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2023 Editor's Choice Hotels with a View
Editor’s Choice Hotels with a View (formerly Rooms with a View)
Pen-y-Dyffryn - 25% Discount Summer Special Offer
Oswestry
Watch the sun set over the surrounding Welsh hills from the private patios of some of the 14 rooms. The hotel sits on the last hill in Shropshire (its name means head of the valley). Cross the stream at the foot of the hill into Wales and work up an appetite for dinner.
La Fregate
St Peter Port
Gaze out over the harbour and neighbouring Channel Islands from the clifftop restaurant here as you devour local seafood including Guernsey crab, local sea bass and scallops. The floor-to-ceiling windows are a feature in bay-view bedrooms, too; the best have balconies or terraces.
Underleigh House
Hope
Rolling Peak District vistas are on show at Vivienne Taylor’s handsome stone longhouse with its colourful garden. Step out into the glorious scenery on walks from the doorstep and return to deep sofas in the fire-warmed lounge and more country views from the four restful bedrooms.
Old Bank Hotel
Oxford
This former banking hall has rooms looking out over Oxford’s dreaming spires and Merton College. Pick of the bunch is the rooftop suite. Make yourself a cocktail and sit on the terrace as you take in St Mary’s church, the Radcliffe Camera and the quad belonging to All Souls College.
The Torridon
TORRIDON
Scotland’s scenery is at its finest at this baronial-style hunting lodge at the head of Loch Torridon. Gaze at both mountain and watery panoramas from the beds of some of the rooms; for the best views of all, the Boathouse is a waterside retreat for four.
Leathes Head Hotel
Keswick
In arguably the Lake District’s most picturesque valley, this Edwardian country house hotel makes the most of its location. The beautifully kept gardens are a vision of loveliness, and if you book lake-view rooms Windermere and Grasmere, everything is picture perfect.
Watersmeet
Woolacombe
North Devon’s rugged coastline steals the show at this hotel, with views over Combesgate beach and Woolacombe Bay. Feast your eyes on them from the restaurant at this former Edwardian gentleman’s retreat. The cheapest room has no window, so be sure to book one with a sea view from the balcony or terrace.
Mullion Cove Hotel
Helston
The drama of the Cornish coast is on show everywhere from this clifftop eyrie. Stare at it from the sleek spa, from the restaurant where you can tuck into local seafood, and from many of the bedrooms. When you think you’ve seen it all, hit the outdoor hot tub and watch the sunset.
Llanthony Priory Hotel
Abergavenny
Look down on this ruined and roofless 12th-century Augustinian priory from the simply furnished tower rooms, then descend the winding staircase to explore the remote, rugged setting in the Vale of Ewyas. The hotel, with no Wi-Fi, TV or mobile reception, is in the original prior’s quarters.
The Cartford Inn
Little Eccleston
For the best countryside panoramas across the meandering River Wyre to the Bowland fells, book one of two wooden cabins at this gastropub with rooms, art gallery and deli. Both have balconies, and you can soak up the view as you soak in the egg-shaped bath.
2022 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Hotels with a View (formerly Rooms with a View)
The Devonshire Arms - Three Nights for the Price of Two Special Offer
Skipton
Even the smaller rooms at this hotel on the Southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales have views of the Italian box garden, while suites look onto rolling countryside and the quaint Huffa Bridge. Possibly the best views of the lot are from the hotel’s aptly named Wharfe View Cottage, which sleeps six.
The White Horse - Free Bottle of House Wine Special Offer
Brancaster Staithe
The Room at the Top at this family-run hotel even has a telescope so you can better appreciate the big-sky landscape of endless tidal salt marshes, sandy beaches, and Scolt Head Island. There’s a marsh-side outdoors seating area while public rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows to bring the outside in.
The Scarlet - 'Advanced Purchase' Special Offer
Mawgan Porth
Cornish sea views don’t get much better than from this adults-only hotel, cleverly designed with tiered rooms built into the rock to make the most of the coastal setting. Bedrooms, the restaurant and even the spa pool have wall-to-ceiling windows, and clifftop hot tubs look over Mawgan Porth beach.
Hazel Bank
Keswick
Magnificent fell and valley views are almost part of the furniture at the MacRaes’ Victorian house, where one bedroom has a window seat to better appreciate the views of Dalehead, and another is named Great Gable after the mountain it looks onto. There’s an added bonus, too, of red squirrels in the garden.
Eddrachilles Hotel
Scourie
The Highlands meet the sea at Eddrachilles, which means that as well as the island-studded Badcall Bay, you can also see the Quinag mountain and gentle moorland hills. Six of the ten rooms have watery views; the scenic North Coast 500 road passes the driveway to the old manse.
The Henley
Bigbury-on-Sea
You could spend all day drinking in the panorama over the Avon estuary and beyond to Burgh Island from this little hideaway, so it’s a good thing the vistas can be enjoyed from the dining room, decked sun terrace and from each of the four bedrooms. Take time out to visit the island by hydraulic tractor.
Old Bank Hotel
Oxford
Oxford’s dreaming spires and Merton College are on show from some of the rooms in this former banking hall. Bag the rooftop suite with its cocktail-making station, shower for two and a terrace and you can look onto St Mary’s Church, the Radcliffe Camera and the quad of All Souls College.
Captain’s Club Hotel
Christchurch
You can lie back in bed and watch others messing about on the river through the floor-to-ceiling windows of this sleek modern hotel on the banks of the Stour. There’s no hurry – breakfast is served until a blissful 11am.
The Manor Town House
Fishguard
Watch the sun set over Fishguard Bay from your room at this Georgian townhouse B&B, with spectacular views from the rear terrace across Cardigan bay to the Preseli Hills. The Pembrokeshire Coastal Path is nearby for some seriously scenic strolls.
Stella Maris
Ballycastle
As a Victorian coastguard’s fortress with gun turrets, this hotel naturally commands superb sea views. These days it’s binoculars rather than guns that are trained on the ocean, in the hope of spotting dolphins. Almost all the bedrooms are sea facing.
2021 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Hotels with a View (formerly Rooms with a View)
Hambleton Hall - Autumn Escape Special Offer
Oakham
A Michelin-starred meal in sight of Rutland Water makes a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. The same stunning panorama can be seen from some bedrooms and from the flower-filled terrace and pretty ornamental gardens.
Lindeth Fell
Bowness-on-Windermere
The beautifully kept gardens already create the perfect picture at this Edwardian house. Add the glorious views of Windermere and surrounding fells and you won’t want to look away. Lake-view rooms Windermere and Grasmere are the best.
Tresanton
St Mawes
Olga Polizzi’s seaside hotel cascades down the hillside above the sea. Each of its bedrooms looks on to the water, and from the restaurant terrace and beach club you can gaze over the water to St Anthony’s Lighthouse.
Coll Hotel
Isle of Coll
The epic seascape showcasing Mull, Staffa and the Treshnish Isles is visible from most of the rooms at Coll’s only hotel and pub. It’s also on show from the waterside gardens and restaurant, where you can enjoy the freshest seafood.
Gara Rock
Salcombe
You can swim in the pool and see the sun dip into the ocean, or watch boats as you wallow in the hot tub at this clifftop hotel above a beautiful beach. Most of the rooms, suites and cottages have a sea view, plus a balcony or garden.
Talbooth House & Spa
DEDHAM
It is Constable country on the Essex– Suffolk border and you could be gazing at your own landscape from this quirky boutique hotel. One room, Shelley, has a double aspect, looking out to the gardens, the pool and across Dedham Vale.
Rosleague Manor
Letterfrack
Beautiful gardens run down to scenic Ballinakill Bay, with the mountains of Connemara beyond, at Mark Foyle’s creeper-clad manor. Rooms at the front of the house command the best watery vistas, but garden views are lovely, too.
The Cookie Jar
Alnwick
Ramparts can be seen from the terraced garden, with full views of Alnwick Castle from some bedrooms. The interiors in this former convent provide a striking contrast, with blue walls, patterned carpets, and stained glass in the Chapel room.
2020 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Hotels with a View (formerly Rooms with a View)
The Horn of Plenty - 'Autumn Away - Escape to Dartmoor Together' Special Offer
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 House 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
2019 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Hotels with a View (formerly Rooms with a View)
The Atlantic Hotel - Celebration Gourmet Break Special 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.
The Scarlet - 'Advanced Purchase' 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
2018 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Hotels with a View (formerly Rooms with a View)
Star Castle
St Mary's
You can sit on the ramparts and watch for puffins, seals and invading armadas over a cream tea at this Elizabethan artillery castle and family-run hotel within star-shaped walls.
Kilcamb Lodge
Strontian
Wildlife spotters are in their element at this 18th-century lodge in ‘a beautiful setting’ on the shores of Loch Sunart.
Shallowdale House
Ampleforth
Guests are made to feel like old friends at this wisteria-clad, light-filled 1960s house with its peerless views over gardens to the Howardian hills.
The Henley
Bigbury-on-Sea
The 'spectacular views of the rugged coastline' over Bigbury-on-Sea's sands towards Burgh Island are what first impress about this former Edwardian holiday home, but guests also appreciate the 'inventive, tasty and well-cooked' food and the 'warm, jovial and friendly' owners.
Belle Tout Lighthouse
Eastbourne
A beacon of hospitality on a remote cliff-top between the English Channel and the rolling downs, this decommissioned 19th-century lighthouse found new purpose in 2010 as a unique B&B.
Kylesku Hotel
Kylesku
In the vast, remote, elemental landscape of Assynt, a 19th-century coaching inn overlooking Loch Glendhu has moved with the times to become a relaxed modern hotel.
Stella Maris
Ballycastle
The sea is a powerful presence at this former coastguard’s HQ overlooking Bunatrahir Bay, with fascinating architectural features, of cosy public rooms, blazing fires, an ocean-view sunlounge, antique furniture and contemporary Irish cuisine.
2017 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Hotels with a View (formerly Rooms with a View)
The Horn of Plenty - 'Autumn Away - Escape to Dartmoor Together' Special Offer
Tavistock
Gazing over a glorious sweep of the Tamar Valley, the Horn of Plenty has garnered praise for gastronomic excellence since it opened as a restaurant in 1967.
Kilcamb Lodge
Strontian
Wildlife spotters are in their element at this 18th-century lodge in ‘a beautiful setting’ on the shores of Loch Sunart.
Ees Wyke Country House
Ambleside
‘This is one of the best country houses we have stayed in,’ writes a reader, of this white-painted Georgian gentleman’s residence with glorious views over Esthwaite Water to the Langdale Pikes.
The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By
Dunvegan
Decorated in cool Scandi-Scots style, this former crofter’s house on the shores of Loch Dunvegan is a celebrated restaurant showcasing local produce, with, across the courtyard, spacious, split-level bedrooms painted in restful shades.
Belle Tout Lighthouse
Eastbourne
A beacon of hospitality on a remote cliff-top between the English Channel and the rolling downs, this decommissioned 19th-century lighthouse found new purpose in 2010 as a unique B&B.
Kylesku Hotel
Kylesku
In the vast, remote, elemental landscape of Assynt, a 19th-century coaching inn overlooking Loch Glendhu has moved with the times to become a relaxed modern hotel.
Mullion Cove Hotel
Helston
An iconic white Victorian hotel on a cliff-top is today a dog- and family-friendly hotel with spa, outdoor pool, informal bar dining, and more ambitious cooking in the Atlantic View restaurant.
Stella Maris
Ballycastle
The sea is a powerful presence at this former coastguard’s HQ overlooking Bunatrahir Bay, with fascinating architectural features, of cosy public rooms, blazing fires, an ocean-view sunlounge, antique furniture and contemporary Irish cuisine.
2016 Editor's Choice Rooms with a View
Editor’s Choice Hotels with a View (formerly Rooms with a View)
Pen-y-Dyffryn - 25% Discount Summer Special Offer
Oswestry
'A hidden gem on the Welsh border’, the Hunter family’s ‘highly dog-friendly’ hotel, in a Georgian former rectory, can again bask in the praise from our readers,
The Blakeney Hotel
Holt
Readers again lavish praise on this quayside hotel – ‘one of the best run and best maintained in Britain' – in a ‘stunning setting looking over salt marsh’.
Scarista House
Isle of Harris
The long drive is worth it to this edge-of-the-world location, where a Georgian manse, with pretty, traditional rooms and superb food, overlooks a long sandy beach.