Set in some of the most breathtaking locations, these hotels take the idea of a good view to a new level. Sea views all the way to the horizon, scenic moorland, deserted beaches and wild lochs, these are the hotels set in the most beautiful locations, providing you with the Editor’s Choice for the best rooms with a view.
2020 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Rooms with a View
The Horn of Plenty - 2 night Escape to the Country Special Offer – flexible cancellation
Tavistock
Most bedrooms have balcony or private terrace views over the lush, verdant Tamar valley, at Julie Leivers and Damien Pease’s former mine captain’s house in beautifully tended grounds with manicured lawns, rhododendrons, mature trees.
The White Horse - Free Bottle of Wine Special Offer
Brancaster Staithe
In the big-sky Norfolk landscape, the Nye family’s inn has views across tidal salt marshes and sandy beach to Scolt Head Island. Eat on the terrace or in the dining room with its wall of windows. The top bedroom has a telescope. Birdwatchers’ bliss.
Stoberry House
Wells
Frances and Tim Meeres Young’s exceptional B&B stands in landscaped parkland, overlooking the gem of a city and its cathedral, with views over the Vale of Avalon to Glastonbury Tor, steeped in the legend of King Arthur, topped by roofless St Michael’s Tower.
Hell Bay Hotel
Bryher
On a tiny, rugged island, Robert Dorrien- Smith’s stylish hotel enjoys a glorious situation, in grounds bordered by a beach washed by the Atlantic. Bedrooms have
a terrace or balcony. Drinks on the Sunset Deck are a little taste of heaven.
a terrace or balcony. Drinks on the Sunset Deck are a little taste of heaven.
Hazel Bank
Keswick
Perched above Rosthwaite, the MacRaes’ Victorian villa gazes out across the beautiful Borrowdale valley to Great Gable and the ‘Jaws of Borrowdale’, Kings How and Castle Crag. Rear-facing rooms look on to woodland where you might see Squirrel Nutkin.
Currarevagh House
Oughterard
At the gateway to the Connemara mountains, Henry and Lucy Hodgson’s Victorian country house lies in wooded grounds bordering island-studded Lough Corrib. Every bedroom – some with dual aspect – has a view of the lough or Benlevy (Mount Gable).
Kylesku Hotel
Kylesku
Loch Glendhu laps the shore below Tanja Lister and Sonia Virechauveix’s former coaching inn, which stands against a backdrop of mountains in a Highland wilderness. From decked terrace or light- filled bar, watch seals, otters, golden eagles.
Harbourmaster Hotel
Aberaeron
It is not just the views of the harbour that beguile at Glyn and Menna Heulyn’s waterfront hotel, with bobbing boats and sails red in the sunset. The Georgian quayside itself, with its brightly coloured houses against a backdrop of hills, is a charm.
The Zetter
London
At street level, Clerkenwell may be characterful but it’s not very scenic. Book a rooftop deluxe studio at this Victorian warehouse turned boutique hotel, however, and from your terrace you can enjoy panoramic views of the glorious gallimaufry of a city.
The Seaside Boarding House
Burton Bradstock
There are fabulous views over Lyme Bay from Mary-Lou Sturridge and Tony Mackintosh’s hotel above Chesil Beach. All bedrooms look out to sea or along the cliffs. The dining room opens out on to the terrace for an airy, outside-in feel.
2019 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Rooms with a View
The Atlantic Hotel - Free Dinner Offer
St Brelade
Full-height windows and balconies afford spectacular views across landscaped gardens to the ocean at this upmarket hotel. Connoisseurs of golf landscaping might prefer to overlook James Braid’s La Moye course. The sunsets do not require Photoshop.
Romney Bay House - Escape to the Coast Flexible Special Offer
New Romney
Between the Strait of Dover and Littlestone Golf Club, this glamorous house, built for a Hollywood actress, is surrounded by the flat, sheep-studded expanse of Romney Marsh – not a pretty- pretty landscape, but one that has stirred many a literary imagination.
Glenfinnan House Hotel - Three Nights for Two Special Offer
Fort William
A lawn reaches down to the Loch Shiel shoreline from this 18th-century stone mansion, with views across the water towards a monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie and Ben Nevis. Roaming red deer add to the drama.
The Scarlet - Autumn/Winter Midweek Escape Special Offer
Mawgan Porth
Most bedrooms have a seaward balcony and floor-to-ceiling windows at this serene, coolly contemporary adults-only hotel. There is a sea-view restaurant, while the decked terrace, reed-bed swimming pool and hot tub are within sight of the beach.
The Blakeney Hotel
Holt
Many bedrooms, some with balcony, look across estuary and salt marsh towards Blakeney Point, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, at this family-friendly, quayside hotel. The first-floor lounge has panoramic views; boat trips reveal the local seals.
The Foveran
St Ola
The light-filled dining room at this restaurant-with-rooms offers stirring vistas across Scapa Flow to the southern Orkney islands. The luminous, big-sky landscape is all around, and, late in the season, the northern lights may loom into view.
Temple House
Ballymote
Bedrooms overlook a 1,000-acre estate at this grand but lived-in ancestral home, with terrace gardens, sheep-grazed pastures, native woodlands carpeted with bluebells in the springtime, and, beside the lake, the ivy-covered ruins of a medieval Knights Templar castle.
The Cottage in the Wood
Braithwaite
Mountain-view rooms gaze out towards Skiddaw at this restaurant-with-rooms in England’s only true mountain forest, while the garden view ones may offer a glimpse of red squirrels. Dining room and terrace also enjoy memorable vistas of the verdant surroundings.
The Pig on the Beach
Studland
Guests can choose a view of countryside, or of the sea towards Old Harry chalk- stack rocks and the Isle of Wight, at this Gothic, turreted former aristocrat’s holiday home. Thatched bothies overlook the trademark kitchen garden.
Llanthony Priory Hotel
Abergavenny
Romantic priory ruins that once inspired JMW Turner stand in a wild and wonderful setting, swaddled by the Vale of Ewyas in the Black Mountains. This hotel occupies former cloisteral buildings. Norman arches frame wooded hillsides.
2018 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Rooms with a View
Star Castle - Spring 2020 Full Board Special Offer
St Mary's
With ‘epic’ views across to Tresco and Bryher, the Francis family’s ‘really good hotel’ combines ‘a great setting’ with ‘fabulous historic features’.
Heddon’s Gate Hotel
Barnstaple
Guests feel ‘thoroughly spoilt’ at this welcoming hotel, tucked away in wooded seclusion at the end of a quarter-mile private drive.
Kilcamb Lodge
Strontian
‘They make you feel welcome and at home’ at Sally and David Ruthven-Fox’s dog-friendly hotel ‘by the shores of Loch Sunart and surrounded by hills’.
Kylesku Hotel
Kylesku
Sit on the decking at this former 17th-century coaching inn overlooking Loch Glendhu, and watch basking seals – or supper being landed on the old ferry slipway.
Shallowdale House
Ampleforth
Phillip Gill and Anton van der Horst’s ‘warm welcoming’ B&B is adored by a cohort of regular returnees. ‘It felt like coming home,’ writes a reader after this year’s visit.
The Henley
Bigbury-on-Sea
‘An idyllic place. . . absolute heaven.’ So say regular visitors to Martyn Scarterfield and Petra Lampe’s dog-friendly B&B with ‘fabulous views’ over Bigbury Bay.
Belle Tout Lighthouse
Eastbourne
To the lighthouse! And if you have a mind to visit this unique B&B, make it quite soon. In 1999 it had to be moved from the crumbling chalk cliff edge; in around a decade it will be in peril again.
Nanny Brow
Ambleside
In six acres of grounds and woodland, Sue and Peter Robinson’s ‘sympathetically restored’ Arts and Crafts stone house overlooks walkers’ paradise Brathay valley.
Stella Maris
Ballycastle
In a ‘dramatically beautiful’ setting overlooking Bunatrahir Bay on the Wild Atlantic Way, Frances Kelly-McSweeney’s hotel was built for its stellar sea views.
Bryniau Golau
BALA
There are ‘stunning’ views of Bala Lake and Arenig mountain from the bedrooms of this Victorian house on a hillside in Snowdonia national park.
2017 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Rooms with a View
The Horn of Plenty - 2 night Escape to the Country Special Offer – flexible cancellation
Tavistock
What do Jennifer Saunders and David Bowie have in common? Both have stayed at this ‘superbly relaxing’ spot overlooking the Tamar valley.
Kilcamb Lodge
Strontian
‘They make you feel welcome and at home’ at Sally and David Ruthven-Fox’s dog-friendly hotel ‘by the shores of Loch Sunart and surrounded by hills’.
Ees Wyke Country House
Ambleside
‘Strongly endorsed by readers this year: ‘The exceptional ambience of this very fine English country house hotel reflects Richard Lee’s personal, multi-talented approach.’
Kylesku Hotel
Kylesku
Sit on the decking at this former 17th-century coaching inn overlooking Loch Glendhu, and watch basking seals – or supper being landed on the old ferry slipway.
The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By
Dunvegan
Lang may the lums reek at this remote restaurant-with-rooms on the shores of Loch Dunvegan. After 34 years, Shirley and Eddie Spear have moved on, but all is well.
Belle Tout Lighthouse
Eastbourne
To the lighthouse! And if you have a mind to visit this unique B&B, make it quite soon. In 1999 it had to be moved from the crumbling chalk cliff edge; in around a decade it will be in peril again.
Dunkery Beacon Country House
Wootton Courtenay
An Edwardian hunting lodge, rumoured to have served in the 1960s as an MI6 training centre, is today a welcoming country house hotel where sleepers wake to glorious views over Exmoor.
Mullion Cove Hotel
Helston
‘Perched high on the Lizard cliffs with views out to sea and the sound of waves at night, the setting could not be more romantic.’
Stella Maris
Ballycastle
In a ‘dramatically beautiful’ setting overlooking Bunatrahir Bay on the Wild Atlantic Way, Frances Kelly-McSweeney’s hotel was built for its stellar sea views.
Bryniau Golau
BALA
There are ‘stunning’ views of Bala Lake and Arenig mountain from the bedrooms of this Victorian house on a hillside in Snowdonia national park.
2016 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Rooms with a View
Pen-y-Dyffryn - Up to 30% Discount & Complimentary Afternoon Tea Special Offer Plus Free 24 Hour Cancellation
Oswestry
‘Our third visit. Most of the other guests were also returners. It isn’t surprising.’ Readers are drawn back time and again to this stone rectory in ‘immaculate gardens’, overlooking the Welsh hills.
The Blakeney Hotel
Holt
Widescreen vistas of salt marshes and big skies rush to this family-friendly, quayside hotel. Helmed by Emma Stannard, with ‘universally friendly and efficient staff’, the north Norfolk grand dame is approaching its centenary.
Scarista House
Isle of Harris
‘Excellent food’ and a ‘lovely’ welcome await visitors to Tim and Patricia Martin and Neil King’s former manse overlooking the Maldivian-blue seas and sugar-white sands of a bite-shaped cove.
Swinside Lodge
KESWICK
At the foot of Cat Bells, Mike and Kath Bilton’s small country hotel is ‘simply the best’, say guests this year, affirming past reports on this ‘friendly’ Georgian house minutes from Derwentwater.