It’s always a wonderful thing to discover a wonderful new hotel, and this year our editors have been hard at work, scouring the country for hidden jewels. From country inns to Georgian manors, each of these hotels has something unique to offer, be it all fresh local ingredients in the restaurant, a warm friendly environment, or spectacular design and attention to detail. These are the Good Hotel Guide’s top 10 hotel discoveries this year.
2019 Discoveries
Editor’s Choice Hotel Discoveries
The Elms - Summer Getaway Special Offer from £130 per room per night
Worcester
The name scarcely does justice to this gracious Queen Anne mansion turned luxury hotel and spa in landscaped grounds. Under new ownership, it impressed Guide inspectors from the moment they stepped into the stunning hallway.
Twr y Felin Hotel - Blas Restaurant Dining Club Special Offer
St David's
A former temperance hotel built around a working windmill has been transformed, at vast expense, into ‘Wales’s first contemporary art hotel’. A showcase for local, seasonal Welsh produce and for over 100 pieces of specially commissioned art.
Brooks Country House
Ross-on-Wye
The creative owners have made over Georgian Pengethley Manor, with a beguiling mix of grandeur and fun. It stands in parkland complete with vineyard. Choose a house room or a horsebox – and get the nosebag on for hearty Herefordshire fare.
Blue Hayes
St Ives
Unabashedly luxurious, this 1920s retreat on the hill above Porthminster Beach impressed our inspector in every detail, from the hospitality tray’s fresh milk
and bone china teapot, to the chef’s way with local seafood, to breakfast’s devilled kidneys.
and bone china teapot, to the chef’s way with local seafood, to breakfast’s devilled kidneys.
The Punch Bowl Inn
Kendal
Rooms at this popular gastropub in a pretty Lakeland village are named after past vicars of the adjacent church. The young chef works with Cumbrian produce to create dishes that pack a punch. Comfy sofas, a log burner, beamed ceilings, bags of atmosphere.
The Gunton Arms
Thorpe Market
Damien Hirst in the ladies’ loo, David Bailey in the gents’, a deer park strewn with sculptures… This pub delights art-lovers and novelty-seekers. Under the dining room’s arched wooden ceiling, an open fire serves for grilling and smoking.
Summer Lodge
Evershot
Thomas Hardy, with his architect’s hat on, had a hand in extending this former dower house, today an exceptionally well-run hotel. Rooms have such pleasing touches as fresh flowers, fruit and shortbread. There is high-quality cooking, too.
From £60 per night
The Wellington Arms
Baughurst
A former hunting lodge today delights as a comfy country pub. Bedrooms have espresso machine and minibar. There are
honey bees, laying hens, home-grown and local produce – and Wellington teapots with a knitted cosy to buy as a souvenir.
honey bees, laying hens, home-grown and local produce – and Wellington teapots with a knitted cosy to buy as a souvenir.
The Raeburn
Edinburgh
Boutique rooms with rainforest shower and perhaps a roll-top bath, a library, bar, brasserie and terrace, friendly staff and Georgian elegance all come together as one harmonious whole at this family-run hotel just a 15-minute stroll from the city centre.
Bayards Cove Inn
Dartmouth
There is a warm welcome at this former merchant’s house turned pub-with- rooms, behind a half-timbered facade, near the waterfront. Winding stairs lead to bedrooms with low, beamed ceilings. Inspectors enjoyed local crab in a lovely, pub atmosphere.
2018 Discoveries
Editor’s Choice Hotel Discoveries
Shieldaig Lodge - Food Lover's Package
Gairloch
‘Down a long single-track road, flanked by stone eagles at the gate,’ this Victorian hunting lodge stands in ‘a glorious setting’ by Loch Gairloch, ‘with enchanting views of cavorting seals’.
The Pig at Combe
Honiton
'In its glory, in the very beautiful Otter valley', this Elizabethan manor house is the fifth member of Robin Hutson’s Pig family.
The Crab & Lobster
Sidlesham
Facing the ‘wide sweep of tidal mudflats’ surrounding Pagham Harbour, this whitewashed restaurant-with-rooms stands as a ‘tucked-away’ beacon of ‘delicious food’ and ‘exceptional hospitality’.
Coes Faen
Barmouth
‘The name means “leg of stone”,’ a Guide inspector tells us – a reference to the rocks on and over which this ‘fabulous, ultra-modern’ B&B is built.
The Inn at Loch Tummel
Pitlochry
Having swapped the dark glitz of a Soho nightclub for the big sky splendour of loch and munro, Alice and Jade Calliva are the ‘friendly, welcoming’ and ‘highly motivated’ owners of this 18th-century former coaching inn.
No.15 Great Pulteney
Bath
‘There are chandeliers all over’ at Christa and Ian Taylor’s latest addition to the Bath hotel scene – the old Carfax, run formerly by the Salvation Army, now spiffed up to the nines, with the addition of a small spa.
Sign of the Angel
Lacock
‘Little has changed over the centuries’ at this Tudor coaching inn in a National Trust village. Familiar to Harry Potter fans as the Babberton Arms, it was once home to Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Llanthony Priory Hotel
Abergavenny
Ecclesiastical historians rejoice! In the ‘romantic’ setting of a vertiginous valley beneath the Black mountains, this ‘atmospheric’ small hotel partly occupies an ivy-clad medieval tower. It is one of four Grade 1 listed buildings in the ruined priory’s precincts.
The Pipe and Glass Inn
South Dalton
St Mary’s ‘stunning spire’ rises like Jack’s beanstalk – a heavenly marker of the approach to James and Kate Mackenzie’s ‘sublime’ pub-with-rooms.
Restaurant James Sommerin
Penarth
With a Michelin star and ‘spectacular’ views of the Severn estuary and famous pier from a prime spot on Penarth’s late Victorian esplanade, James Sommerin’s family-run restaurant-with-rooms is ‘a very pleasant place to stay’.
2017 Discoveries
Editor’s Choice Hotel Discoveries
The Gallivant - Midweek Spa Escape
Camber
There is much to like at Harry Cragoe’s roadside restaurant-with-rooms, which takes its inspiration from California beach motels, and adds a dash of Scandinavia.
The Dial House - Second Night Half Price and a Bottle of Fizz Special Offer
Norwich
While it maintains its ‘eclectic, faultlessly tasteful’ Grand Tour theme, there are changes afoot at this small hotel in a ‘handsome red brick Georgian house’.
Goldstone Hall
Market Drayton
For ‘a quiet weekend in a friendly, characterful hotel among bucolic surroundings’, John and Sue Cushing’s red brick Georgian manor ‘fits the bill perfectly’.
Chapel House
Penzance
‘I have travelled widely but never stayed in a place where I truly felt I was with a close friend.’ Owner Susan Stuart ‘has created a real treat’, says a Guide regular after this year’s visit to the ‘beautifully restored listed house’.
The Red Lion
Babcary
With its rough-cut stone exterior and thatch, the Red Lion is outwardly the archetypal olde worlde pub – ‘but’, say trusted readers, ‘in our granddaughter’s terminology, the place rocks.’
The Devonshire Arms
Long Sutton
An air of a country gentleman’s private study filters through this rural 19th-century hunting lodge, with appealing nods to the rural pursuits that might occupy him.
The Plough
Lechlade
A popular pub-with-rooms in a tiny, ‘beguiling’ village close to the Thames, The Plough’s warm welcome and foodie credentials are appreciated as much by locals (and their dogs) as by guests from farther afield.
Forest Side
Grasmere
‘It’s difficult to pinpoint what makes this hotel so special.’ Atop a winding driveway, this Gothic pile is ‘light, airy, full of boutiquey charm – and, naturally, has delightful views across Grasmere’.
The Inn at West End
WEST END
Closed down because of ill health at end of September 2018. Gerry and Ann Price ‘set the standard’ at their ‘well-run’ pub/restaurant-with-rooms, where the ‘hands-on owners’ foster a hub-of-the-village atmosphere. Closed down because of ill health at end of September 2018.
Penally Abbey
Tenby
‘An attractive building’ in a ‘tranquil setting’ with view of Carmarthen Bay, Melanie and Lucas Boissevain’s 19th-century neo-Gothic house is today as a smart, ‘happy, well-run’, hotel.
2016 Discoveries
Editor’s Choice Hotel Discoveries
The Carpenters Arms - Summer Break Package Special Offer
Felixkirk
‘Excellent standards are being maintained,’ confirms a Guide trusty this year, after staying at this village inn with rooms overlooking the Vale of Mowbray.
Old Downton Lodge - 30% Discount Special Offer
Ludlow
Barns and stables – some medieval – surround a courtyard laid out as parterre gardens, at Willem and Pippa Vlok’s restaurant-with-rooms, deep in the Shropshire countryside.
Newbegin House
Beverley
‘Perfect hosts’ Nuala and Walter Sweeney clearly enjoy welcoming guests to their ‘beautiful Georgian house’ in a market town dominated by its sublime Gothic minster.
The Bridge Inn at Ratho
Ratho
Flanked by the 18th-century stone bridge after which it’s named, Graham and Rachel Bucknall’s ‘characterful’ restaurant-with-rooms on the water has much to like.
The Seaside Boarding House
Burton Bradstock
White walls, pleasant staff, bright sunshine, blue, blue sky, sparkling sea just over the road…’ For one reader this year, everything hit the spot at this cool small hotel overlooking Lyme Bay.
Knockendarroch Hotel
Pitlochry
‘How refreshing to find a hotel that continues to strive to be the best, and succeed.’ Guide readers returned to Struan and Louise Lothian’s ‘small but pleasing hotel’ this year with friends, to find ‘the greeting friendly, the room lovely and warm’.
Eckington Manor
Eckington
With its own farm, orchard, vegetable and herb gardens, food is at the heart of everything at Judy Gardner’s restored restaurant-with-rooms, occupying a half-timbered farmhouse and rustic outbuildings.
St Mary’s Inn
Morpeth
There’s a ‘jovial, relaxed’ feel at this modern pub-with-rooms, say Guide inspectors after an ‘excellent’ stay.