. . Here is our Editor's Choice for the best country house hotels.
2021 Editor's Choice Country House Hotels
Editor’s Choice Country House Hotels
Headlam Hall
Darlington
The warm welcome and informal atmosphere at Headlam are much praised by readers. That’s not to say that certain traditions aren’t observed, but alongside afternoon tea, fine dining and period features, there is a spa and modern touches.
Pendragon Country House
Camelford
Replete with references to local Arthurian legend, this vicarage between Pentire Point and Bodmin Moor is renowned
for excellent food and attention to detail. Prefer a light-tog duvet to goose down, or perhaps fine wool blankets? Not a problem.
The House at Temple Sowerby
Penrith
Dine on fine food in a circular conservatory overlooking a walled garden at this Georgian house in the Eden valley.
Bedrooms are homely and traditional, but with crucial spoiling extras, such as spa baths and hydrotherapy showers.
Corse Lawn House
Corse Lawn
As the decades have rolled by, this handsome Queen Anne-style house beside a pond quacking with ducks has resisted fads and fashions without compromising on quality. Returning guests love its peach- coloured rooms, loose-leaf tea and G&Ts on the terrace.
Gravetye Manor
East Grinstead
Jeremy and Elizabeth Hosking’s Elizabethan manor enjoys the perfect setting, with beautiful gardens amid 1,000 acres of woodland. Inside, it’s just as good, with slick service, antique-filled rooms and Michelin-starred dining.
Grove of Narberth
Narberth
This beautifully restored Jacobean mansion oozes laid-back luxury, from four-posters to candlelit dining. Add to that views of the Preseli hills, extensive grounds, and one of Pembrokeshire’s prettiest market towns just down the road.
The Newt in Somerset
Castle Cary
As well as grand Georgian architecture, refined interiors, and a spa at The Newt, you will find a treetop walk, wild swimming pool, ice-cream parlour, and even an interactive gardening museum. And don’t forget the cyder bar.
Kinloch House
Blairgowrie
Marcello Tully’s destination restaurant is reason enough to visit this heirloom-filled former hunting lodge owned by Lord and Lady Macdonald. The setting is pretty special, too, with spectacular views of Loch Na Dal from some of the rooms.
Currarevagh House
Oughterard
The past is a foreign country at this beautiful 180-acre estate beside Lough Corrib; it has been in the same family since 1890. Step back into another era: no door keys, no TV, and a gong to summon you for a delicious four-course dinner.
The Torridon
Torridon
A long drive along a single track leads to this Victorian hunting lodge in a spectacular location overlooking Loch
Torridon. Kayak, hike and star-gaze; dine on the best Highland produce. Bedrooms have mesmerising views.
2020 Editor's Choice Country House Hotels
Editor’s Choice Country House Hotels
Hartwell House
Aylesbury
Once home to French royalty in exile, this National Trust-owned mansion brims with antiques, paintings, tapestries. Despite the grandeur, it’s unstuffy. Play croquet. Dress down for the café/bar, dress up for fine dining.
From £200 per night
Hambleton Hall
Oakham
The superlative staff, outstanding cuisine and sumptuously appointed bedrooms have won unstinting praise this year for the Harts’ former hunting lodge turned hotel. Beautifully landscaped gardens are bordered by shimmering Rutland Water.
The Priory
Wareham
Flower-filled gardens border the River Frome from this 16th-century former priory. You can take lunch alfresco, afternoon tea by the fire in a cosy lounge, dine very well in the Garden restaurant. Some bedrooms are in the Boathouse on the riverbank.
Bodysgallen Hall and Spa
Llandudno
Coats of arms adorn this 17th century mansion in magnificently restored gardens and parkland, run as a hotel and spa by the National Trust, with views of Snowdonia. Tea in a panelled lounge, fine dining and an aura of professionalism are hallmarks.
Lords of the Manor
Upper Slaughter
In a gentle Cotswold landscape, this cherished 17th-century manor house and former rectory is furnished with antiques, the walls hung with portraits of past rectors. You can take tea by the fire or in lovely gardens, dine formally or informally.
Hotel Endsleigh
Tavistock
A very special place, Olga Polizzi’s ducal fishing lodge stands in an Arcadian landscape with the Tamar running through. The relaxed chic style mixes contemporary touches with period furnishings, in perfect harmony with the historic building.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
Starry and glamorous yet relaxed, this rebuilt and extended Georgian lodge offers all you could look for in a country house hotel and spa. A perfect blend of traditional hospitality and 21st-century luxury, in a bucolic New Forest setting.
Douneside House – Tarland
Tarland
The Edwardian interiors of this Scots Revival former holiday home of the MacRobert family have been lovingly preserved in a recent makeover. Furnished with antiques, it stands in beautifully landscaped gardens. At dinner Scottish ingredients shine.
The Mustard Seed at Echo Lodge
Ballingarry
Flower-filled public rooms, elegant dining and the welcoming host win praise for this hotel, a fine 19th-century parochial house and former nunnery, in terraced gardens. Traditionally styled bedrooms have truly charming individual touches.
Little Barwick House
Yeovil
Afternoon tea by the fire or in the beautiful garden are among the joys at this family-run Georgian country house. They call it a restaurant-with-rooms, and dinner is a feast, but it’s not the entire raison d’être. Stay, be spoilt, unwind.
2019 Editor's Choice Country House Hotels
Editor’s Choice Country House Hotels
Judges
Yarm
Tried and trusted, this Victorian mansion is filled with antiques, books, oil paintings. Clubby armchairs are drawn up to roaring fires. From complimentary sherry and a teddy bear, to the turn-down service and morning cup of tea, here is pure, old- fashioned comfort.
Askham Hall
Penrith
The Lowther family’s Grade I listed ancestral home has a relaxed, house-party feel, with historic and personal touches – old photographs, a priest hole, perhaps a four-poster or antique bath, topiary garden and free-ranging livestock. Great food and wine, too.
Brockencote Hall
Chaddesley Corbett
Guests drive through woodland to discover this château-style Victorian mansion with a romantic lake, fountain and ancient dovecote. Afternoon tea can be taken by the fire in a panelled library hung with oil paintings. Elegant bedrooms are supplied with all comforts.
Gravetye Manor
East Grinstead
A romantic Elizabethan manor house in well-tended gardens, Michelin-starred cooking in a dramatic glass-walled new dining room, log fires in comfy lounges, and every imaginable comfort combine at this perennial Guide favourite.
Temple House
Ballymote
Guests gather for drinks by a log fire before sitting down together to dine, house-party style, at this classic Georgian mansion in parkland overlooking medieval castle ruins. Antiques, hunting prints, a stag’s head and fossil collection make for interesting browsing.
Langar Hall
Langar
One of the Guide’s most characterful hotels, this apricot-washed Georgian mansion might be a private house, with its many idiosyncratic charms. Antique clocks tick. Walls are hung with artworks. Pretty, old- fashioned, individually styled bedrooms overlook magical grounds.
The Hare and Hounds
Tetbury
Wooded grounds surround this Victorian Cotswold stone house, built by the founder of neighbouring Westonbirt Arboretum. Interiors are stylish, but log fires, tweedy armchairs and a library of curios lend a private-house feel. Well-mannered hounds are welcome.
Llangoed Hall
Brecon
The late Sir Bernard Ashley’s art collection still adorns this Jacobean mansion remodelled by Clough Williams Ellis. An Edwardian house-party atmosphere prevails, with fresh flowers, new-laid eggs from happy hens,
Ballathie House
Stanley
Country sports are a big attraction at this turreted Victorian country house and estate on the River Tay. Anglers are in their element. Deer roam the grounds. It is family run, filled with antiques, a pleasing mix of grandeur and comfort.
Lympstone Manor
Exmouth
Celebrity chef Michael Caines’s perfectionism is everywhere apparent in this beautifully restored Georgian mansion on the Exe estuary. From watercolours and water colours (an estuary-inspired palette) to Michelin-starred cooking, everything is tiptop.
2018 Editor's Choice Country House Hotels
Editor’s Choice Country House Hotels
Lewtrenchard Manor
Okehampton
‘A most beautiful building in lovely, peaceful grounds with a wooded walk down to the river,’ say Guide insiders of the Murray family’s splendid stone manor house.
Chewton Glen
New Milton
Readers are ‘unable to fault anything at all’ at this ivy-clad country house hotel on the edge of the New Forest, ‘the ultimate luxurious and indulgent treat’.
Farlam Hall
Brampton
Despite a change of ownership, this quintessential country house hotel in a peaceful Cumbrian village is still in safe hands, report readers.
Gravetye Manor
East Grinstead
Jeremy and Elizabeth Hosking’s beloved and beautiful Elizabethan manor house stands in glorious gardens, amid 1,000 acres of woodland.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
This luxurious country house hotel (Relais & Châteaux) offers ‘indulgent’ rooms, Michelin-starred dining, spacious grounds, legions of staff, and ‘comfort in all the right places’.
Grove of Narberth
Narberth
Jacobean splendour meets Arts and Crafts elegance at this gleaming white hotel, set in a leafy glade outside one of Pembrokeshire’s prettiest market towns.
Longueville Manor
St Saviour
A sense of history pervades this 14th-century manor house, festooned with wisteria, which sits in landscaped grounds in a wooded valley.
Currarevagh House
Oughterard
A house-party atmosphere prevails at this country house in 180 acres of grounds on Lough Corrib, built in 1842 and run as a sporting lodge by owner Henry Hodgson’s great grandfather from 1890.
Hilton Park
Clones
The ancestral domain of the Madden family for almost three centuries, this grand Italianate mansion stands in pleasure grounds on an accredited wildlife estate.
Glenapp Castle
Ballantrae
With sweeping views of Ailsa Craig and the Mull of Kintyre, Paul and Poppy Szkiler’s Scottish Baronial-style castle hotel balances a ‘stunning, grand building’ with ‘relaxed luxury’.
2017 Editor's Choice Country House Hotels
Editor’s Choice Country House Hotels
Hambleton Hall
Oakham
From the landscaped gardens with ‘a five-star view’ over Rutland Water to the Michelin-starred dining, Tim and Stefa Hart’s acclaimed hotel nails English country house excellence.
Lewtrenchard Manor
Okehampton
‘A most beautiful building in lovely, peaceful grounds with a wooded walk down to the river,’ say Guide insiders of the Murray family’s splendid stone manor house.
Lords of the Manor
Upper Slaughter
This 17th-century manor house of honeyed Cotswold stone looks every bit the smart country house hotel.
Judges
Yarm
Shrouded from the world by rolling gardens and wooded dells and with ‘impeccably maintained grounds’, this creeper-covered Victorian country house was once a retreat for circuit judges.
Askham Hall
Penrith
It may have a medieval pele tower, a 17th-century topiary garden, and now a Michelin-starred restaurant, but Charles Lowther’s ancestral pile also has an unpretentious, relaxed atmosphere.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
This luxurious country house hotel (Relais & Châteaux) offers ‘indulgent’ rooms, Michelin-starred dining, spacious grounds, legions of staff, and ‘comfort in all the right places’.
Lake Country House Hotel & Spa
Llangammarch Wells
Mock Tudor meets the Tyrol with a colonial twist at Jean-Pierre Mifsud’s former hunting and fishing lodge in wooded grounds overlooking a trout lake, with 9-hole golf course, and the River Irfon running through.
Ardanaiseig
Kilchrenan
Swing round a winding road to this turreted, Jacobean-style baronial mansion – ‘a palatial old joint’ – in a ‘beautiful’ setting on the shores of Loch Awe.
Marlfield House
Gorey
Built for the Earls of Courtown, this Regency-style, 19th-century dower house has been run as an ‘absolutely lovely’ hotel by the Bowe family for more than 40 years.
Hilton Park
Clones
The ancestral domain of the Madden family for almost three centuries, this grand Italianate mansion stands in pleasure grounds on an accredited wildlife estate.
2016 Editor's Choice Country House Hotels
Editor’s Choice Country House Hotels
Chewton Glen
New Milton
Readers are ‘unable to fault anything at all’ at this ivy-clad country house hotel on the edge of the New Forest, ‘the ultimate luxurious and indulgent treat’.
Rothay Manor – Ambleside
Ambleside
Jamie and Jenna Shail’s manor house hotel dates to 1823, but its tastefully refreshed style and ambitious cooking place it squarely in the 21st century.
Gravetye Manor
East Grinstead
Jeremy and Elizabeth Hosking’s beloved and beautiful Elizabethan manor house stands in glorious gardens, amid 1,000 acres of woodland.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
Designed for pure leisure and pleasure, this Georgian New Forest lodge is run as a glamorous yet relaxed country house hotel for today’s savvy guest.
Glenapp Castle
Ballantrae
With sweeping views of Ailsa Craig and the Mull of Kintyre, Paul and Poppy Szkiler’s Scottish Baronial-style castle hotel balances a ‘stunning, grand building’ with ‘relaxed luxury’.
Related Pages
- Best country house hotels in Cotswolds
Best country house hotels in Cumbria- Best country house hotels in Devon
Best country house hotels in Dorset
Best country house hotels in East Anglia- Best country house hotels in Ireland
Best country house hotels in Midlands
Best country house hotels in North East- Best country house hotels in North West
Best country house hotels in Scotland
Best country house hotels in Somerset- Best country house hotels in South East
- Best country house hotels in Sussex
Best country house hotels in Wales
Best country house hotels in West Country- Best country house hotels in Yorkshire