The best luxury hotels in the Cotswolds
An expert guide to the best luxury Cotswolds hotels, including the best for Michelin-starred restaurants, glorious spas, swimming pools with bucolic views, cosy bars and romantic rooms with four-poster beds and rolltop baths, in Upper Slaughter, Lower Slaughter, Cirencester and Malmesbury.
A mellow country house hotel in a dreamy Cotswolds village with a Michelin-starred restaurant. The situation is wonderful: undulating woods, formal gardens and parkland overlooking a lake. The lounge and bar have large picture windows overlooking the splendid landscape. Rooms have embroidered silk throws on the beds and soft lighting. The most expensive is The Tracy Room with a colonial-style four-poster bed. Michelin-starred dining is a key reason for staying at this hotel. The £69 three-course dinner menu may include squab pigeon, smoked eel or Gloucestershire Old Spot suckling pig with rhubarb.
• The best boutique Cotswolds hotels
A splendid 1909 Arts & Crafts mansion enjoying glorious seclusion in 400-acre Farncombe Estate above the village of Broadway in the northern Cotswolds. This fabulously glamorous property feels more hip home than hotel and enjoys a spectacular setting. Think retro-chic furniture, original stucco work on ceilings, and shelves around the house lined with books chosen by the Sorensen family, who own the estate. Guests have access to the spa at the sister hotel Dormy House next door. The eight spacious bedrooms are strikingly devised, especially Oak, with its two slipper baths positioned to take in wonderful views from a mullion window.
• The best Cotswolds pubs with rooms
This gracious, 17th-century manor house is tucked into the heart of handsome Barnsley village – which lies in particularly lovely, rolling landscape. With its golden stone, gables and mullion windows this is a dreamily romantic house. But for all that, the building is magnificently upstaged by its garden. The four acres of greenery include a knot garden and a potager. Beyond is a terrific vegetable garden along with outlying meadows that back on to a dairy farm. The team at the spa – hidden in a garden dell – have added imaginative touches such as herbs drying outside the sauna so that the air is filled with their scent.
A chic hotel right in the middle of Cheltenham overlooking Imperial Gardens. The 11 spacious bedrooms are furnished with an engaging mix of antiques and modern artworks. There are big windows, swathes of curtains, retro-style radiators, Nespresso machines – and striking tiled floors in many of the bathrooms. Sink into leather chairs and eat from unadorned wooden tables in the restaurant, choosing from a menu that celebrates British cuisine with aplomb. In the former garage below is the buzzy Crazy Eights bar where you can order steaks and play billiards.
• The best family-friendly hotels in the Cotswolds
Whatley Manor is a country house haven set in rolling 12-acre grounds, with magnificent gardens and a terrific reputation for its food. In the two Michelin-starred restaurant, head chef Niall Keating's 10-course tasting menu (£99) might include combinations such as delicate cod with subtly fermented cauliflower, and mackerel with preserved raspberry. The extensive spa offers a hydrotherapy pool, aromatic thermal suites, sauna and more. A range of innovative treatments includes facials that take place in an oxygen tent.
• The best Cotswolds hotels in an around Burford
The old stone manor house sits above sweeping lawns next to the church in one of England’s most famously pretty villages, Lower Slaughter. Facilities range from blissful gardens front and back – ideal for summer afternoon tea – to a tennis court. There’s no spa but treatments can be arranged in your room. Rooms are generously sized and individually furnished: Antoinette in the main house has a four-poster; Valentine in the Coach House glories in a lovely fireplace and his-and-hers slipper baths. The exquisitely presented dishes of chef Nik Chappell are based on Cotswold produce.
• The best spa hotels in the south of England
Through the mullion windows of this Grade-II listed mansion you take in breathtaking panoramas of the lovely Painswick Valley. 'Earth without Art is just Eh' proclaims a witty artwork in the sitting room, which neatly sums up the mood here. Attributes of a recent makeover include a bar theatrically set under a coffered ceiling on the first floor, two new treatment rooms with services supplied by Calcot Manor, and a games room. Bedrooms are individually styled and have retro-chic flourishes – an Art Deco table here, a Twenties-style lamp there. Some have claw-foot baths with a copy of Laurie Lee’s Cider with Rosie propped up on the bath tray – the book is based on nearby Slad Valley.
• The best hotels for spa breaks in the UK
Eckington Manor is an epicurean haven in a quiet village on the northern fringes of the Cotswolds. It’s a first-rate restaurant (the chef, Mark, was the winner of Masterchef: The Professionals 2015), a cookery school and a working farm. Sleek accommodation is fashioned from former barns and outbuildings: Six in the old milking parlour are cosy-chic with gas-fired stoves and recycled wood panelling; four in a former cider barn have walls clad in hand-painted silk; five in the 12th-century hall have exposed beams and flourishes of funky furniture; two in a former grain barn are airy suites with views over the farm.
One of the first of the new breed of contemporary country house hotels to put their spa, at the heart of their offering. The glass-fronted C-side spa is a beautiful piece of modern design, sunk into a hill to one side. There are indoor and outdoor pools and a dedicated manicure and pedicure area, gym, steam room and sauna. The Italianate country house also boasts dreamy and extensive grounds, a wood-panelled restaurant and a wacky bar. All bathrooms feature tubs and separate walk-in, rain-head showers. Laid-back chic with wry details and funky flourishes, such as cowhide chair covers and bold chandeliers, keep interiors interesting.
