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.
2020 Discoveries
Editor’s Choice Hotel Discoveries
The Great House
LAVENHAM
Plus ça change. . . New proprietor Dominique Tropeano has retained the cherished French ambience created by former owners the Crépys. Behind its Georgian facade this ancient, timber- framed building lives on as a fine restaurant-with-rooms.
The Devonshire Arms
Skipton
Works of art from the collection at Chatsworth hang on the walls of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire’s Dales country house hotel, which joins sister property The Cavendish in the Guide, with special praise from our inspector for the chef and sommelier.
The Coach House
Brecon
With Georgian elegance, modern comforts, plus pikelets and rarebits for breakfast, Kayt and Hugh
Cooper’s Georgian coach house turned contemporary town house B&B ticks all the boxes for trusted readers. A Brecon beacon of warm hospitality.
Cooper’s Georgian coach house turned contemporary town house B&B ticks all the boxes for trusted readers. A Brecon beacon of warm hospitality.
The Ship Inn
Elie
Rachel and Graham Bucknall continue to innovate at this seaside pub with its own beach cricket team, promoted to a full entry after our inspectors pronounced it a corker. A new sea-view private dining room doubles as a pavilion.
The Pig at Bridge Place
Canterbury
A Jacobean manor house has become the latest in the Pig family. Every part of this Piggy was quite all right with our inspectors, from the shabby chic aesthetic to the kitchen-garden menus. We’re fans of the Pig brand. Honk if you support us.
The Duncombe Arms
Ashbourne
A heartening tale of a village inn saved from ruin by locals. . . Johnny and Laura Greenall have done a bang-up job, transforming a Victorian boozer into a stylish pub with annexe rooms and first- rate cooking, earning the nod from our inspectors.
23 Mayfield
Edinburgh
A rave report from an inspector for Ross Burnie’s family-run B&B gains it full Guide status. From rosemary water and home-made fudge in the bedroom to a candlelit breakfast, everything at this Victorian merchant’s house is splendid.
The Old Manor House
Shipston-on-Stour
Serendipity led trusted readers to Jane and William Pusey’s 16th-century manor house B&B. They found a winning combination of attention to detail, a perfect balance of historic character and modern convenience, and a friendly ambience.
The St Tudy Inn
Bodmin
Wine producer Mark Hellyar and chef/ director Emily Scott have created a smart but approachable pub-with-rooms in a picture-postcard village. Bedrooms are painted in those dreamy soft greys that Farrow & Ball calls white. Ms Scott cooks with flair and imagination.
The Lord Poulett Arms
Hinton St George
West Country fixtures The Beckford Arms and The Talbot have a new sister here, a historic thatched village pub with stylish bedrooms, high-class cooking, lovely courtyard gardens, and – such novelty! – a Basque pelota wall and a pétanque piste.
From £65 per night
2019 Discoveries
Editor’s Choice Hotel Discoveries
Twr y Felin Hotel
St Davids
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
The Elms
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.
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.
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.
2018 Discoveries
Editor’s Choice Hotel Discoveries
Shieldaig Lodge - Food Lover's Package
Gairloch
Stone eagles mark your arrival at the gates of Nick and Charlotte Dent’s ‘impressive’ Victorian hunting lodge, down a single-track road, its lawns lapped by Loch Gairloch.
The Pig at Combe
Honiton
‘A superb hotel,’ reports a trusted reader in 2019, of Robin Hutson’s Elizabethan manor at the end of a mile-long drive.
The Crab & Lobster
Sidlesham
‘We enjoyed the waterside location,’ write trusted readers this year, drawn back for a third stay at Sam and Janet Bakose’s 350-year-old inn overlooking Pagham Harbour with its reserve of mudflats and salt marsh.
Coes Faen
Barmouth
Coes Faen means ‘leg of stone’, bringing to mind Shelley’s Ozymandias, but there is no vainglory at Sara and Richard Parry-Jones’s adults-only hotel overlooking the Mawddach estuary.
The Inn at Loch Tummel
Pitlochry
‘An ideal place to relax,’ writes a reader after a 2019 visit to Alice and Jade Calliva’s 18th-century coaching inn turned rustic-chic hotel with a ‘wonderful lochside setting.’
No.15 Great Pulteney
Bath
It promises ‘luxury for the curious’, and this independent boutique hotel on a grand neoclassical street does not disappoint.
Sign of the Angel
Lacock
‘Enter by a narrow flagstone passageway and low, latched doorways’ to discover the very model of ‘an olde worlde hostelry’.
Llanthony Priory Hotel
Abergavenny
‘In the beautiful landscape of the Welsh Borders’, in the Vale of Ewyas, and within the precincts of a ruined Augustinian abbey, Victoria and Geoff Neal’s hotel incorporates a Grade I listed medieval tower.
The Pipe and Glass Inn
South Dalton
‘Brilliant, my favourite hotel.’ A trusted reader raves about James and Kate Mackenzie’s former coaching inn with Michelin-starred cooking.
Restaurant James Sommerin
Penarth
In a ‘lovely location on the quiet seafront’, with views over the Severn estuary and the pier pavilion with its Mughal-style roof, James Sommerin and family run this acclaimed restaurant-with-rooms.
2017 Discoveries
Editor’s Choice Hotel Discoveries
The Dial House - Three nights for the price of Two Special Offer
Norwich
One of the Guide’s most outré hotels occupies a ‘handsome’ red brick Georgian house overlooking the market square of an attractive town.
The Gallivant
Camber
‘Great to cross over the road to an incredible beach where you can stroll for miles,’ writes a reader who spent ‘a great weekend’ at Harry Cragoe’s restaurant-with-rooms.
Goldstone Hall
Market Drayton
‘Hands-on owners, attention to detail and a warm and friendly ambience.’ All-round plaudits this year for John and Sue Cushing’s Georgian manor house hotel.
Chapel House
Penzance
‘Forget overcrowded St Ives – there’s a real treat of a stay in Penzance.’ Quirky character fills the ‘beautifully restored’ brick-and-granite former 18th-century former admiral’s house, but ‘this inviting boutique hotel is all about the hostess, Susan Stuart’.
Penally Abbey
Tenby
‘Worth the journey!’ Overlooking the Pembrokeshire coast, the Boissevain family’s 19th-century neo-Gothic house is ‘an attractive building’ in a ‘beautiful’ location.
The Red Lion
Babcary
‘We are very likely to return,’ enthuses one reader about this quintessential Somerset pub, which makes a good pit stop for journeys to and from the West Country.
The Devonshire Arms
Langport
Philip and Sheila Mepham’s gabled dining-pub-with-rooms 'by the village green' is a consistent hit with returning Guide readers who find it ‘as good as ever’.
The Plough
Kelmscott
In ‘a gorgeous village hidden away on the banks of the Thames’, this 17th-century inn is owned by Sebastian and Lana Snow, who also have the Five Alls, a stroll along the Thames Path at Lechlade (Shortlist).
Forest Side
Grasmere
‘Simply awesome,' writes a reader this year, about this 'fabulous' hotel on wooded slopes overlooking 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.
2016 Discoveries
Editor’s Choice Hotel Discoveries
The Carpenters Arms - £99 B&B Special Offer
Thirsk
You can order a York Brewery ale or a Pornstar Martini in the bar of this village inn, itself a winning cocktail of the traditional and the modish.
Old Downton Lodge - Midweek Special Offer
Ludlow
A drive through ‘miles of very narrow roads’ led trusted readers to this restaurant-with-rooms, deep in the Shropshire countryside.
Newbegin House
Beverley
A stay at the Georgian family home of Nuala and Walter Sweeney, he a former MP, is ‘memorable for all the right reasons’.
The Bridge Inn at Ratho
Ratho
Guide stalwarts received ‘a most genial welcome from Chris the barman’ on arrival at Graham and Rachel Bucknall’s pub-with-rooms beside a bridge over the Union Canal.
The Seaside Boarding House
Burton Bradstock
In ‘a wonderful cliff-top location’, this ‘large white edifice above Chesil Beach’ is run as a restaurant-with-rooms by Mary-Lou Sturridge and Tony Mackintosh, late of London’s Groucho Club.
Knockendarroch Hotel
Pitlochry
‘A real centre of hospitality.’ Trusted Guide readers visiting Struan and Louise Lothian’s small hotel were impressed this year by the ‘attentive but never intrusive service, and superb meals’.
St Mary’s Inn
Morpeth
There’s a ‘jovial, relaxed’ feel at this modern pub-with-rooms.
Eckington Manor
Eckington
Pickles entrepreneur Judy Gardner preserved the historic character of a timber-frame farmhouse and outbuildings when she restored and converted them to create a stylish restaurant with ‘beautifully decorated’ rooms.
