Every year, our team of experienced reviewers stay at hundreds of properties across the UK and we cherrypick the best for our annual survey.
Whittling down our long list is always tough but this year the standard was so high it was even harder to choose the final 100. It caused some headaches for us but means that you can look forward to some fabulous breaks in 2025.
Excellence in design, facilities and value for money — whatever the room rate — are always key considerations, but two other vital criteria stood out this year: dining and service.
We have been impressed with how restaurant kitchens have risen to the challenge of food-price hikes to produce ever more creative and delicious dishes. We had more memorable meals on the road this year than ever before, including a very fine one at the Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, still going strong as it celebrates its 50th year.
It was also heartwarming to see hotels up their game on service, the intangible, deal-breaking measure of any property. We rate places on efficiency of course but also on whether their teams have personality and engage authentically with guests.
There’s a broad range of options in the guide, from traditional country houses to trendy city hotels, from busy seaside resorts to remote Highlands outposts. Many welcome families and pets and are accessible for those with additional physical, visual or hearing requirements, so do click through to the longer review for the lowdown on facilites. Every hotel on this list has something special that makes them a really great place to stay. Happy travels.
At a glance, this year’s winners
Regional winners
• The Cavendish Hotel, Derbyshire — Hotel of the year and Central England hotel of the year
• The Torridon, Highland — Scotland hotel of the year
• Gilpin Hotel & Lake House, Cumbria — Northwest England hotel of the year
• The Newt, Somerset — Southwest England hotel of the year
• Harbourmaster, Ceredigion — Wales hotel of the year
• The Swan Inn, West Sussex — Southeast England hotel of the year
• The Angel at Hetton, North Yorkshire — North and northeast England hotel of the year
• Meadowsweet, Norfolk — East England hotel of the year
• The Cuan, Co Down — Northern Ireland hotel of the year
• The Goring, London — London hotel of the year
Category winners
• Saltmoore, North Yorkshire — Best beach hotel
• New Park Manor, Hampshire — Best family-friendly hotel
• Beaverbrook, Surrey — Best blow-the-budget hotel
• The Rose, Kent — Best boutique hotel
• The Angel Hotel, Monmouthshire — Best foodie hotel
• Gleneagles, Perth and Kinross — Best hotel for sports
• 100 Princes Street, Edinburgh — Best city hotel
• SeaSpace, Cornwall — Best affordable hotel
• Bull, Oxfordshire — Best romantic hotel
• The Pig in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire — Best countryside hotel
• The Kirkstyle Inn, Northumberland — Best pub stay
• Broadwick Soho, London — Disruptor of the year
• The Beaumont Mayfair, London — The one to watch
Central England
1. The Cavendish Hotel, Derbyshire
Hotel of the year
Central England hotel of the year
Given she had permission to raid the attics of Chatsworth House, one of the UK’s most beautiful stately homes, to furnish this Baslow bolt hole owned by the estate, it’s hardly surprising that the in-demand designer Nicola Harding has given its 18th-century interiors and 28 bedrooms impressive sparkle. Harding’s trademark zingy colours (from teal to tomato) contrast winningly with antique furniture and paintings by distinguished artists such as Elisabeth Frink, Barbara Hepworth and Phyllida Barlow. There’s a cosy bar for post-walk snifters and an elegant dining room where your three courses are admirably food-mile friendly. Nature adds another touch of class, with epic views of the Peak District available through almost every window.
Details B&B doubles from £200; mains from £21 (cavendishhotelbaslow.co.uk)
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2. Bull, Oxfordshire
Best romantic hotel
There’s nothing we like better than when a local buys the town’s much-loved pub to safeguard it from potential descent into anonymity. When such an individual then spends gazillions on the 16th-century inn’s three-year renovation and happens to be the PR guru Matthew Freud, great-grandson of the famous psychoanalyst Sigmund, it should be no surprise that the dazzling end result easily demonstrates his ancestor’s assertion that beauty has no obvious use … but civilisation could not do without it. Since opening in 2023 on Burford’s high street, Bull has become a star of the Cotswolds scene, with two standout restaurants, a swanky cocktail bar, world-class art, 18 ultra-modern rooms and plenty of good old-fashioned hospitality, including complimentary cocktails and a help-yourself pantry.
Details B&B doubles from £230; mains from £24 (bullburford.com)
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3. The Pig in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire
Best countryside hotel
The much-loved Pig hotel collection and this 17th-century manor in well-heeled Barnsley, near Cirencester, are a marriage made in heaven. While the grade II listed house is loaded with Pig-approved architectural quirks, it was the manor’s accompanying three and a half acres of Arts and Crafts gardens, designed by the renowned horticulturalist Rosemary Verey, that piqued the group’s interest. After a seven-month renovation, downstairs buzzes and upstairs feels decadent with 20 bedrooms decked out in blousy florals, vintage furniture and intriguing curios. The dining room has a new-found finesse and there’s even a small spa beyond the wildflower meadow.
Details Room-only doubles from £305; mains from £18 (thepighotel.com)
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4. The Stroud, Gloucestershire
Given that this Cotswolds hotel’s guest list once included everyone from the Beatles to Queen Elizabeth II it was a crying shame that it stood empty for four years. A £2 million top-to-toe makeover, completed last spring, transformed it from the Imperial to the Stroud and pumped new life back into the pub while retaining all of its rustic country-chic charm. With rooms starting from less than £150 a night it makes Cotswolds stays not only affordable but also a cinch — regular trains run back and forth to London Paddington from the tiny station just down the road. The cash you’ve saved? That can be spent in Stroud’s independent shops or at the cute weekly farmers’ market. Should you crave something more active, take on one of two glorious walking routes on the doorstep: the Stroud Trail or Painswick Beacon.
Details Room-only doubles from £125; mains from £19 (thestroudhotel.com)
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5. The Bull Charlbury, Oxfordshire
It’s like the pitch for a bromance movie. Having made a name for themselves with the Pelican, trendy Notting Hill’s trendiest pub, Phil Winser and James Gummer couldn’t resist the chance to pull off the same trick in their old teenage stomping ground. The pair returned to Charlbury, a classic Cotswolds village not far from Chipping Norton, to take over the 16th-century inn where they had their first pints. It’s now transformed into a glamorously minimalist, 21st-century tavern, winning celebrity fans (Jack Whitehall drinks here) and a Michelin Bib Gourmand for their classy, open-fire pub grub. The ten bedrooms exude Scandi-noir sexiness.
Details B&B doubles from £150; mains from £23 (thebullcharlbury.com)
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6. Estelle Manor, Oxfordshire
This decadent Jacobean-style mansion, outside Oxford, is fast becoming the Gleneagles of England — not entirely surprising given it was founded by Sharan Pasricha, the visionary hotelier who reinvented that Scottish playground. Since launching to acclaim in 2023, Estelle’s team hasn’t stood still, adding an extraordinary spa and two restaurants (taking its tally of dining options to five) and even establishing an adventure programme across its 85 acres. This ticks off everything from pony petting to axe throwing — that’s if the packed schedule at its fitness centre hasn’t already exhausted you. The hotel’s distinctive look is a Miss Marple meets Gucci mash-up, with impressive public rooms draped in silks and velvets, and fine details lavished on its bedrooms, cabins and houses.
Details B&B doubles from £575; mains from £20 (estellemanor.com)
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7. The Feathers, Oxfordshire
Until it was taken over by Daniel Ede’s property group in 2023, The Feathers was firmly at the back of the hotel flock in Woodstock, a town around ten miles north of Oxford. Now, after a £4million refurbishment and restoration, the 17th-century building on Market Street is reborn as the area’s chicest boutique restaurant with rooms. Restauranteur and head of operations Andy Henderson (previously from the Bell at Charlbury) has brought a wander around modern British cooking to the low-ceilinged cosiness of The Nest brasserie with elegant food such a rare venison and brown crab risotto. The reworking hasn’t knocked out the hotel’s wonky charm; upstairs are 23 gold and grey-toned bedrooms and suites – all magnificent places to perch for the night.
Details B&B doubles from £250; mains from £20 (feathers.co.uk)
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8. Hambleton Hall, Rutland
People hate leaving Hambleton Hall — and that’s not just the guests. The general manager has been at the helm for 22 years, the maitre d’ since 1983. No wonder, then, that it all runs so immaculately. The gabled Victorian hunting lodge, reimagined as a 15-room country house hotel, is a bubble of old-school refinement floating above the banks of Rutland Water. This is a place where one borrows green wellies for a stride through the surrounding woods, then gathers for drinks in the drawing room before dinner. Modernity comes via the chef-director Aaron Patterson, who takes the likes of meticulously sourced local game and dresses it with foams, flower petals and other fancies.
Details B&B doubles from £333; three-course dinner £125pp (hambletonhall.com)
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9. The Old Bell Hotel, Wiltshire
A safari-lodge-meets-modern-ranch-inspired Cotswolds stay shouldn’t work on paper, and yet … When the Texan antiques dealer Whit Hanks and his wife, Kim, landed in the Cotswolds to trace their ancestors, they fell in love with the biscuit-stone village of Malmesbury and snapped up the Old Bell Hotel in 2021. The 34-room bolt hole — claiming to be the oldest in England, dating from 1220 — was given an eccentric yet tasteful revamp: think log fires, a life-sized (faux) giraffe in the lobby, monkey figurines swinging from the bar, and decorative angels lining the Abbey Row restaurant, a nod to the 12th-century abbey next door. Watch this space: the couple have also bought further properties nearby.
Details B&B doubles from £140; mains from £20 (oldbellhotel.co.uk)
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10. Baloci, Birmingham
Cross the threshold of this stucco-fronted Georgian townhouse in affluent Edgbaston Village and things quickly turn unexpectedly exotic. The grade II listed building has been reinvented as a pocket of Persia in the UK’s second city by one of Birmingham’s leading hospitality groups, FB Holdings. Its original pastels and patterns have been replaced by a dining room drenched in dramatic ruby reds and festooned with gold embellishments. Tasting menus draw on the cuisines along the Silk Road as do the six adults-only bedrooms upstairs, which have jewel-box blasts of colour, four-poster beds, over-the-top murals and Asian architectural accents.
Details Room-only doubles from £170; mains from £14 (baloci.co.uk)
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11. The Bull’s Head, Herefordshire
Narrow, bumpy lanes forged between high hedgerows and higher hills lead to the remote Bull’s Head pub in the Monnow Valley on the edge of the Herefordshire village of Craswall. This old drovers’ inn, dating back in parts to the 17th century, has been a bastion of good food for some time but for many years no accommodation was on offer to rest tired legs after a day in the Black Mountains or to sleep off a bellyful of local, nose-to-tail, farm-to-fork fare. Now there are four wooden cabins — spacious, with high-pitched roofs — in a wildflower meadow below the pub, beckoning walkers and nature lovers to explore this picturesque part of the Welsh borders.
Details B&B doubles from £194; mains from £24 (wildbynaturellp.com)
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12. Bike & Boot, Derbyshire
“Leisure hotels for now” shouts the Bike & Boot home page — and since opening in 2023, this 60-room new-build has deliberately upended the Peak District paradigm. In an area characterised by cosy inns and cottage B&Bs, it is clean-edged and avowedly contemporary, with well-priced rooms decked in eye-catching orange and white. The OS map wallpaper in the lobby tells you hikers and bikers are the target audience — as are dogs, which are welcome everywhere, get a free toy on arrival, and spar under the tables at breakfast. That is served in Bareca, the hotel’s exuberant ground-floor brasserie, serving a modish bit-of-everything menu — pizzas, burgers, seafood, sundaes — in front of a multicoloured cocktail bar.
Details Room-only doubles from £80; mains from £12 (bikeandboot.com)
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13. Wildhive Callow Hall, Derbyshire
Gothic glamour abounds at this grade II listed Victorian manor, embedded in 35 green acres of Derbyshire dales outside Ashbourne. Its stone and slate exterior may look severe but inside there’s a joyous collision of colour, texture and patterns in sitting rooms that epitomise English eccentricity. The mood remains whimsical but the design gets calmer for the 15 bedrooms in the house, and romantically rustic for the 13 souped-up shepherd’s huts and treehouses dotted throughout the grounds. There’s modern British food in a Soho House-inspired conservatory restaurant, a dinky spa with fitness classes, a sauna, gym, spa treatments and bikes to borrow to explore further afield.
Details Room-only doubles from £167; mains from £26 (wildhive.uk)
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Scotland
14. The Torridon, Highland
Scotland hotel of the year
The Torridon is a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Inverness — and about 150 years in the past. This turreted Victorian pile, with its wood-panelled hall and mounted stags’ heads, will hold you in a nostalgic embrace from the second you enter. Then there’s the screensaver-worthy Highland view: an impossibly blue loch backed by a trinity of mighty butter-yellow mountains. Interiors feel traditional — but never stuffy — and on your doorstep are deer-filled forests and mossy Munros that beckon for high-octane hikes. Such aerobic effort deserves epicurean rewards. The Torridon delivers with a snug pub and brasserie for beers and burgers, a fabulous fine-dining restaurant for dress-up dinners and a cocktail bar whose 365 single malts and 80-plus gins have likely ruined many a best-laid plan for the morning.
Details B&B doubles from £258; mains from £21 (thetorridon.com)
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15. Gleneagles, Perth and Kinross
Best hotel for sports
The promise of a second roaring Twenties may not have materialised elsewhere in the UK, but it seems no one remembered to tell Gleneagles, beneath the Ochil Hills, in the heart of Scotland, where a serious commitment to fun continues apace. This is a hotel best described as a chameleon in a kilt, managing to be everything from a wellness retreat to a romantic interlude and world-famous golf course all at the same time. The addition of a glamorous new Sporting Club reaffirms the hotel’s commitment to constant self-improvement in suitably sophisticated style. It’s a space that blends a modern sporting vibe with nods to vintage tennis and polo clubs, and adds to a roll call of 50-plus country pursuits, as well as world-class instruction. Back at the main house, the lobby shimmers in mossy tones, contemporary art graces the walls and service is what all hotel guests want: friendly and efficient.
Details B&B doubles from £395; mains from £19 (gleneagles.com)
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16. 100 Princes Street, Edinburgh
Best city hotel
Originally a private members’ club for Scottish explorers and Commonwealth grandees, the hotel emerged in summer 2024 after an extensive boutique makeover by the high-end Red Carnation group. It still feels like a quietly opulent Edwardian club: a Murano glass lamp here, embossed leather walls there, and champagne on arrival on deep, beckoning lounge sofas looking across Princes Street Gardens to the castle. In a nod to the hotel’s heritage, the new owners have commissioned a five-storey mural above its central oak stairwell, depicting Victorian picture-book-style scenes from places explored by Scots. Location-wise it’s within easy walking distance of all of the capital’s main attractions — the difficulty comes from leaving its enchanting castle views behind.
Details B&B doubles from £365; mains from £18 (100princes-street.com)
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17. House of Gods, Glasgow
In central Glasgow’s Merchant City is House of Gods, a flamboyant boutique hotel fast becoming one of the city’s coolest hangouts. It opened in April 2024, five years after the first House of Gods in Edinburgh in 2019; a London outpost, in Canary Wharf, is to follow in autumn 2025. This five-storey, red-brick party palace is a like-it-or-leave-it spot: everything is dimly lit, with lots of fake foliage, gold accents and dark wood. Decor is fun: a Greek goddess statue rises out of a copper bath tub; brass monkeys crawl across tables. Rooms have naughty red lighting over the (often four-poster) beds, and guests ring a little bell for prosecco or milk and cookies at bedtime, brought by smiley young staff. It’s unsurprisingly adults-only, but affordable with it — and breakfast is included.
Details B&B doubles from £110; small plates from £7 (houseofgodshotel.com)
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18. The Leddie, East Lothian
The Leddie (taking the original name of a river in Aberlady, east of Edinburgh) reopened in 2024 after a sensitive renovation of what, for nearly 20 years, was the Ducks Inn. The 17th-century building now shows off decor in calming greens, greys and teal to reflect the abundant nearby golf courses or gunmetal sea, warmed by wool throws and — yes — discreet tartan cushions. But as comfy as the rooms are, the place where you’ll congregate is the vibey restaurant and bar downstairs, while the lounge next door has a proper fire, games like snakes and ladders, and a mishmash of abstract art and moody Celtic landscapes. On a brisk Scottish day, the friendly service, excellent food and lively atmosphere make stays here as inviting as a warm bath.
Details B&B doubles from £175; mains from £16 (theleddie.com)
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19. Grandtully Hotel, Perth and Kinross
Trains to Grandtully may have stopped in the Sixties but its recently reinvented Victorian railway hotel remains on the right track. This eight-room hideaway, a 90-minute drive from Edinburgh, has views over a frothy section of the River Tay. While the service is relaxed, the bedrooms mid-century and the mood fun-loving (including bells dotted about downstairs with the instruction “Press for whisky”), the owners and brothers Chris and Andrew Rowley are deadly serious about dining. From haggis small plates in the bar to impressive tasting menus in the romantic restaurant, you’re in for an affordable treat.
Details B&B doubles from £140; mains from £16 (ballintaggart.com)
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20. Coorie Inn, Perth and Kinross
Formerly an 18th-century coaching inn (and then the Barley Bree — a French restaurant), Coorie Inn in the village of Muthill, near Crieff, is now owned by two former Gleneagles chefs, Phillip Skinazi and Andrew Mackay. Naturally, the food is top-drawer — the menu features seasonal Scottish produce cooked with panache — while the six comfortable bedrooms upstairs are warmly traditional, with antique wooden furniture, thick full-length curtains and high ceilings. The moors, forests and golf courses of Perth and Kinross surround you here, with the Highlands just minutes away and both Perth and Stirling about half an hour’s drive.
Details B&B doubles from £170; mains from £24 (coorie-inn.com)
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21. The Shoregate, Fife
Too many coastal hotels go big on the seashells and pastel blues; not so the Shoregate on Crail’s main street, where bold colours — bright teal, acid orange, brick red — give the restaurant and four bedrooms above real wow factor. There’s custom-made stained glass in the traditional stone-walled bar too, plus dining room light fittings seemingly being lifted by a couple of monkeys scaling the walls. None of it entirely distracts from the Firth of Forth, though, just down the hill outside. The long-distance Fife Coastal Path runs through the village and this smartly whitewashed restaurant with rooms attracts those hiking the route, plus well-to-do locals from nearby St Andrews and Edinburgh.
Details B&B doubles from £180; mains from £24 (theshoregate.com)
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Northwest England
22. Gilpin Hotel & Lake House, Cumbria
Northwest England hotel of the year
The Lakes are for lovers. At least they are if you stay at the Gilpin, a luxurious estate in 21 acres of romantically rolling countryside near Windermere. Rooms in the main house are snug and homely, with the feel that you are a guest at a (very wealthy) relative’s home rather than a hotel. These are complemented by some seriously slick lodges and suites and, about a mile away, a six-bedroom retreat that has its own small lake. Most of the 30 rooms at HQ come with private hot tubs, while all have access to the excellent bar and an impressive pair of restaurants, most notably the Michelin-starred Source, run by the Fat Duck alumnus Ollie Bridgwater. And on top of all this is the service: friendly, discreet, down to earth. They just get it. Spending a little time in Gilpin world is always a good idea.
Details B&B doubles from £335; small plates at Spice from £6, three courses at Source from £90pp (thegilpin.co.uk)
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23. Farlam Hall, Cumbria
It’s an unlikely setting for a gastronomic hotspot, but two years into his tenure at Farlam Hall, the chef-patron Hrishikesh Desai has made weather-beaten Hallbankgate more or less unmissable. His finely balanced fusion of British ingredients with Asian spice is the big draw. But once you’re here the remote country-house setting — and the comfort of its elegant and unfussy bedrooms — deepens the pleasure considerably. Give yourself time to explore the evocative remains of nearby Hadrian’s Wall and don’t skimp on breakfast; Desai’s Agen prunes, poached with orange and lemon in Earl Grey tea, are almost as delicious as his dinners.
Details B&B doubles from £340; two-course dinners at Bistro Enkel from £50pp (farlamhall.com)
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24. Langdale Chase, Cumbria
Approach this meticulously restored Victorian mansion from the water on a sunny day and it’s hard to deny the distinct Lake Como vibes. Inside, things feel more British country-chic with fabulously comfortable bedrooms that show off sweeping Windermere views and an original gothic entrance hall with carved oak and stained glass. Long yomps over the fells can be rewarded with superb locally sourced food in the dining room with its floor-to-ceiling windows — and there’s even a boutique cinema stocked with treats. Service is notably friendly and staff are eager to help guests make the most of their stay. The launch of a sleek, reconditioned 1928 teak and mahogany motor yacht will allow languid champagne lunches and jaunts down to Ambleside dodging the summer traffic.
Details B&B doubles from £305; mains from £30 (langdalechase.co.uk)
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25. The Brackenrigg Inn, Cumbria
At first sight, the revamped Brackenrigg Inn couldn’t be more local. Outside, there are views straight onto Ullswater; inside, glasses foam with pints of Kirkstone Gold and the air crackles with Cumbrian accents. On a Sunday lunch visit, 200 Lakelanders (and a smattering of visitors) were in for a proper roast. The beef came buried beneath a giant Yorkshire pudding and a mountain of perfectly cooked vegetables. So it’s funny to think that this roadside hub is actually as Cornish as it is Cumbrian. It’s part of Another Place, the posh, wetsuit-friendly hotel just down the hill that was launched in 2017 by a team from Watergate Bay near Newquay. The seven snug and well-equipped bedrooms upstairs are as warm and inclusive as the convivial space downstairs.
Details B&B doubles from £195; mains from £15 (another.place)
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26. Lindeth Fell Country House, Cumbria
No bones about it — this is “a proper English country house”. Not too grand, yet quietly elegant; not too big, yet comfortably sprawling; no fancy add-on spa, yet gardens of terraces and croquet; plus a winding drive that takes you up and away from the hoi polloi of nearby Bowness and delivers winsome views of fells, lake and trees. Bedrooms provide comfort in all the right places and when you’ve settled in there’s afternoon tea by the fire or on the terrace. Supper is classic but relaxed — no fancy napkin-unfolding — and you’ll probably be lulled into a digestif to help you plan tomorrow’s adventures.
Details B&B doubles from £170; two courses £40pp (lindethfell.com)
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27. The Cottage In The Wood, Cumbria
Driving up the twisty road that climbs high through the woodland above Bassenthwaite Lake towards a modest 17th-century cottage doesn’t feel like the most obvious start to a Michelin-starred meal. Don’t be fooled. The chef Jack Bond (formerly of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and the Berkeley) and his wife, the general manager, Beth, put on quite a show. A tasting-menu dinner, singing with Cumbrian produce, is served up with sumptuous views through treetops to the summit of Skiddaw. The charm is that it doesn’t try to be anything other than a homely cottage that happens to serve rather good food. Once replete, totter upstairs to cosy rooms where you can watch red squirrels through the windows or gear up for a brisk fell walk the next day.
Details Half-board doubles from £420; tasting menu £120pp (thecottageinthewood.co.uk)
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28. Stock Exchange Hotel, Manchester
Bringing a dash of old-school opulence to Manchester city centre, this grade II listed hotel is a tasteful flurry of marble pillars, gleaming brass fixtures and charming service. Nods to the Edwardian building’s initial incarnation abound, not least in the impressive dome-roofed restaurant, Tender, which used to be the stock exchange’s trading floor. Rooms are refined and restrained, the hushed palette of creams, greens and greys allowing the tasteful furnishings to draw the eye. And the A-list love it: the former footballers Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs are co-owners, Madonna once booked out the entire place and Paul McCartney was a recent guest.
Details B&B doubles from £195; mains from £14 (stockexchangehotel.co.uk)
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29. Moor Hall, Lancashire
Make no mistake, you’re at this restaurant with rooms outside Liverpool for the food (its main dining room has just won a well-deserved third Michelin star, while its more casual option has one star), but the chef-patron Mark Birchall and his charismatic team go the whole hog and serve up a Vegas-worthy show too. The theatre starts with a guided tour of the garden’s vegetable beds and a chat with the commis chefs in the kitchen as they prepare the culinary fireworks, your extraordinary 18-course feast. Birchall has recently doubled the room count, adding seven botanically themed, enviably sustainable standalone suites in the grounds to the seven more traditional rooms in the grade II* listed 16th-century manor house and its gatehouse.
Details B&B doubles from £250; tasting menu from £235pp (moorhall.com)
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30. Northcote, Lancashire
Northcote gets plenty of repeat guests, who come to enjoy its signature mix of exquisite Michelin-starred fine dining and warmly welcoming service. Many of those visitors are couples choosing the hotel to celebrate one special occasion after another, and it’s easy to see the appeal. Located near Clitheroe and overlooking the Ribble Valley, it offers easy access to some superb country walks, but most guests find themselves tempted to stay in, sipping cocktails on the terrace or a whisky in the lounge. The highlight is dinner — expect seasonal dishes, with plenty of Lancashire produce, paired with well-chosen wines. The inviting rooms are the sort you sink into and don’t want to leave.
Details B&B doubles from £216; mains from £30, tasting menu from £120pp (northcote.com)
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31. School Lane Hotel, Liverpool
The teacher-turned-hotelier Dave Brewitt goes to the top of the class for this clever conversion of an elegant Victorian building near the Liverpool One entertainment complex. He has created an edited version of luxury that is ideal for the cost-of-living crisis. So out go elements such as a full-service restaurant and pampering spa and, consequently, down go rates. There’s no scrimping on the 55 bedrooms though. They are minimalist cocoons with bespoke light oak furniture and virginal white fabrics complementing the original soaring ceilings and sash windows. Guests also enjoy complimentary tea, coffee and pastries for breakfast.
Details Room-only doubles from £66 (schoollanehotel.co.uk)
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Southwest England
32. The Newt, Somerset
Southwest England hotel of the year
So what was it that first attracted you to the fashionable luxury countryside hotel created by billionaires who let their imaginations run rampant with nary a budgetary limitation to hold them back? Everything bar the cost, probably. The Newt, centred around a limestone Georgian pile, Hadspen House, with attraction-in-their-own-right gardens, a chic spa, rustic-cool rooms and classy yet healthy food, was immediately established as one of the finest places to stay in the land when it opened in 2019. It’s an ever-expanding, theme park-sized haven of indulgence, close to the trendy-twee Somerset villages that have somehow usurped east London and Manchester as the in place to be. If it sometimes seems a bit self-regarding — the focus on “cyder” [sic], the branded food items, the Creamery café at Castle Cary station, welcoming you into its upscale orbit the moment you get off the train — then be assured that it still feels hugely relaxed. The South African owners — telecomms magnate Koos Bekker and Karen Roos, ex-editor of Elle Decoration — never stop throwing new ideas into the pot, making it less a hotel, more an ever-expanding experiment in rural regeneration. Next up: a regular train service from London Paddington aboard the hotel’s own converted vintage Pullman, from May 2025.
Details B&B doubles from £785; mains from £12 at the Farmyard Kitchen, three courses from £95 at the Botanical Rooms (thenewtinsomerset.com)
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33. SeaSpace, Cornwall
Best affordable hotel
Big changes are afoot in the Cornish surf town of Newquay. In the east, the eye-catching district of Nansledan is taking shape, with stout new houses and an extraordinary Arts and Crafts primary school. Meanwhile, on the northern edge of town, SeaSpace has revitalised a 1970s aparthotel and turned it into something genuinely fresh and interesting. And no, we’re not talking about the Miami-flavoured, mint-green and salmon-pink colour scheme. Upstairs you’ll find plenty of privacy in the well-planned apartments, which range from studios to three-bedders. But the real excitement is on the ground floor and in the gardens, where the fitness club, swimming pool, padel courts, playground and café are already a hit with the local community. Even in winter it has a happy, purposeful buzz.
Details Self-catering double studios from £100; sharing plates from £5 (sea.space)
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34. Tolcarne Beach Village, Cornwall
You’ll probably miss the turning as you arrive at Tolcarne Beach Village. It’s just a strip of tarmac off Newquay’s Narrowcliff road that seems to accelerate straight towards a precipice. But follow its sudden, dog-legged turn downwards and you’ll find the strangest of seaside treats: a rambling, eccentric and super-friendly gathering of hotel rooms, beach huts and apartments that sits right on the sand. The style is halfway between a surf camp and an antiques stall in Portobello Market — soundtracked by Gilbert & Sullivan, Abba and the Bee Gees (all available on vinyl in the bedrooms). Bring a wetsuit, your best pith helmet and a Hugh Grant (in Notting Hill) state of mind.
Details B&B doubles from £120; mains from £25 (tolcarnebeach.co.uk)
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35. The Seafood Restaurant, Cornwall
In 1974, Rick and Jill Stein bought Padstow’s nightclub on the quay, the Great Western. Fortunately for foodies, burly fishermen bopping to the Bee Gees didn’t turn out to be a money-spinner for DJ Stein, and a year later the couple opened a French-style bistro, the Seafood Restaurant, instead. Much might have changed since those days — Rick’s got a bit less hair and the couple have divorced — but the Steins’s commitment to showcasing the South West’s shellfish, fish and wines (as well as others from around the world) is unwavering, with all three of their sons now helping to run the family firm. Eat through mountains of mussels, lobster, oysters and cheese, then pad upstairs to one of the 16 cosy rooms. There’s no better way to mark five decades of Padstow’s place at the helm of Cornwall’s food revolution.
Details B&B doubles from £195; mains from £22 (rickstein.com)
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36. Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate, Cornwall
Cornwall’s G7 conference may seem like a distant memory now, but the Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate — which hosted it — is still glowing, nearly four years on. It’s still growing too. In 2024 it spread beyond its sheltered north coast bay into a nearby trophy mansion of serviced apartments and a distant field of shapely glamping pods. Even so, it’s still the revitalised grande dame hotel at its heart that steals the show. Formal but friendly in style, it sits with its perfectly manicured feet in the sand, wrapped in a cloak of glittering amenities — of which the Ugly Butterfly restaurant (helmed by the top chef Adam Handling) shines brightest. It’s as if Granny’s had a makeover and has emerged looking like Gigi Hadid.
Details B&B doubles from £220; mains from £19 (carbisbayhotel.co.uk)
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37. Pier House, Cornwall
Just south of St Austell in Cornwall, Charlestown’s pocket-sized port has doubled as a film set for nearly a century, and now it has a pub with rooms worthy of the setting. Reopened in June 2024 after a top-to-bottom refit, the Pier House stands like a beacon above a tight little knot of schooners and stout granite quays and delivers on its promise of storm-proof hospitality with classy sage green and strawberry bedrooms, posh pub grub and pints of Proper Job IPA. If you’re harbouring thoughts of a stirring seaside break this autumn, plot a course towards it.
Details B&B doubles from £125; mains from £15 (pierhousehotel.com)
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38. Hell Bay Hotel, Isles of Scilly
When the sun is shining you could well be fooled into thinking you’ve arrived at a tranquil Caribbean paradise. But no, Hell Bay Hotel sits on the western shores of the tiny island of Bryher, only 28 miles off the Cornish coast. In a cove on the outermost of the islands, the hotel, which was originally a farmhouse, has views of turquoise waters and top-notch food, worthy of a trip alone. It’s only accessible by boat from neighbouring island Tresco. Honesty shops (with no staff, where customers select goods and leave payment) and unlocked doors set the island’s tone for a friendly, laid-back atmosphere. It may feel otherworldly — sipping on a samphire margarita on a sunset deck overlooking the wildlife lagoon, with nothing but the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks — but there’s nothing hellish about it.
Details B&B doubles from £270; mains from £18 (hellbay.co.uk)
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39. Hotel Endsleigh, Devon
In the early 1800s, John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, and his demanding second wife Georgiana set about building a rural escape on their estate near Tavistock, on the western edge of Dartmoor, in Devon. The couple took architectural inspiration from the other end of the country, settling on a design intended to mimic a simple, Scottish-style hunting bothy. That house is now Hotel Endsleigh, a jaunty, granite-stone, slate-roofed, dormer-windowed manor tucked into the Tamar Valley. The hotelier Olga Polizzi has owned it since 2004, and it is as far away from a wee, twee holiday home as possible. Endsleigh is a masterclass in breaks as they should be; wild gardens with follies to explore, seriously portioned dinners and attentive staff, with interiors dressed in the sort of chinoiserie wallpaper and antique furniture one-offs you wish you had an eye for yourself. Only John and Georgiana could be disappointed by it — there’s not a scrap of cheesy tartan or a stag’s head to be found.
Details B&B doubles from £280; three courses £75 (thepolizzicollection.com)
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40. Gidleigh Park, Devon
The country lane that leads to this Tudor-style mansion outside Chagford is a winding, high-hedged single track that forces you to drive at the speed of an arthritic slug. It’s the perfect preparation for the go-slow ethos that awaits you at this grande dame, where you’ll feel instantly relaxed once ensconced in its 107 acres — even if the wi-fi is slow too. So surrender to Gidleigh’s sedentary charms: be mesmerised by the North Teign River and its moss-draped banks on view through most windows, or delve into the board games in the timewarp wood-panelled lounge. There are walking maps and Dubarry boots to borrow for yomps on Dartmoor. The only gear change is at dinner when the executive head chef Ian Webber brings contemporary flair to the plate.
Details B&B doubles from £347; mains from £21 (gidleigh.co.uk)
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41. Weeke Barton, Devon
If pared-back Scandinavian design and tiny plates of food are your bag don’t even think about booking Weeke Barton. Everything about this 15th-century former farmhouse, nine miles southwest of Exeter city centre on the eastern edge of Dartmoor National Park, is consciously mismatching, with low-slung fireside chairs, graphic prints and lamps made from vintage rotary dial telephones. Step inside and Weeke Barton’s wonky beams and chimneys immediately feel like home — in part because its owners, Jo Gossett and Sam Perry, live at one end of the longhouse. The former Londoners opened the hotel in 2013 after a major restoration, although “now it’s like painting the Forth Bridge”, says Jo. The effect is akin to turning up to your arty friend’s country gaff for weekend pursuits such as pie eating, muddy yomps and reading Ian Fleming novels on squidgy leather sofas. Mind your head though — anyone over about 5ft 7in will need to duck for the low ceilings.
Details B&B doubles from £165; two courses £28 (weekebarton.com)
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42. Manor House Inn, Somerset
The former Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson keeps his racehorses at the stables of top trainer Paul Nicholls next door. Fergie’s known as a tough taskmaster but even he will be pleased with the pedigree of the new owner of this 17th-century inn in Ditcheat, near Bruton. Chickpea Group runs some of the South West’s best country boozers and recently unveiled a new look for this famous racing pub. “Chickpea chic” is much in evidence, so expect hop-festooned beams and candlelight from vintage silver candlesticks to enhance the building’s natural assets: flagstone floors, gothic windows and mellow-coloured exposed Somerset stone. The nine bedrooms are simply decorated but thoughtfully layered, and service is as smiley as Ferguson on a winning streak, so possibly the only people who won’t be happy are the jockeys — the food is delicious and the portions so generous they’d need to swerve the weighing scales for a month after a Sunday lunch here.
Details B&B doubles from £130; mains from £18 (manorhouseinnditcheat.co.uk)
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43. Outbuildings, Dorset
There’s engineered “rusticity” and then there’s honest-to-goodness, glorious earthiness — and while this converted 19th-century dairy farm outside Bridport mainly falls into the latter category, there’s plenty of magic amid the mud. A sheep box has been converted into cosy seating for its barn cinema and there are nine adult-only bijou bolt holes with king-size beds, freestanding baths and Crittall-style windows. Dinner in the Cart Shed is a laid-back treat, with handcrafted cocktails and seasonal dishes including produce picked from the kitchen garden a stone’s throw away. It’s safe to say the cows wouldn’t recognise their former abode.
Details Room-only doubles from £180; mains from £17 (outbuildingsdorset.com)
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44. The Grosvenor Arms, Dorset
This grade II listed coaching inn sits centre stage in the Saxon hilltop town of Shaftesbury. It’s had several facelifts over the centuries and the latest has successfully loosened the old girl’s corsets without compromising her Georgian elegance. The shabby-chic bar has a cosy wood-burner, battered leather sofas, mismatched banquette seats and a constant throng of locals, popping in for coffees, cocktails and craft beers to keep the ambience cranked up to jolly. Food at the restaurant, overseen by Tom Blake — formerly of River Cottage — has local, wild and organic produce.
Details Room-only doubles from £98; mains from £18 (grosvenorarms.co.uk)
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45. The Bath Arms, Wiltshire
In the past half-decade, this creeper-clad 18th-century pub in the village of Horningsham has become a proper neighbourhood spot — and a destination for down-from-Londoners and families who want an affordable stay near Longleat safari park. The Bath Arms, opened in 2020, is the latest pub venture from southwest England’s Beckford Group, which takes old boozers and turns them into characterful spaces with twinkly, designery rooms. The vibe here is contemporary-cosy. The 16 rooms have soft pastel throws, Roberts radios tuned to Classic FM and crushed-velvet headboards; some have clawfoot tubs that are as inviting as the food. And what food: proper pub grub is served in the candlelit inn downstairs, while all rates include a full English and bloody marys the next morning. An outside spa cabin, using Bramley products, was added in 2023 — but here, wellness comes in the form of lung-expanding tramps in the Longleat estate outside the front door.
Details B&B doubles from £120; mains from £17 (batharmsinn.com)
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46. Lido Townhouse, Bristol
The UK’s great rekindled love of open-air swimming had an early boost with the renovation of Bristol Lido, the Victorian pool in gentrified Clifton that reopened in 2008. The combination of (heated) waters, sauna, spa treatments and a Med-inspired restaurant proved a winning one that attracted swimmers in their shoals. Sixteen years on, finally, the owners have opened five unfussy rooms in a townhouse just over the road so those swimmers can make a weekend of it without travelling more than a few steps from tasteful bed to bathing. Reception, staffed by cheery locals, is in the lido building too. Some guests stay without swimming but the focus is very much on the lido; think of it as a pool with rooms.
Details Room-only doubles from £138; mains from £18 (lidobristol.com)
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Wales
47. Harbourmaster, Ceredigion
Wales hotel of the year
When this pioneering boutique bolt hole — a bold splash of style and substance — opened on the west coast of Wales in 2002, there was nothing like it for miles. It was warm, Welsh hospitality in a space that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Brighton or St Ives. The influence rippled out, sparking a tourism renaissance. But even as others have caught up, the Harbourmaster has kept pace. The hotel lords it over Aberaeron’s historic quay with swagger, classy seaside style, unfussy but bang-on flavours and a cheery welcome. Indeed, it’s the latter that makes the Harbourmaster stand out: you get the smartly done, special-stay feel but with the cosy, friendly vibe of a family-run B&B. And with free cake to boot.
Details B&B doubles from £145; mains from £17 (harbour-master.com)
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48. The Angel Hotel, Monmouthshire
Best foodie hotel
This family-run boutique hotel in Abergavenny packs all the period punches of a sensitively restored 18th-century coaching inn, with double-height Georgian windows, statement fireplaces, muscular stone walls and parquet flooring as lustrous as a conker. The Angel’s superpower is its gourmet offering: guests can take their pick of superb seasonal dishes in the Oak Room, which doubles as an art gallery, or at its nearby Michelin-starred sister restaurant, the Walnut Tree. You’ll be ready for a snooze after that, so flop in one of the charming bedrooms, each with soothing decor and extremely comfortable beds — that’s if you can resist the chance to explore the castle, thriving market town and the towering peaks of the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons), all of which are right on the doorstep.
Details Room-only doubles from £195; mains from £18 (angelabergavenny.com)
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49. Penally Abbey, Pembrokeshire
The best stays are always the most personal. That’s why this late-Georgian rectory at the far end of South beach remains the pick of hotels around Tenby. Melanie and Lucas Boissevain, both still hands-on over a decade after they bought the place in 2014, have created a stay that’s all heart and soul. Who but an interior designer (Melanie) would bring such panache to public spaces? Oversized prints are on inky walls in a handsome drawing room and there’s an almost theatrical flair to decor in the restaurant, Rhosyn. And would any chain hotel furnish its gaff with antiques picked up in Wales and France? The dozen rooms are more restrained, all coastal creams and soft greys to match the sky and sea outside. Put it all together and you’ve the perfect weekender: escapist, romantic, quietly glamorous.
Details B&B doubles from £230; mains from £25; tasting menu £90pp (penally-abbey.com)
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50. Plas Dinas Country House, Gwynedd
You’d think that having forked out £1 million on refurbishment, the new(ish) owners Daniel and Annie Perks would brand grade II listed manor Plas Dinas as a boutique hotel. Nope. The 11-room stay is a “country house”, they say: traditionally luxurious, supremely relaxing. Just as it was, in fact, as the ancestral home of the Armstrong-Joneses, of Lord Snowdon (and Princess Margaret) fame. Family heirlooms remain but you book less to rubberneck at aristocracy than indulge yourself: to sip cocktails after a day in Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park, to eat supremely well in the Gunroom restaurant before digestifs around the drawing-room fire. The mood is serene, never stuffy. Homely, even. A country retreat still, then — just one for us.
Details B&B doubles from £199; tasting menu £85pp (plasdinas.co.uk)
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51. Penmaenuchaf, Gwynedd
Up in the enchanting environs of Eryri National Park (Snowdonia), Neil and Zoe Kedward from the Grove of Narbeth in south Wales have created another property with their brand of bucolic luxury. All the Grove trademarks are here. A handsome, historic manor house of swagged curtains and a fire crackling in an oak-panelled lounge? Tick. Rolling refurbishment with a colourful, playful take on arts and crafts? Tick. Terrific food without the formality? Tick again. Penmaenuchaf has smiley staff, gardens to explore, mountains beyond and beaches only 20 minutes away. Who knows, when renovations are complete next year, it may even eclipse its famous sister.
Details B&B doubles from £191; mains from £20 (penmaenuchaf.co.uk)
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52. Inn at the Sticks, Carmarthenshire
Don’t be deterred by the austere exterior — when you step through the door of the Inn at the Sticks, on the Tywi Estuary, you will be immediately drawn in. First, there’s the tasteful revamp of this Llansteffan village institution, built in about 1800 and now restored to its former glory, all old stone walls and scuffed wooden floors. Then, there’s the genuine welcome. The team here has a family feel, and guests are soon enveloped — you’ll be called “my love”, fed well, given tips and succour. The owner Teej Down set out to create a gastropub that’s a place for locals too, offering unpretentious dining, amazing Welsh produce, well thought-out tipples and cosy rooms. Mission accomplished.
Details B&B doubles from £120; sharing plates from £10 (innatthesticks.com)
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Southeast England
53. The Swan Inn, West Sussex
Southeast England hotel of the year
A recent revamp of this country pub in sleepy Fittleworth, near Petworth, has turned back time to offer a glorious hit of nostalgia. The bar serves local ales and the day’s newspapers are spread across a fireside table to tempt guests into idleness; and evocative rural paintings that Victorian artists would trade for board, which had been consigned to the attic, are back proudly on display in the wood-panelled restaurant. Its menu is also unashamedly retro, including ham and boiled potatoes in parsley sauce and spotted dick with custard. The 12 smart bedrooms showcase traditional British designers and are named after famous former guests including Rudyard Kipling. They are definitely impressive but what we love about this place is that it’s opted to be authentic rather than achingly trendy. As a result it has instantly become a community hub. That friendly buzz from neighbours catching up with each other at the bar makes it a proper boozer, just at a time when so many pubs are being forced to close because of lack of local support.
Details B&B doubles from £195, mains from £19 (swaninnfittleworth.com)
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54. New Park Manor, Hampshire
Best family-friendly hotel
Family-friendly really means parent-friendly — and this New Park Manor nails it. Charles II’s favourite hunting lodge, near Brockenhurst, is a magnet for exhausted parents who quickly become repeat guests, returning with children who treat the place like home from the second they arrive. Such liberty is encouraged by the smiling staff, ever ready to dote on children of all ages and somehow remembering names and food-related foibles as they dish out the ketchup and ice-cream sprinkles. The little ones will love it for its indoor and outdoor pools, superb playground and bedtime cookies, but it’s parents, feeling renewed from a stint in the extensive spa, who will be hardest to shut up about this one — need we say more than “two hours of free daily childcare”?
Details B&B doubles from £130, mains from £20 (luxuryfamilyhotels.co.uk)
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55. Beaverbrook, Surrey
Best blow-the-budget hotel
Beaverbrook’s giant château-esque bay windows, slate hip roofs and manicured gardens wouldn’t look out of place in the south of France — except this is the Surrey Hills, a stone’s throw from the M25. The location, 20 miles from Westminster’s powerhouses, is what made Beaverbrook (a Victorian mansion known as Cherkley Court until 2017) a long-time favourite of celebrities and politicians. It was owned by the Daily Express proprietor, wartime MP and notorious cad Lord Beaverbrook from the 1910s to the 1960s, and guests invited for riotous weekends included Rebecca West, Elizabeth Taylor and Winston Churchill, who made some of the Second World War’s biggest decisions here. Today, the only deliberations are Japanese or modern European for dinner, pétanque or padel, swimming in the heated lido or indoors at the spa. That, and selecting which of the 18 bedrooms in the main house is for you.
Details B&B doubles from £560, mains at the Dining Room Japanese Grill from £30 (beaverbrook.co.uk)
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56. The Rose, Kent
Best boutique hotel
Until 2018, Deal didn’t make it onto holidaymakers’ radar, but then Alex Bagner, a former senior editor at the design bible Wallpaper*, and her husband, Chris Hicks, scion of a Kent brewing dynasty, transformed one of his family’s spit-and-sawdust boozers into a style hound’s hangout and Deal became trendy. There’s been no seven-year hitch here — the Rose remains a resounding star of the south coast. Locals and visitors alike enjoy beer, cocktails and sensational gastropub grub in the various nooks and crannies of its theatrical wraparound bar. The eight bedrooms have been blasted with colours as vibrant as a stick of rock, perfect for a cheeky seaside break.
Details Room-only doubles from £110, mains from £19 (therosedeal.com)
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57. Boys Hall, Kent
The new wave of boutique hotels that’s made the Kent coast cool again has taken a while to wash inland but Boys Hall, the upcycled 17th-century manor house just outside Ashford, has helped the Garden of England make up for lost time. Opened in early 2023 by Brad and Kristie Lomas, a young couple with a knack for hospitality, great food and drink and design know-how, it’s become a book-ahead magnet for Londoners wanting an easy foodie escape and anyone after a cosseting stop-off en route to or from the Continent. Come for winter cosiness, summer breeziness and year-round conviviality.
Details B&B doubles from £189, mains from £22 (boys-hall.com)
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58. The Beacon, Kent
Welcome to Happy Valley. No, not the dodgy one from the BBC crime series with Sarah Lancashire — this is just outside Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent. It acquired its name thanks to the pleasure gardens and spring-fed cold baths that gained popularity here in the 18th century. Or perhaps it’s just a reference to the splendour of the surrounding hills and woodland. These days, the Beacon, which has relaunched as a restaurant with rooms on the edge of the forest, could well claim to have put the “happy” back in the valley. Built as a private home in the 1890s, it later hosted Basque survivors of the bombing of Guernica and Jewish Kindertransport children when it was rented by a refugee committee before the Second World War. In the 1960s it was a disco, then it became a pub; and most recently it was the family home of Pete and Viv Cornwell, the owners, who bought it in 2014. What a place they’ve turned it into — with food, rooms and service far exceeding what you’d expect for the price.
Details B&B doubles from £153, set menu from £45pp (the-beacon.co.uk)
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59. Updown Farmhouse, Kent
When the renovated Updown Farmhouse opened five miles from Deal in July 2022 it was an instant if expected hit with foodies, thanks to the burnished credentials of the owners, Oli Brown (the founder of highly regarded Brixton restaurant Duck Duck Goose) and Ruth Leigh (the daughter of highly regarded chef Rowley Leigh). Although the focus is the conservatory restaurant, which serves “hyper-seasonal Italian-leaning” food, in late 2024 the couple added four Stables rooms to the existing six (four in the 17th-century house; two cottages in the seven-acre grounds). Decor has a sort of boho-Blyton charm; service is friendly but hands-off in the house and rooms.
Details B&B doubles from £190, mains from £26 (updownfarmhouse.com)
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60. The Merry Harriers, Surrey
This grade II listed 16th-century inn amid the rolling Surrey Hills is perfect for those looking for something with peace and personality. The owners, Alex Winch and Sam Fiddian-Green, bought the pub in November 2023 and have turned the focus to its foodie offering, hiring former MasterChef: The Professionals contestant Freddie Innes — formerly of Ockenden Manor — to head the kitchen, where dishes have a firm focus on making the most of the area’s rich natural larder. The pub is just as much of a hit with locals as it is with guests — though those who stay the night can retire to cosy garden rooms and chic shepherd’s huts. Also made welcome are pooches with a bed and bowl — and there’s even a hitching rail for those who might have chosen to arrive by horseback.
Details B&B doubles from £129, mains from £18 (merryharriers.com)
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61. Heckfield Place, Hampshire
The gorgeous Georgian-era Heckfield Place spent the first few hundred years of its life as a rather lovely family home; it’s now a rather lovely hotel. Though that’s rather an understatement. This contemporary country house hotel has pretty, peaceful rooms, a sprawling 400-acre estate in the Hampshire countryside just an hour from London, two swish Skye Gyngell restaurants, a serene spa and lots more. The billionaire owner doubles as an art collector, and his 20th-century British art collection adorns the walls; use your room’s iPad to look up each piece as you tour round. Elsbeth Juda’s black-and-white photography above the grand staircase is a highlight (don’t miss her portraits of Winston Churchill and Henry Moore). There are also not one but several elegant sitting rooms to cosy up in with marble fireplaces and board games, where complimentary tea and delicious fat slices of cake are served in the afternoons. Embossed leather luggage tags with your initials are just one of many thoughtful touches.
Details B&B doubles from £600, mains from £39 (heckfieldplace.com)
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62. Chewton Glen, Hampshire
First impressions suggest that this 72-room country house hotel on the edge of the New Forest has no idea it is in the 21st century. As you pull up to reception, there’s the chocolate box 18th-century exterior festooned with a garden centre’s worth of hanging baskets and beyond, inch-thick hall carpets and walls crowded with traditional portraits. But Chewton Glen reveals its more modern side gradually. Subtle facelifts have injected contemporary touches amid the chintz, with fashionable fabrics, curved leather banquette booths in the dining room and squidgy outdoor seating. Add in a smart spa and everyone’s got a reason to smile.
Details B&B doubles from £420, mains from £24 (chewtonglen.com)
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63. Lime Wood Hotel, Hampshire
There are racy Tracey Emin artworks in the billiards room and an investment banker turned sound therapist running retreats at its excellent spa, which epitomises the breezily modern approach to the English country-house blueprint at this Georgian manor in Lyndhurst. The roaring fires in the elegant sitting rooms and the smart courtyard bar with its retractable glass roof ensure stylish lounging whatever the weather. The 33 bedrooms are stealth wealth sanctuaries, some almost within touching distance of the New Forest’s ancient oaks. Italian food by Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder puts another winningly rebellious feather in the hotel’s cap.
Details Room-only doubles from £435, mains from £36 (limewoodhotel.co.uk)
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64. The Terrace Rooms & Wine, Isle of Wight
This striking Italianate-inspired villa on Ventnor’s elegant esplanade is a tasty proposition for glamorous gourmets. The owners Ashley and Tom Fahey, who also run Michelin-recommended bistro the Terrace in Yarmouth, have created a bouji guesthouse and off-licence where the focus is firmly on food and drink. So there are complimentary wine tastings every evening that showcase Tom’s 900-bottle cellar, and cheese and charcuterie boards and simple suppers every day. The self-taught chef Tom also produces spectacular Friday-night banquets, using predominantly ingredients from the island’s farmers and fishing community. The six bedrooms are a satisfying visual feast that work whether you’re a foodie or not.
Details B&B doubles from £200, set menu on Fridays £80pp; mains at the Smoking Lobster from £11 (theterraceventnor.co.uk)
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65. No 124 by GuestHouse, Brighton
This 32-room hotel on Brighton’s seafront is a masterclass in maximalist design thanks to fun and funky art by local artists (everything from wool pieces to wall quilts and stained-glass installations), vintage furniture finds, a vinyl library and lots of games and books to browse. It’s spread across four townhouses — both Regency and Victorian — with views out across the English Channel and the atmospheric ruined West Pier. There’s lots of gorgeous natural light in the daytime. Touches of beach whimsy are particularly apt and much better than the usual stripy cushions — a mini helter-skelter with working lights on the bar, a replica sailing boat on the lounge’s mantelpiece. GuestHouse, an independent group run by three brothers, took over the hotel here and renovated it from top to bottom (the group has three other properties, all in great long weekend spots: York, Bath and Margate). Rooms tone down the OTT vibe but still have plenty of character. There’s a great restaurant with seafood and steaks, and spa treatment rooms are set to open in April.
Details B&B doubles from £115, mains from £18 (guesthousehotels.co.uk)
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66. The Gallivant, East Sussex
The big news for 2025 is that the ex-Bibendum chef Matthew Harris has arrived to introduce French classics to the restaurant at this beloved British beach hotel. Otherwise the hotel — think New York’s Hamptons by way of Camber Sands — has not tinkered with the elements adored by a young (and young at heart) clientele. Sure, rooms are compact, but they’re stylish and fun (we love the framed vintage swimsuits). Who cares if the weather’s dicey for the beach across the road when the mid-century-styled lounge is a snug space for books and mid-afternoon cake, and the bar is such a beauty? Factor in lovely staff who welcome you like best friends and this feels less like a hotel than a destination in its own right. My guess is you’ll potter happily from room to beach to lounge bar and back without once feeling that you’ve missed out.
Details B&B doubles from £245, mains from £24 (thegallivant.co.uk)
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North and northeast England
67. The Angel at Hetton, North Yorkshire
North and northeast England hotel of the year
While this 15th-century inn, near Skipton, gives the outward appearance of being as time-warp traditional as the surrounding cosy cottages, inside it’s all cutting-edge, contemporary calm. Like its Michelin-starred cuisine, decor deftly fuses influences from Scandinavia, Japan and the Yorkshire Dales, with its ancient beams and stone walls accessorised by polished concrete floors and moss-covered artworks. The chef-patron Michael Wignall has won countless awards but, unlike other high-profile chefs, he’s still in the kitchen most nights. Dinner is faultless and unforgettable, with even a humble bread course elevated to an art form. The 16 slick rooms are as sweet as Wignall’s sensational desserts. Overall, it’s hard to imagine a more winning combination of that holy trinity of hospitality: spectacular setting, sumptuous accommodation and special-occasion dining than this place. Add in Wignall and his wife Johanna who remain laser-focused on finding the little touches that make a big difference and it becomes an absolute gem.
Details Half-board doubles from £530; three courses from £105 (angelhetton.co.uk)
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68. The Kirkstyle Inn, Northumberland
Best pub stay
Everyone rubbed their eyes in disbelief when news broke of this posh dining pub in the South Tyne Valley. This, after all, is the back end of England. A former mining hub, it connects the tiny Pennine town of Alston with distant Haltwhistle and is the kind of place where, usually, sheep do all the eating. And yet, here it is — the Kirkstyle Inn and Sportsman’s Rest, complete with fresh coats of paint, pots stuffed with sunflowers and a preternaturally talented chef, all overseen by Michael Parkinson’s vastly experienced son, Nick. A night here is first of all an act of exploration, followed by revelation, and finished with a contented sigh as you settle into your snug, earth-toned bedroom. Wild moorland, deep quiet, venison to die for: they’re all here.
Details B&B doubles from £210; mains from £20 (theksi.co.uk)
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69. Saltmoore, North Yorkshire
Best beach hotel
When Montana Brown applied to be a contestant on Love Island in 2017, she couldn’t have known it would eventually lead to her becoming a hotelier in Whitby. But with her fiancé, Mark O’Connor, she’s transformed a run-of-the-mill seaside hotel outside the town into a super-sexy bolt hole with a spectacular, relatively empty beach a ten-minute walk away. Saltmoore House has 43 chic bedrooms inspired by the striking coastal surrounds, with a further 29 in the family-friendly Beach House in the grounds, and Brown now has a spa expansion in her sights. The couple have recruited the celebrity chef Tommy Banks, of the Michelin-starred Black Swan at Oldstead, to oversee dining, which puts locally sourced Yorkshire produce front and centre.
Details B&B doubles from £280; mains from £22 (saltmoore.co.uk)
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70. Simonstone Hall, North Yorkshire
It’s almost a decade since, aged just 26, a local lad Jake Dinsdale bought this handsome manor house hotel on the shoulder of Wensleydale and set about snazzing it up. The result is a surprising blend of squire’s seat and groovy bolt hole: stag heads and saddlery adorn the walls, pulsing tunes greet you at breakfast, the showpiece lawned terrace has both peacocks and a hot tub. Bedrooms come decked in baronial bling with gold bathtubs, chandelier lighting and theatrical drapes framing grandstand views of the fells. And if the service falls just short of top polish, the kicked-back vibe is a winner.
Details B&B doubles from £176; mains from £25 (simonstonehall.com)
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71. The Hare, North Yorkshire
In Scawton, a sleepy village in the North York Moors, the husband-and-wife team Paul and Liz Jackson have transformed this pretty pub into one of the national park’s top spots for fine dining. The seasonal tasting menu is the star of the show here — artfully presented dishes might include soft centred artichoke and homemade bread with roast chicken butter — but the four stylish rooms are also delightful. You’ll be on first-name terms with the owners, who take care of everything from check-in to cleaning, as soon as you arrive. The vibe is homely and refreshingly unpretentious, making Paul’s epicurean feast — served on Fridays and Saturdays only — even more of a revelation. Rooms are available only on Fridays and Saturdays.
Details Half-board doubles from £525; tasting menu £110pp (thehare-inn.com)
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72. The Lime Tree Inn, North Yorkshire
When a local developer was building a handful of new homes in Great Ouseburn he also decided to construct the local pub it was lacking. Opened in September 2020, the family-run Lime Tree Inn feels far more established than that, with exposed brick and brass tacks, flagstone floors, reclaimed vintage pub furniture and a vast dining table made from an old toll bridge. The inn’s reputation is already well cemented too, drawing visitors from around the UK for its food. The chef and landlord Rob Mitchell, whose kitchen CV includes Michelin-starred restaurants and luxury yachts, serves up a nightly tasting menu alongside à la carte and Sunday lunch menus, and seven modern, thoughtfully designed bedrooms upstairs mean nobody needs to drive home. Authentic and amiable local flavour is provided by the self-titled GODS (Great Ouseburn Drinking Society) who prop up the bar in Barbour jackets.
Details B&B doubles from £155; mains from £22, tasting menu £75pp (thelimetreeinn.com)
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73. The Milner York, North Yorkshire
There are conveniently located hotels, and then there’s the Milner. This imposing, yellow-brick institution can be accessed via platform three at York railway station, just outside the medieval city walls, and makes a glamorous base for a weekend away. Formerly the Principal, the Milner relaunched in October 2024, with additions including air conditioning in all 155 of the comfortable, reasonably priced rooms, plus a revamped restaurant and bar. The finest features, however, date to 1878. You’d struggle to find a staircase grander than the mirror-lined iron structure that bisects the hotel. And the high-ceilinged Garden Room, where an indulgent, chocolate-themed afternoon tea is served, offers epic views of York Minster cathedral.
Details Room-only doubles from £100; mains from £14 (themilneryork.com)
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74. Middleton Lodge, North Yorkshire
This sprawling Georgian estate outside Richmond is enviably green, while your friends will be green with envy once they see photographs of the Palladian mansion and the 18th-century honey-toned outbuildings — including the coach house, dairy, kitchen garden and shepherd’s huts that have been converted into chic bedrooms — that have more in common with Provence than Pateley Bridge. There’s a small but decadent forest spa with a heated outdoor pool, walks within its ancient 200 woodland acres and excellent dining, either in the brasserie-style coach house or at its Michelin green-star restaurant where lots of the ingredients are plucked from the estate’s two-acre kitchen garden.
Details B&B doubles from £225; mains from £20 (middletonlodge.co.uk)
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75. Jöro at Oughtibridge Mill, Sheffield
A few things to get right: it’s pronounced “yoro” (jöro means “earth” in Old Norse) and it’s near Oughtibridge, pronounced “Ootibridge”. And it may be a Michelin-noted, tasting-menu-only restaurant with rooms, but it’s not all fancy, napkin-flapping fine dining. Rather, it’s a case of come-as-you-are for dazzling but fun Asian-Nordic cooking served from an open kitchen in a 19th-century former paper mill. It’s owned by the chef Luke French (a Great British Menu regional winner who draws influence from his time at the experimental Fat Duck and Asian street food discovered on his travels) and his wife, Stacey Sherwood-French. They began their adventures in a converted shipping container in Sheffield’s hip Kelham Island neighbourhood and have brought a similar sense of industrial cool here to the city’s rugged Don Valley outskirts, adding seven Scandi-sleek bedrooms. It’s a small, friendly team with check-in at the bar or via a code-accessed key safe. Bring your hiking boots; the Peak District is just over the hill.
Details B&B doubles from £100; tasting menus from £45pp (jororestaurant.co.uk)
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76. The Queens, Leeds
Big, bold and stately, the Queens holds court over the centre of Leeds like the grande dame she was intended to be when built in 1937. Back then, with her art deco lines, pearly-grey stone façade, polished wood and mirrored interiors, she was the place to stay. Fast-forward several decades and an expensive buff and shine has brought her zipping into the 21st century without losing an iota of old-world glamour. With sleek, airy bedrooms, a sophisticated cocktail bar and sultry circular restaurant, she’s an ideal base for hitting the city’s cultural hotspots, boutique shops and great places to eat.
Details B&B doubles from £95; mains from £16 (thequeensleeds.co.uk)
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East England
77. Meadowsweet, Norfolk
East England hotel of the year
You’d miss it, if you didn’t know it was there. Inconspicuously located on the main road into the bijou market town of Holt, the whitewashed Georgian house is marked by just a small plaque by the front door. It doesn’t advertise itself, because it doesn’t need to. Word has spread, in awed whispers. It has three simple but elegant bedrooms, two cocoon-like dining rooms, a courtyard with an illuminated olive tree and one tasting menu (no choosing here). The recipe is simple, but the results are divine because its owners — partners in life as well as work — have poured their soul (and serious talents) into it.
Details Doubles with tasting menu and breakfast from £480 (meadowsweetholt.com)
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78. The White Horse, Norfolk
If you’ve ever driven the A149 between Hunstanton and Wells-next-the-Sea, you’ll have passed the White Horse. If you’re coming from the west, you’ll see that white horse’s face on the pub sign. From the east, you see its backside. It’s the first clue to the sense of humour in a north Norfolk stalwart where the service is as good as the views. Formerly a fishermen’s boozer called the Lobster Pot, it went upmarket in 1996 when it became the White Horse, developing a reputation for championing local produce long before such provisioning became fashionable. As London money flooded the coast, the White Horse could have gone full-on Chelsea-on-Sea, but thankfully it never forgot that despite the rooms and the restaurant, first and foremost it’s a village pub, with the friendly, informal service of your local. So no one will judge you if you order a pint of the Brancaster-brewed Oystercatcher to go with your chilled XO Brancaster mussels.
Details B&B doubles from £150; mains from £16 (whitehorsebrancaster.co.uk)
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79. The Gin Trap Inn, Norfolk
This cracking period property is within striking distance of north Norfolk’s wild, pine-thicketed beaches and RSPB nature reserves. The Times’ 2024 Best Places To Stay pubs with rooms category winner is a recent addition to Chestnut, East Anglia’s discerning boutique hospitality group. With 13 characterful bedrooms and suites (including three self-catering cottages), the Gin Trap is a heritage triumph of original beams and wonky floors framing cosy nooks and roaring fires. The vibe is convivial, but service is efficient and the restaurant’s menu is a roll call of local farmers, fishermen and producers. And of course there’s gin. Masses of it.
Details B&B doubles from £140 (two-night minimum for cottages; for rooms and suites Friday and Saturday must be booked together); mains from £20 (thegintrapinn.co.uk)
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80. The Maltings, Norfolk
The fashionable stretch of the Norfolk coast begins at Thornham and ends at Cley next the Sea. The unfashionable bit — and they’re grateful for that — starts at Sheringham and goes round to Great Yarmouth. Between the two lies Weybourne. The former PM John Major has a second home there so this seaside village with its quiet beach should be in the unfashionable camp, but the 2024 opening of stylish restaurant with rooms the Maltings has rather changed the Weybourne identity. What on earth will the neighbours say?
Details B&B doubles from £135; mains from £19 (themaltingsweybourne.com)
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81. The Swan Southwold, Suffolk
There’s no better arbiter of cuteness than Richard Curtis, and he immortalised the rose-tinted charm of the Swan and Southwold in the animated film That Christmas. But while the pub’s exterior retains its Georgian gorgeousness, a revamp by the local brewery Adnams has created interiors as frothy as the head on a pint of its Broadside ale. Their jolly juxtaposition of 18th and 21st-century styles sees the drawing room team geometric wallpaper with ancestral portraits, and trendy subway tiles and waterfall lighting update the traditional pub, while the 35 rooms opt for an urban playbook rather than the predictable marine theme of many seaside hotels.
Details B&B doubles from £250; mains from £19 (theswansouthwold.co.uk)
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82. The Swan at Lavenham, Suffolk
If Disney had been tasked with designing an English country inn, it would have created something very similar to the Swan — an implausibly perfect Tudor pub, in an impeccable Tudor town. While the best parts of the original 1425 build have remained — limewashed walls are latticed with wonky beams and slightly drunken leaded windows lit by medieval lanterns — it’s had plenty of welcome additions over the years. Guests can go for dips in a bubbling vitality pool, tuck into afternoon teas by crackling fires and sip beers from a historic three-and-a-half-pint glass boot. All in all, it’s the perfect fit for Lavenham, a magical wool town that seems to have been preserved in time.
Details B&B doubles from £140; mains from £27 (theswanatlavenham.co.uk)
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83. The Sun Inn, Bedfordshire
Picture a chocolate-box pub, and it looks a lot like this thatched-roofed, 17th-century free house in Felmersham. The Sun used to be more of a spit-and-sawdust establishment before a belting revamp by two local couples who turned it into the beating heart of this pretty, riverside village. The cheerful chef-patron Pete Pestell and his wife Conny deliver a knockout seasonal menu largely sourced from the Sun’s own Wild Berry Farm just minutes away. Buzzing with locals and warm, friendly service, this is the sort of place you might find yourselves sitting between the scrap metal man and a visiting shooting party and all end the evening on first-name terms. The only thing better than having this local at the end of your road? Staying the night in one of the two boutique rooms in the eaves.
Details B&B doubles from £150; mains from £16 (thesunfelmersham.com)
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84. Roslin Beach Hotel, Essex
It might lie on Thorpe Bay, just outside Southend’s city centre, but this off-white clapboard confection brings a touch of Miami glamour — from palm-print wallpaper and a warm-orange toned dining room to vibes as bouncy as its patrons’ blow-dries. A seafront, boutique stay, it’s also one of Essex’s most popular hangouts for brunch, afternoon tea, dinner and cocktails at all hours in between. Some of the bedrooms, in shades of blue and green, have lovely views across the estuary towards the Isle of Sheppey in Kent — although they play second fiddle to the lively bar and restaurant.
Details B&B doubles from £130; mains from £23 (roslinhotel.com)
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Northern Ireland
85. The Cuan, Co Down
Northern Ireland hotel of the year
When the owners got the keys to the Cuan in March 2020, the plan was to see what was working and what needed changing. The pandemic put the blockers on that, so they ploughed on with a £1 million makeover and created one of Northern Ireland’s best-kept secrets. Nine calming, nature-inspired bedrooms are the mastery of Garuda Design (also behind the interiors of Andy Murray’s Cromlix hotel), and the food is spectacular: hearty pub classics elevated with ingredients from nature’s larder. The biggest pull is the location, in stone-skimming distance of serene Strangford Lough (where dolphins, whales and basking sharks come to play) and Castle Ward, aka Winterfell, where scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed in the grounds. All in all, it’s a place that feels on the cusp of its own big silver-screen moment; somewhere to prioritise going now, while it’s just as magical as it is under the radar. Let’s hope Jon Snow kept quiet about it too.
Details B&B doubles from £139; mains from £15 (thecuan.com)
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86. The Merchant Hotel, Belfast
Housed in the former headquarters of Ulster Bank, in Belfast’s quaint Cathedral Quarter, the Merchant is grand on the outside — an Italianate façade adorned with stone columns and cherubs — and palatial inside. Doormen in emerald topcoats and bowler hats lead guests to the Great Room — aptly named given it has enough intricate gold cornicing to make Buckingham Palace blush. Here, even breakfast feels like a special occasion, with colossal chandeliers and a huge log fire that snaps and crackles all day long. Also impressive are Berts, a 1920s-inspired jazz bar, with nightly live music, and the low-lit subterranean spa where any hangovers can be quickly quashed.
Details B&B doubles from £288; mains from £33 (themerchanthotel.com)
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87. Bishop’s Gate Hotel, Londonderry
The plot of land on which the Bishop’s Gate Hotel sits has a centuries-long connection with hospitality of sorts. Ask to go behind the scenes at the hotel’s bar and you can peer down into the Siege Well, which provided refreshment for the Protestant residents trapped inside the city’s walls during the 105-day stand-off with the Catholic King James II in 1689. The current elegant building, dating from the 18th century, was remodelled in 1899 and opened as the Northern Counties Club for Londonderry’s elite in the early 20th century — the wooden revolving door that still welcomes guests, plus the frost glass windows on the ground floor, were installed to prevent the riff-raff from snooping. Today, it remains a spot for the well-heeled, having reopened in 2016 as the 31-room Bishop’s Gate Hotel. The late-Victorian glitzy stained glass and wide staircases have been restored and there’s no need for that well — regulars and visitors can hang out in the champagne bar or settle in with a pint of Smithwick’s before dinner.
Details B&B doubles from £159; two courses £33 (bishopsgatehotelderry.com)
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88. The Ebrington Hotel, Londonderry
At the eastern end of Londonderry’s Peace Bridge — a snaking cycle and pedestrian route over the River Foyle that connects the west side of the city to the Waterside district — lies the Ebrington Hotel.This was once the site of a vast barracks, used by the military from the 1800s until the 2000s. But since the hotel opened in 2023, the only battalions are holidaymakers heading to the hotel’s resort-like facilities, including a bijou spa, fine-dining restaurant and a casual pub. A modernist new-build section in gunmetal grey sympathetically slots in between historic buildings, including the original clocktower. Ebrington is something beyond a city centre boutique — a mark of this area’s renaissance, reconciliation and the pure joy of a warm Northern Irish welcome.
Details B&B doubles from £132; mains from £16 (theebringtonhotel.com)
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89. The Rabbit Hotel & Retreat, Co Antrim
When the Rabbit hopped onto the scene in 2021 in the village of Templepatrick it quickly established itself as the most fun hotel in Northern Ireland. A heated outdoor Roman bath overhung by a disco ball and surrounded by palm trees is the crowning glory, along with a string of cedar hot tubs that line a bubbling stream. Your warren for the night is one of a selection of rooms bursting with personality thanks to William Morris wallpaper, neon signs and luxurious amenities such as Dyson hairdryers and retro Swan kettles. A £2.5 million refurbishment unveiled in December 2024 added a courtyard and 17 more bedrooms. Belfast is 20 minutes away by taxi.
Details B&B doubles from £210; mains from £20 (rabbithotel.com)
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London
90. The Goring, Belgravia
London hotel of the year
No hotel epitomises eccentric English charm better than this Belgravia beauty — even if the original owner was German. Otto Goring built the property in 1910 and now his great-grandson Jeremy is expertly updating the place, while retaining its Edwardian soul. In general, it feels like a cosier version of Claridge’s, especially the lobby’s chequered marble floor and whimsical hand-painted wallpaper, including some brushstrokes by the Princess of Wales, who’s spotted here regularly. The 69 bedrooms are classic but unstuffy, the bar clubby in the friendliest sense and when Teddy, the hotel’s pet Shetland pony, next comes to stay (yes, really), he will surely approve of its glamorous new dining room. What sets this place apart though is the service. Goring’s loyalty to his team is repaid ten-fold in the friendly, obliging approach of workers who feel valued. Long-serving members have been immortalised in paintings around the hotel and even during the hardships of the pandemic, Goring refused to sell nearby staff accommodation so that young recruits have somewhere secure and central to live. Others have joined the staff through Goring’s charity, Hotel School, which trains homeless people with the skills to work in the hospitality industry. It all helps to create a place that really does feel family run.
Details Room-only doubles from £599; mains from £42 (thegoring.com)
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91. Broadwick Soho
Disruptor of the year
Stepping through this hotel’s bubblegum-pink front door is like entering a grown-up version of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Wonderment awaits in every direction thanks to its high-camp kaleidoscope of clashing colours, pimped-up patterns and priceless pop art including Andy Warhol originals. If that sounds sickly, don’t panic: adding calm, gravitas and yet more glamour are some of Europe’s most revered artisans, including traditional Venetian lights and mirrors by Sogni di Cristallo and fabrics by the French textile house Pierre Frey, while the 57 bedrooms evoke the excited hush of the minute before curtain up. This is probably the only hotel where a Sophie Ellis-Bextor gig one night might be followed by a gospel choir the next or a psychic performance. Fortunately, the service is as down-to-earth and warm as the guests are hot (Taylor Swift and Zoe Kravitz are fans) so you’ll feel one of the gang immediately. Soho definitely deserves this curveball to 24/7 ding-dong decadence.
Details B&B doubles from £475; mains from £31 (broadwicksoho.com)
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92. The Beaumont Mayfair
The one to watch
Entering the fragrant lobby of the Beaumont Mayfair, the only suggestion you are not being immediately propelled back to the Jazz Age is the lack of, well, jazz. But this divinely art deco enclave has enough buzz between its art-laden walls to more than make up for it. Oversized floral displays mix with softly lit nooks, while the seductive Magritte bar is the perfect perch for a martini. Located just a few moments’ walk from Selfridges and London’s luxury shopping neighbourhoods, the hotel has embarked on a not-so-subtle reimagining that promises to thrust it deservedly back into the limelight.
Details B&B doubles from £531; mains from £25 (thebeaumont.com)
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93. The Mitre, Greater London
Built for the courtiers and guests of Charles II, the Mitre in Hampton still has a regal feel — Hampton Court Palace is over the road and many of the rooms come with four-poster beds and glinting copper baths. But it’s not starchy, more a stylish local favourite. Its busy adjoining café, the Coppernose, has a gallery of visiting doggy mutt-shots and the riverside restaurant, 1665 Brasserie, with those prime river views, is a jolly affair. Many of the hotel staff are long-serving and guests are welcomed with a generous glass of wine, which sets the tone: cosy, fun. If there were a dress code, it would be jeans and a nice top. In spring, the bar on the river terrace pops to life and guests can hire boats to putter along the Thames.
Details B&B doubles from £170; mains from £18 (mitrehamptoncourt.com)
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94. The Buxton, Aldgate
Hotel restaurants with a genuinely fun, local vibe are hard to come by. So props to the Buxton, at the southern end of London’s Brick Lane, for setting a shining example. A sister property to the Culpeper, a couple of blocks away on Commercial Street, this buzzy bistro with rooms draws a young crowd thanks to its small-plates menu (all hearty meat dishes and homemade breads and butters), disco soundtrack, and mid-century-style marble bar and furnishings. The 15 brilliant-value rooms are compact but stylish, with whitewashed walls and a good stash of coffee table books to pore over.
Details B&B doubles from £99; small plates from £6 (thebuxton.co.uk)
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95. The Hoxton, Southwark
The much-loved Hoxton group may have started in Shoreditch in 2006, but this Southwark iteration, which opened in 2019, is our firm favourite thanks to its great rooftop seafood restaurant, South Bank location and cosy, romantic rooms with velvet ruby headboards and whimsical framed prints. The open-plan lobby-meets-restaurant-meets-bar is always full of locals tapping away on their laptops by day, but come evening it’s the place to be for cocktails and a nibble. It manages to feel simultaneously buzzy and relaxing thanks to the cosseting design: think antique and bespoke furniture in the form of sofas and armchairs for sinking into, low lighting, a gallery wall of emerging British artists, and plenty of oversized potted plants. Look carefully at the tiles and textiles: the shapes mirror those found in the architecture of this once-industrial neighbourhood. Hoxtons are known for going big on design, but keeping prices relatively affordable with smaller rooms and fewer facilities, and that’s absolutely the case here. A bonus is that check-in is at 2pm and check-out 12pm — earlier and later than most London hotels — meaning you can really make the most of your stay.
Details Room-only doubles from £197; mains from £25 (thehoxton.com)
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96. The Laslett, Notting Hill
Living like a local comes easy at the Laslett. The 51-room boutique hotel — part of Tracy Lowy’s Living Rooms collection — sprawls across five Victorian townhouses in Notting Hill’s stately Pembridge Gardens. The moniker is an homage to Rhaune Laslett — a community activist and founder of Notting Hill Carnival — and the area’s rich cultural heritage plays out within via modern British artwork, stacks of books and choice antiques courtesy of local dealers. Whether you choose a compact Spare Room or splash out on a spacious Master Bedroom Suite, a feeling of comfort is a given. A bijou lounge with a record player lined up with a fun vinyl collection makes you feel like you’re at home, while a spa treatment suite reminds you that, happily, you’re not.
Details B&B doubles from £275; mains from £16 (living-rooms.co.uk)
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97. The Kensington, South Kensington
The charming doormen, just as happy to help with heavy luggage as they are unruly toddlers, set the tone for what the Kensington does best: pitch-perfect service. First impressions clearly matter in this corner of SW7, with the stucco-fronted hotel spread across seven elegant 19th-century townhouses. Inside, the air is just as stately. Chandeliers and antique vases vie for attention but the centrepiece is an imposing wrought-iron staircase lined by oil paintings. Decadent afternoon teas and expertly crafted cocktails await in the fire-warmed drawing room and K bar, while upstairs four-poster beds and beautifully patterned wallpaper continue the grandeur in the rooms and suites.
Details B&B doubles from £340; mains from £28 (doylecollection.com)
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98. The Emory, Belgravia
It’s the first London opening from Maybourne — the group behind Claridge’s and the Connaught — in 50 years. It’s also the capital’s first all-suite hotel and one of the last projects by the much-loved architect Richard Rogers. No pressure then. Fortunately, this striking glass-and-steel edifice lives up to the billing. Next door to another stablemate, the Berkeley, and overlooking Hyde Park, it effortlessly delivers on discretion and glamour. The 60 suites and ultra-private designer penthouse are havens of good taste by some of the world’s top designers. There’s abc kitchens, which is an amalgam of New York’s coolest restaurants, a rooftop bar and a cutting-edge wellbeing club ensuring inner and outer glows.
Details B&B doubles from £1,140; mains from £24 (the-emory.co.uk)
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99. Ruby Stella, Clerkenwell
The capital has been crying out for affordable hotels that also have soul and style — so Ruby Stella, from the 20-strong budget-friendly Ruby Hotels group, made a very welcome addition to Clerkenwell when it opened in November 2024. Most magnetic is the sexy, industrial-themed bar, which hints at the area’s bookbinding heritage with piles of leather-bound tomes, embossing tools and heavy presses alongside mismatched jewel-toned sofas tucked into private corners. Upstairs are small but personality-packed rooms with Marshall amps, signature Ruby Care shower gels designed to help you wake up or wind down and, dangling above the giant beds, ink pots and quills to remind guests of Clerkenwell’s most famous former resident, Charles Dickens. No doubt the Artful Dodger would want to pocket it all.
Details B&B doubles from £130; mains from £11 (ruby-hotels.com)
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100. Batty Langley’s, Shoreditch
The East End of London is packed with stories and folklore — Jack the Ripper, the Kray twins, the peal of Bow Bells — and among the legends ought to be the throne-like loo in a secret room behind a bookcase at Batty Langley’s hotel in Spitalfields. Located at 12 Folgate Street, the hotel is in a handsome red-brick Georgian townhouse, originally built in 1724 and resurrected in the 1980s. It’s one of about 100 surviving Huguenot weavers’ homes in the district and likely to be one of the quirkiest places you’ll ever stay. Service is so slick it’s almost invisible — after check-in you’re left to enjoy the hotel, its 3,000 books, velvet armchairs and honesty bar as though it’s your private home. Note, there is no restaurant but plenty of choice nearby. Batty Langley was a real-life landscape designer who inspired the hotel’s owners, Peter McKay and Douglas Blain. Their boutique group has two other sympathetically restored hotels — Hazlitt’s in Soho and the Rookery, Farringdon, which like Batty Langley’s are for anyone who loves their history and fine wine amid flamboyant Georgian interiors.
Details Room-only doubles from £259 (battylangleys.com)
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• Discover our guide to the best hotels in the UK
Hotels consultant: Susan d’Arcy
Head of travel: Claire Irvin
Contributors: Cathy Adams, Francesca Angelini, Mike Atkins, Sarah Baxter, Gemma Bowes, Julia Brookes, Jenny Coad, Rachel Cocker, Jennifer Cox, Vincent Crump, Liz Edwards, Lizzie Frainier, Hattie Garlick, Katie Gatens, Hannah Gravett, Pamela Goodman, Blossom Green, Chris Haslam, Laura Jackson, Chris Jervis, Jeremy Lazell, Jane Mulkerrins, Sean Newsom, Helen Ochyra, Huw Oliver, Lucy Perrin, Helen Pickles, Claudia Rowan, James Stewart, Alexandra Whiting, Sidonie Wilson
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