Hotels with Indoor Pools
Hartwell House
Aylesbury
An equestrian statue of Frederick, Prince of Wales, marks your arrival at this glorious Jacobean-cum-Georgian mansion, a hotel since the late 1980s.
From £200 per night
Mallory Court
Leamington Spa
A romantic Elizabethan-style Edwardian mansion, built for a Manchester cotton bleacher and set in landscaped gardens, is the epitome of a well-run country house hotel.
The Lygon Arms
Broadway
This sprawling honey-stone building with its tall chimneys and leaded windows offers history, grand rooms and antiques, along with a thoroughly modern spa and 21st-century luxuries.
Congham Hall
King's Lynn
The 12-metre indoor swimming pool is surrounded by floor to ceiling windows and is located in the spa alongside other wet facilities.
Polurrian on the Lizard
Mullion
While some of us bring home a fridge magnet or a Cornishware mug, businessman Andrew Long has gone one better and bought a hotel.
Chewton Glen
New Milton
This quintessential English country house with spa, pools, kids’ club, elegant bedrooms and fun tree houses, hits all the right luxurious notes for a romantic or family stay.
Soar Mill Cove Hotel
Salcombe
A single-storey hotel enfolded in a gorse-clad valley, a stroll through National Trust land to the eponymous cove, has been in the Makepeace family for three generations.
Middlethorpe Hall & Spa
York
First-time visitors can’t help but stand and stare at this exquisite country house, with its William and Mary symmetry and 20 acres of gardens and parkland.
Bodysgallen Hall and Spa
Llandudno
This Tudor Gothic-style Elizabethan mansion, extended over centuries, overlooks parkland with a rare 17th-century parterre, walled rose garden, cascade, lily pond and follies.
The Nare
Veryan-in-Roseland
The indoor pool has its own jet stream for energetic swimmers, while there’s a hot hydrotherapy spa pool, sauna and steam room for relaxation.
Bedruthan Hotel and Spa
Mawgan Porth
Bedruthan has both an indoor pool and indoor thermal spa with a giant sea-view hydro pool.
Cliveden House
Taplow
History, opulence and a tantalising whiff of scandal enrich a stay at this palatial Italianate mansion in National Trust gardens and parkland.
Headlam Hall
Darlington
The real charm of this grand country house, with sweeping gardens, terraces, oak panelling and swish spa, lies in its warm and informal atmosphere.
The Devonshire Arms
Skipton
This former 17th-century inn, which is part of the Duke of Devonshire's 30,000-acre estate at Bolton Abbey, is today an impressive country house hotel, with fine dining and a spa.
The Atlantic Hotel
St Brelade
Ocean views are on show through the floor-to-ceiling windows from some of the rooms at this hotel, on a headland above St Ouen's Bay.
Watersmeet
Woolacombe
The hotel has both an indoor and outdoor pool, suitable for length swimming as well as relaxation.
Trefeddian Hotel
Aberdovey
The Cave-Browne-Cave family have kept a welcome in the hillside at their big, white hotel above Cardigan Bay since the days of silent film, when men wore bowler hats to the beach.
Cowley Manor
Cheltenham
A hotel in an Italianate mansion in landscaped gardens and pleasure grounds, Cowley Manor will re-open in June after major refurbishment.
Widbrook Grange
Bradford-on-Avon
A Georgian farmhouse filled with upcycled agricultural salvage might seem an odd sort of sister hotel for a Scottish hunting lodge, but here, as at Shieldaig Lodge (see Gairloch), it’s all about heritage.
Seaham Hall
Seaham
Garden suites with hot tubs, a state-of-the-art spa, brightly coloured sofas under gleaming chandeliers . . . this country house hotel offers luxury with a contemporary edge.
The Scarlet
Mawgan Porth
The spa’s indoor swimming pool is 13-metre with floor to ceiling windows surrounding it so you can take in views of the surrounding coastline.
Cary Arms & Spa
Babbacombe
The glass faceted sea-facing spa includes a waterfall hydrotherapy pool as well as other wet facilities such as a steam room, sauna and exotic experience shower.
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Bath
At the centre of a glorious Georgian crescent, two adjoining mansions are home to an elegant yet family-friendly hotel with oasis garden and beautiful spa.
The Blakeney Hotel
Holt
The heated indoor swimming pool has views of the sun terrace and south facing gardens. There is also a steam room, sauna and spa bath.
Corse Lawn House
Corse Lawn
The indoor swimming pool is available to access on request, but is closed in December, January and February.
Summer Lodge
Evershot
Staying in this Georgian mansion in ‘flower-filled and perfectly tended gardens’ is 'a pretty faultless experience', with 'every detail properly attended to but the atmosphere still friendly and relaxed', say readers.
From £60 per night
Homewood
Bath
A ‘playful, quirky hotel’, in a traditional honey-stone building, Homewood is ‘full of eclectic eccentricity’.
Star Castle
St Mary's
The indoor heated pool is 13-metre and has a newly refurbished sun deck area just outside, with lounge style furniture.
Rathmullan House
Rathmullan
Pass the little gate lodge to drive up to this bay-fronted country house in wooded grounds edged by a beach on Lough Swilly.
Whatley Manor
Easton Grey
The spa includes an indoor/ outdoor hydrotherapy pool surrounded by heated stone recliners.
The Pheasant
Helmsley
The picture-perfect setting of this honey-stone hotel, with its courtyard garden and views over the village pond, has all the ingredients for a restorative stay.
From £120.00 per night
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
The facilities includes a large gym, swimming pool, sauna, steam room, and indoor hot tub.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
In the Herb House spa, facilities include an indoor hydro pool with exceptional forest views as well as a 16-metre ozone treated indoor lap pool with glass doors overlooking the garden.
Douneside House
Tarland
This architectural gem – an Edwardian Scots Revival country house – in the fertile Howe of Cromar, with long views to the Grampians, is today a very special country house hotel.
New Park Manor
BROCKENHURST
Charles II might not recognise his old royal hunting lodge today but, as the father of at least 11 children and a great lover of his spaniels, the Merry Monarch would enjoy the dog-friendly, inclusive ethos.
Gara Rock
Salcombe
The indoor pool and sunken hot tub have floor to ceiling windows overlooking the sea from this cliff top hotel.
The Harper
Holt
You don’t have to blow a fortune to stay at this ‘relaxed yet refined’ hotel in converted barns, former home of Langham Glass, with many fun nods to its heritage.
Rothay Manor
Ambleside
In landscaped grounds, Jamie and Jenna Shail’s Grade II listed manor house pleases, inside and out.
Budock Vean
Falmouth
With golf, tennis, kayaking and powerboating, indoor pool and outdoor hot tub, this spa hotel is a holiday resort in its own right.
Bishopstrow Hotel & Spa
Warminster
Rolling countryside surrounds this Grade II listed Georgian mansion in extensive grounds of meadows and woodland; a tunnel leads to the river Wylye.
Family friendly hotels and luxury spa hotels with indoor pools
Whether you’re travelling with children and are in need of rainy day entertainment, or you’re looking for a spa hotel with an opportunity to exercise and stretch those hard working limbs, hotels with indoor pools are often seen as a prerequisite for holidaymakers in the 21st century.
When it comes to really beautiful and unique hotels, particularly where the architecture of old country houses, historic castles or ancient inns are concerned, it’s always seems like a juggling act to preserve the historic charm of a building whilst bringing its services into the 21st century, and a pool can be a particularly tricky one to get right, but the ones who manage it do it with wow factor.
We are not sure what Louis XVIII would have made of an indoor pool had one existed at Hartwell House during his residence, but the chances are the extra leisurely addition would have been much appreciated after a stroll around the spectacular gardens. Meanwhile at Budock Vean, the idea of swimming in heated style may be too much of a tempting edge for those not wishing to take a dip in the chillier waters of Scotland’s sea.
At Chewton Glen, it isn’t merely a case of having an indoor pool but a complete suite of wet facilities in their spa, which is amongst the many features, including outstanding food and a beautiful location in Hampshire, that makes it stand out amongst the most sophisticated and decadent wellbeing offerings in the country – not unlike Lime Wood or The Scarlet.
Alternatively, there are those like Soar Mill Cove who simultaneously offer an environment entirely suited to adults enjoying their down time, but also make for a warm dip on the South West coast when a dip in the sea nearby is just a little too chilly.