Hygge, the Scandinavian way of life that’s implicit of all things good, wholesome, life affirming, and, in cold dark months, cosy as well, is the latest Scandi phenomena to fascinate the wider world just in time for Christmas, and we know a hotel or two that epitomise all of those things. So here are ten of the Good Hotel Guide’s cosy hotels in the U.K and Ireland, or hotels for hygge!
Top cosy hotels in the UK
Little Barwick House - Midweek Sparkler Offer
Barwick
Tim and Emma Ford ‘set the standard for fine country dining and impeccable hospitality’ at their ‘unpretentious, enchanting’ restaurant-with-rooms, Guide readers agree.
Lewtrenchard Manor - Summer Escape Special Offer
Lewdown
‘It’s up there with the top hotels we’ve stayed at,’ writes a reader this year of Sue and James Murray’s romantic rebuild of a Jacobean manor house, surrounded by parkland.
Montagu Arms - Escape to the Country Break
Beaulieu
Two stone dogs guard the entrance of this country hotel in between High Street and the high waters of Beaulieu river.
Glenfinnan House Hotel
Glenfinnan
A Victorian remodelling of an 18th-century inn, this stone mansion stands tall in a ‘beautiful situation’, with lawns stretching to the loch, and views of Ben Nevis.
The Old Railway Station
Petworth
Pull into this converted train station and take up residence in one of the refurbished Pullman carriages on the disused tracks: ‘quirky and charming’, this is a B&B with a difference.
Bank House
King’s Lynn
Overlooking the historic quayside, this popular spot, ‘well used by locals’, is ‘just what one hopes for and expects from a hotel in a large town’.
Llwyndu Farmhouse
Barmouth
Rustic and folksy, Paula and Peter Thompson’s ‘quirky’ 16th-century farmhouse at the base of the Rhinog mountains is a ‘friendly, welcoming’ spot and a fine base for exploring a ‘lovely part of the country’.
The Star Inn
Harome
In its ‘quiet village setting’ on the edge of the North York Moors, this 14th-century thatch-roofed inn looks pure chocolate box; as with all the best chocolate boxes, there is deliciousness within.