Good Hotel Guide

‘Bravo! I spent three marvellous days at The Lygon Arms in the Cotswolds.’ A reader in 2019 raves about her stay at this Elizabethan coaching inn with roots in the 1300s.

An 18th-century town house combines with its 17th-century neighbour as an atmospheric small hotel, a stroll from a charming survivor of this market town’s Georgian heyday, the Theatre Royal.

‘It is impossible to criticise this hotel,’ wrote a reader, praising everything from the service to the ‘delicious food’ at this mellow stone hotel.

You can arrive by helicopter at the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire’s hotel 'in extensive lawned grounds with a view towards the River Wharfe’.

‘Nothing compares’ with the Cunliffes’ 'really special' country house hotel and its glamorous satellite, Lake House, with spa, half a mile away.

A ‘splendidly labyrinthine' Victorian pile overlooking a lake, this castle in name only is Ireland's brilliant riposte to the corporate blandness of many modern hotels.

‘An eligible, self-contained gentleman’s residence, very unique. . . with every modern convenience. . .’ So Kenneth Graham describes Toad Hall, which he modelled on this Victorian mansion, a baroque extravaganza with sumptuous interiors, overlooking the Fowey estuary.

‘Everything about this small, personal hotel was faultless, from the accommodation, food and helpful staff to the overall atmosphere.’ Readers loved this year’s stay at Kath and Liam Berney’s restaurant-with-rooms on Whinlatter Pass.

In a picturesque village of honey-stone houses, tea shops, antique shops and galleries, Andrew and Gaynor Riley’s restaurant-with-rooms occupies a 17th-century building overlooking the Green.

Up a ‘testing’ country lane beneath Cadair Idris, this quirky bolthole is run by the ‘impressive’ Angela and Bernhard Lanz, who ‘could not be more friendly or obliging’.

Some retirees get a gold watch. The Countess of Seafield did her estate manager, John Smith, rather better, commissioning this handsome house for him in 1910.

‘Alex and Lorraine's 18th-century farmhouse offers a level of hospitality to rival many of the best small hotels in the UK.’

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.

It promises ‘luxury for the curious', and Christa and Ian Taylor’s boutique hotel on a grand neoclassical street does not disappoint.

High on the south Devon coast, Gara Rock re-enters the Guide following a stylish revamp, and a relaunch as a ‘well-being retreat’.

‘We were very well looked after,’ report readers in 2019. From on high, ‘warm, attentive’ Wendy and Neil Burrows’s farmhouse enjoys stunning sunsets over the Alkham Valley.

Rebuilt and reinvented by Bassam Shlewet, this award-winning boutique hotel brings ‘great service’, chic style and impressive cuisine to a picturesque stretch of the Thames Path.

Families have 'a grand time' at this 16th-century manor house with spa, in ‘lovely manicured grounds’.

Behind a 16th-century stone facade festooned with wisteria in springtime, this manor house hotel (Relais & Châteaux) in its own wooded valley abounds in modern five-star comfort.

Between cathedral city and marina, set a little back from the main road, Lloyd van Rooyen and Gavin Wilson's smart, contemporary hotel centres on a farmhouse in a pastoral setting.

A cream tea on arrival and a hot tub in the grounds are among the pleasures that make Hazel Thompson’s B&B, in fans’ eyes, ‘the best in the Lakes’.

There is ‘a romantic air’ to this Cotswold stone mansion, built in the 1690s and extended in the 1820s. Today a hotel and spa, it is part of the Calcot Collection (see entry for Calcot).

The Guide's recommendation inspired one gratified reader to book a stay at Eric Culley and Michael Pearson’s characterful B&B in a Yorkshire Dales village: 'I’m pleased to be able to agree with the enthusiastic comments.’

In a pretty town between the wild and wonderful Ring of Beara and the spectacular Ring of Kerry, this 'attractively priced' hotel exudes ‘a genuine sense of hospitality’, thanks to the ‘warm, helpful, friendly’ staff – and to hosts Una and Dermot Brennan.