The best luxury hotels in Yorkshire
An expert guide to the top luxury hotels in Yorkshire, from Michelin-starred restaurants with rooms to country house hotels, including the best for sumptuous spas, historic interiors, great views and walking access, in locations including the Yorkshire Dales, York city centre, Hemsley and Harrogate.
A historic 17th-century inn set in the folds of a peaceful valley, yet within a 10-minute drive of Halifax town centre. Superlative food, stand-out rooms and a traditional boozer with wood beams and open fires have helped the Shibden pick up a wealth of awards. Each room is different: some with huge stone archways, double-height ceilings, skylights and canopied beds; others with airy country-chic stylings. Little touches such as heated floors, retro radios and anglepoise lamps abound.
• The best hotels in West Yorkshire
This Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms has chocolate box, thatched pub looks and a bucolic farming-village location. Bedrooms, across the road, have a comfortable, hunting lodge style and a house party atmosphere. Each has a quirky feature: perhaps a pool table, piano or bath with countryside view. Walls are crammed with framed cartoons and hunting and foodie pictures, while rustic artefacts and fat white candles create a relaxed feel.
Originally converted from what had been a blacksmith’s shop, village shop and barn, The Pheasant is now a spacious, countrified and stylish hotel, its 16 rooms set around a courtyard of fruit trees. There is also a heated indoor swimming pool, superb restaurant, four-poster beds and a lovely village location. The hotel’s aim is to offer a variety of accommodation to suit everyone, from romantic hideaways to family-friendly little homes from home.
• The best hotels in North Yorkshire
A sumptuous example of Victorian design that has been very tastefully brought back to stylish ground – think grand corridors, wood-panelled rooms, ornate columns, a huge central staircase and a vast-windowed Garden Room to relax in. Original features have been crisply restored. Soft palettes of greys and neutrals set a relaxed tone throughout and quality oil paintings bedeck the walls. You'll find perhaps the best quality bedrooms for their price in the city. Picture big beds and fine linens; muted Farrow & Ball tones and the sort of armchairs or sofas you want to have at home.
An elegant country house hotel crammed with character, where the service is as flawless as the manicured gardens. Its gorgeous, grand, chintzy interiors and fine restaurant mean it’s a draw for everyone from trainers from the nearby racecourse to couples on a special break. Facilities – a spa and treatment rooms, indoor pool, sauna, steam room, whirlpool tub and mini gym are small but perfectly formed and housed in a cute cottage and a summer house in the grounds.
• The best hotels in York city centre
Tickton Grange is a delight; a place to feel immediately at home, with an engaging family atmosphere and an outstanding restaurant. The spacious, convivial library-bar has a coal fire, a grand piano and an intriguing selection of books. The 21 bedrooms and suites are individually designed, combining classic ‘good taste’ with keen modern style. The aforementioned Hide restaurant offers a two- or three-course dinner menu of locally sourced produce.
• The best hotels in Yorkshire
A Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms in an off-the-beaten-track location; perfect for walking off the spoiling food. Comfortably traditional public rooms mix with lighter bedrooms, a pretty courtyard and a luscious kitchen garden. Service is luxury hotel-standard professional but tempered with a genuinely friendly approach. Food is Michelin starred but not fussy or tricksy, just skilled, imaginative and full of the unexpected – quail with lychee and jasmine; brill with fennel in turmeric broth; peach and curd tart.
• The best hotels in the Yorkshire Dales
From lavish bedrooms to a fine restaurant, Rudding Park is an ensemble of excellent facilities, stunning features and winning service, just 10 minutes' drive from central Harrogate. The Regency house with its pretty symmetrical façade leads into a grand old stable block behind, sympathetically extended to create a lovely heart of the hotel. Inside, stylish lounges are decked out in country chic style and feature Wingbacks, sofas and roaring fires; corridors are hung with modern oils.
A country house and spa on the Bolton Abbey estate renowned as one of the heavyweights of Yorkshire hotels. It was originally built in the 17th century as a coaching inn and retains much in the way of original character. The hotel also boasts four-poster beds, great views and a top-notch spa. Lovely artwork from Chatsworth’s Devonshire Collection decorates the walls; one of the finest private art collections in Europe. The Michelin-starred restaurant demands a slightly formal dress code (men are expected to wear jackets) and offers a whopping wine list.
