We give our Cesar Awards to the ten best hotels of the year. Named after Cesar Ritz, the most celebrated of hoteliers, these are the Oscars of hotel keeping.
Cesar Winners 2018
Cesar Winners
Hambleton Hall - Summer Breaks in Rutland
Hambleton
‘Tim and Stefa Hart’s country house hotel is consistently outstanding, with service I have yet to see bettered: courteous, attentive, unintrusive. And Aaron Patterson’s Michelin-starred cooking never fails.’
Soar Mill Cove Hotel - Three for Two Spring and Early Summer Special Offer
nr. Salcombe
From dolphin-spotting to table tennis, there is plenty to enjoy at Keith Makepeace’s family-friendly hotel, which stands in expansive countryside, with views towards the sea.
Judges - Spring/Summer Special Offer
Yarm
‘It’s the little touches’ that make the Downs family’s Victorian country house a ‘lovely, charming place’, confirm Guide readers in 2017.
Llys Meddyg - Three Night Spring Coastal Break Special Offer
Newport
Edward and Louise Sykes’s ‘personable, wholly likeable’ restaurant-with-rooms occupies a Georgian house on the main street of an ‘attractive village’, minutes from the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path.
Forest Side
Grasmere
A Victorian Gothic confection of gables, chimneys and battlements, this gentleman’s residence and one-time walkers’ hostel has been given a dazzling makeover in ‘fabulous’ modern–rustic style.
Burrastow House
Walls
‘It’s like being a guest at a country house in an extraordinarily beautiful location,’ say Guide readers this year.
Viewmount House
Longford
In ‘cleverly designed, well-maintained gardens’ on the outskirts of town, Beryl and James Kearney’s Georgian mansion has ‘uninterrupted views’ of the surrounding land, and a ‘cheerful ambience’ within.
St Cuthbert’s House
Seahouses
Jeff and Jill Sutheran’s ‘superb’ B&B, in Seahouses, at the heart of the Northumberland coast, ‘fully deserves’ its praise, say Guide readers this year, who were made to feel ‘very much at home’.
The Red Lion Freehouse
East Chisenbury
‘We loved the atmosphere, the amazing food and the beautiful bedrooms.’
The Mash Inn
Radnage
‘The distinctive cooking brings the customers’ to this ‘greatly enjoyable’ restaurant-with-rooms in a village in the wooded Chiltern hills.
2017 Cesar Winners
Cesar Winners
Gravetye Manor - Charming British Escape
East Grinstead
‘Every comfort is anticipated’ at this ‘classy, tasteful’ Elizabethan manor house, from the garden flowers in the public rooms to ‘the most extensive cheese trolley we’d ever seen’.
The Blakeney Hotel
Blakeney
The view is one of marshes and moored boats, of creeks and children crabbing, from Emma Stannard’s well-established, family-friendly hotel on the quayside of a coastal village.
Hell Bay Hotel
Bryher
Hardly hellish, Robert Dorrien-Smith’s island hotel, perky in a protected cove in the Atlantic Ocean, is ‘well worth the trip’.
The Nobody Inn
Doddiscombsleigh
Pile in for the jolly quiz night, or sample one of the whiskies from an astonishing collection at Sue Burdge’s 17th-century dwelling house–turned–lively village pub-with-rooms.
The Cross at Kingussie
Kingussie
Long praised for the generous hospitality of its hosts, Derek and Celia Kitchingman, this ‘very quiet’ 19th-century tweed mill-turned-restaurant-with-rooms on the banks of the River Gynack is gaining attention, too, for its food.
Battlesteads
Hexham
‘Surely one of the best places to stay in the north of England’, Dee and Richard Slade’s historic coaching inn is run as a ‘characterful, modern’ pub, hotel and restaurant, where some of the best views are to be found at night.
Ael y Bryn
Eglwyswrw
‘Consummate hosts’ Robert Smith and Arwel Hughes run their peaceful B&B against the ‘superb backdrop’ of the Preseli mountains.
The Hardwick
Abergavenny
‘The buzz of contented diners fills the air’ at this ‘enjoyable, excellent’ restaurant-with-rooms in an ‘attractive rural setting’ outside the market town.
Brocco on the Park
Sheffield
‘There’s a vibrant atmosphere’ at Tiina Carr’s ‘stylish, Scandi-chic’ hotel, in a ‘buzzy neighbourhood’ of shops and cafés.
The Royal Oak
Swallowcliffe
A Sleeping Beauty in a wooded valley, this thatch-roofed inn had lain dormant for years when, in 2015, it was given the kiss of life by a village consortium.
Hotels chosen in 2016
Cesar Winners
Hazel Bank - Summertime Three Night Special Offer
Borrowdale
Local couple Gary and Donna MacRae ‘revel’ in making their Borrowdale valley hotel ‘welcoming, relaxed – so enjoyable’.
The Lord Crewe Arms
Blanchland
The flagstone floors, cavernous fireplaces, labyrinthine corridors and barrel-vaulted crypt bar ‘reek of history’ at this cheerfully updated medieval abbot’s lodge in a conservation village on the North Pennine moors.
Augill Castle
Kirkby Stephen
‘It’s a home away from home,’ chorus fans in 2017 of the Bennett family’s ‘stunning, well-preserved’ 19th-century pile striking a pose in rambling grounds in the Eden valley.
Hotel Endsleigh
Milton Abbot
Olga Polizzi’s countryside retreat, at its origin a Regency fishing lodge created for the Duchess of Bedford, is today an ‘unpretentious, wholly enjoyable’ hotel ‘decorated with charm and taste’.
The Grove
Narberth
In ‘flourishing gardens’ near the coast, Neil and Zoë Kedward’s ‘beautifully quiet’ hotel is ‘a real haven – particularly when you arrive in the dark after a long drive’.
The Coach House at Middleton Lodge
Richmond
Horses and coaches once trundled up the tree-lined avenue to this former stables in Yorkshire countryside; today, James Allison’s ‘low-key, relaxing’ hotel attracts a rather smarter set.
Zanzibar International Hotel
St Leonards-on-Sea
‘Splendidly quirky’, Max O’Rourke’s characterful seafront hotel is filled with a ‘relaxed, utterly unpretentious’ atmosphere, and an ‘interesting collection’ of ornaments and objects from far-flung lands.
Kilmichael Country House
Brodick
Be prepared for shrieks of greeting as you turn in to the wooded drive of this ‘very special’ small mansion, the oldest house on Arran – and that’s just from the peacocks! Inside the house, owners Geoffrey Botterill and Antony Butterworth extend a ‘personable’ but less vociferous welcome, with offers of tea and home-made shortbread.