a cottage in a village in the Peak District, lovely walks, places to visit from there including Bakewell and went to Chatsworth one day, the (free) garden tour was worth joining in on.

Ooops! Predictive text NT not NHS

Bath is lovely. We went for an anniversary weekend in November a couple of years ago. Treated ourselves to first class train travel. Lots of lovely hotels there.

Buy him, and you, an English Heritage senior year pass and insist for one week you try to see a good selection. I personally used my bus pass, B and B accommodation and moved from London, through east Kent into Sussex and saw several London properties, Dover, Deal and Walmer Castle (the latter two a comfortable one mile stroll apart) Dungeness, and ended at Battle Abbey.

I went to Venice for my 60th birthday. It was truly fabulous! We bought a pass for the canal boats and there is so much to see. Beautiful architecture, romantic restaurants line the canals and only a short flight away. We loved it.

Sorry this is not the UK

Portmerion, it’s amazing! No where like it!

I also went to centre Parcs with the family for mine we got two lodges for a long weekend and it worked out cheaper for the family than a cottage with stuff for the children to do . If it’s just the two of you a lot of airports now fly to jersey and guernsey which might feel a bit more special without going abroad.

If you feel in need of something special, Pentillie Castle is a lovely place to stay. Wonderful views and countryside and friendly, welcoming hosts. If you REALLY want to push the boat out, you can hire the whole house and invite family and friends to stay.
A friend of mine did that for her Ruby wedding celebration. Best 2 days away I've had in a long time.

www.pentillie.co.uk/

What about a lovely train trip to Edinburgh and a couple of nights in The Balmoral or Gleneagles both are world class hotels and for a special trip and a special birthday. Both hotels could organise something extra special for the actual birthday.

If he likes railways there are several lovely places stay near steam railways. Probably they won't be running in January but save it up as a spring treat. Some often have special dinners on board while you are travelling through gorgeous countryside.

We went to stay at Shangri La (in the Shard) and had some lovely meals.

If you enjoy watching wildlife then the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust has a large 5 bed property at Caerlaverock, near Dumfries, which can be rented. It has a tower for watching the wildfowl during the day, free access to the reserve and a viewing area for badger-watching at night. www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/caerlaverock/plan-your-visit/accommodation/

We went on a Warner's break some years ago. It was based in a beautiful country house with a gorgeous garden but... There were Warner's posters everywhere in the house where there should have been lovely paintings and our bedroom was decorated like a tart's boudoir all pink paint and cherubs (yes cherubs) everywhere. We could have lived with that but the food was awful. We had salmon that was so dried up that I swear it must have been cooked the day before. The tables were laid out so close together that we were almost sitting on stranger's laps.- at least that would be different these days. We were given one menu between us and when I asked for another one the, very young, waiter said you've got one, what do you want another one for?Having said that, the evening entertainment was quite good, if you like tribute acts (not really our scene though) but people were really enjoying it. There was an extremely funny comedian.
I'm sure we must have been unlucky as we've heard from other people that they really love them.