Log fires, character defined over the centuries, warm and friendly service and excellent food, country house hotels have a particular charm all of their own. Expect homemade, food, local produce, antiques and four poster beds, not to mention some of the most glorious country views around. Here is our Editor’s Choice for the best country house hotels.
2019 Editor's Choice Country House Hotels
Editor’s Choice Country House Hotels
Judges - Summer and Autumn Special Offer from £125 B&B
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 - Midweek Special Offer
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.
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.
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.
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 - Autumn Retreat Special Offer
Okehampton
‘Can only talk in superlatives,’ writes a reader this year of Sue and James Murray’s historic manor house.
Chewton Glen - 4 Nights for the Price of 3 Special Offer
New Milton
After more than 50 years, this country house hotel and spa on the edge of the New Forest still sets the standard for luxury.
The Grove - Three for Two Special Offer
Narberth
Behind mature trees in 26 acres of gardens and meadows overlooking the Preseli hills, this whitewashed 18th-century mansion offers a ‘bucolic setting with that “away from it all” feeling’, reports a reader after this year’s visit.
Gravetye Manor
East Grinstead
‘We have become addicted to this place,’ write trusted readers, following a return visit to this beautiful Elizabethan manor house (Relais & Châteaux).
Currarevagh House
Oughterard
Reputedly Ireland’s longest running hotel under one family’s ownership: its ‘true country house’ atmosphere and easy access to rural pursuits draw back guests year after year.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
‘They just keep making it better every year,’ writes a trusted correspondent, of this luxurious country house hotel in Lakeland countryside.
Glenapp Castle
Ballantrae
Mellow sandstone battlements, turrets and towers are revealed only at the final turn of the ‘lengthy’ drive through the ‘vibrant, meticulously tended’ grounds of Paul and Poppy Szkiler’s 19th-century baronial pile.
Farlam Hall
Brampton
‘This continues to be a very dependable oasis,’ writes a trusted reader and regular visitor to this country house hotel (Relais & Châteaux), between the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage site.
Longueville Manor
St Saviour
‘The best on the island’, ‘the most spectacular and sumptuous’, this luxurious, family-friendly manor house hotel (Relais & Châteaux) 'just gets better',
Hilton Park
Clones
It is easy to see why this 18th-century Italianate country house is known locally as The Castle.
2017 Editor's Choice Country House Hotels
Editor’s Choice Country House Hotels
Hambleton Hall - Summer Breaks in Rutland
Oakham
‘Perfection to the very last detail,’ writes a reader this year, of Tim and Stefa Hart’s hotel with landscaped gardens stretching down to Rutland Water.
Lewtrenchard Manor - Autumn Retreat Special Offer
Okehampton
‘Can only talk in superlatives,’ writes a reader this year of Sue and James Murray’s historic manor house.
Lords of the Manor - Summer in the Cotswolds Special Offer
Upper Slaughter
A coat of arms and portraits of past owners set the tone at this honey-hued former rectory, recommended by Guide readers for a ‘welcoming, comfortable, relaxing’ country house experience
Judges - Summer and Autumn Special Offer from £125 B&B
Yarm
‘Wonderful. Ten out of ten,’ writes a delighted reader in 2018, of this Victorian retreat.
Askham Hall - Midweek Special Offer
Penrith
An easy-going atmosphere and oodles of character filter through Charles Lowther’s dramatic ancestral home.
The Lake
Llangammarch Wells
Cocooned in ‘lovely, peaceful grounds in glorious countryside’, Jean-Pierre Mifsud’s ‘welcoming’ Victorian country house hotel continues to offer an enjoyable bucolic break.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
‘They just keep making it better every year,’ writes a trusted correspondent, of this luxurious country house hotel in Lakeland countryside.
Marlfield House
Gorey
Lavish, ‘prompt and very attentive’ hospitality is the order of the day at this ‘distinguished’ family-run hotel in an ‘imposing’ Regency house surrounded by 36 acres of grounds.
Hilton Park
Clones
It is easy to see why this 18th-century Italianate country house is known locally as The Castle.
Ardanaiseig
KILCHRENAN
Ardanaiseig closed as a hotel at the end of November 2017. It will be relaunched in 2018 a venue catering for groups, weddings, and corporate functions.
2016 Editor's Choice Country House Hotels
Editor’s Choice Country House Hotels
Rothay Manor - 20% Discount Special Offer
Ambleside
Jamie and Jenna Shail continue to make improvements to their 19th-century manor house.
Chewton Glen - 4 Nights for the Price of 3 Special Offer
New Milton
After more than 50 years, this country house hotel and spa on the edge of the New Forest still sets the standard for luxury.
Gravetye Manor
East Grinstead
‘We have become addicted to this place,’ write trusted readers, following a return visit to this beautiful Elizabethan manor house (Relais & Châteaux).
Glenapp Castle
Ballantrae
Mellow sandstone battlements, turrets and towers are revealed only at the final turn of the ‘lengthy’ drive through the ‘vibrant, meticulously tended’ grounds of Paul and Poppy Szkiler’s 19th-century baronial pile.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
‘At night, surrounded by floodlit cedars and oaks, it felt like a movie set,’ writes one reader this year, after visiting the luxury New Forest retreat.