The most romantic hotels in the UK

Walking through the The Rookery’s deliciously dark and shadowy warren of rooms is like stepping back in time to 500 years ago. Open fires, sumptuous Georgian detailing, wonky floors and bulging bookshelves complete the picture. There’s an Honesty Bar downstairs – and even a tiny garden terrace for the summer. All rooms are as quirky as the building, sharing only rich 18th-century colours, antiques, glowing woods and modernised mad plumbing. Go for the extraordinary top-floor Rooks’ Nest, with its mezzanine floor, 40-foot octagonal spire, trompe l’oeil and views of St Paul’s.

This is a hotel with impeccable pedigree that has long been a favourite stop for aristocrats, statesmen, film stars and supermodels. All rooms are unique and come with comfort levels that encourage one to immediately hang up the “Do Not Disturb” sign. Claridge’s Bar attracts a buzzy crowd, while the snug Fumoir is a 1930s jewel-box bar with original Lalique glass panels. Fera means wild in Latin, and this is a certainly a fitting choice for a restaurant that celebrates seasonal ingredients that come from a wealth of British rural areas.

Modelled on Sir John Soane’s museum in London, the interiors are clubby and intimate, with dark walls and a decadent, clandestine atmosphere. Reception shares space with a blood-red cocktail lounge (also used as a breakfast room), Seymour’s Parlour, a collector’s paradise: glass-fronted display cabinets, antique clocks, old school photos, miniature bottles, pieces of architrave and architectural prints. Rooms are of the same, self-consciously eccentric style. Top pick for a splurge is Lear’s Loft (poet Edward Lear once lived at this address) with its open-air, roof-top bath.

The listed Grade II Georgian building may face a fairly busy road to the front, but at the back is the hotel’s most prized feature: terraces, lawn and flowerbeds leading to the Thames’s towpath and the peaceful river beyond. Those who stay there include in-the-know locals who have discovered The Bingham’s romantic, comfortable and subtly glamorous restaurant (the hotel is billed as a restaurant-with-rooms); brides and grooms who choose it for their weddings (the ground-floor function rooms and covered terrace are cleverly separated from the rest of the hotel); and anyone wanting a break in an absorbing location.

There is titillation at every turn. The lobby is like a lothario’s library: while the Letters of Horace Walpole adorn the shelves, aubergine velvet pouffes with more tassels than a ra-ra girl skim the floors. The lounge on the other side of the corridor has a disco feel, with a mirrored ceiling speckled with orange LED lights. Despite all the crazy, quirky touches, the building, which was once a baptist church, still carries an air of magnificence. ‘Boudoir’ doesn’t do the bedrooms justice. Think a jazz-hands-waggling riot of tassels, parrot sconces, turquoise velvet screens and hummingbird lamps.

What a beauty. 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 famous garden, created by the property’s late owner Rosemary Verey. Soothingly furnished in cream and grey/browns, the 18 bedrooms feature artworks inspired by gardens and nature – a row of watering cans, a chandelier made out of flower pots. All offer slick accoutrements of Bose speaker and Nespresso machine as well as a host of carefully chosen books. Hidden in a garden dell is the uber-stylish spa, complete with outdoor hydrotherapy pool.

This is an eye-poppingly glamorous, boldly luxurious retreat. It has more of an atmosphere of a club or hip home than a hotel, with 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. Across the estate lies sister hotel Dormy House and its state-of-the-art spa that Foxhill guests are welcome to use (staff will drive you over). Outdoor options are abundant, from walks to activities arranged by the estate, such as archery and clay pigeon shooting.

This top-notch country house hotel is a serene haven on the edge of a glorious honey-stone Cotswold village. It has dreamy views across lawns and rolling countryside and with its antiques and cosy fires it exudes an appealing sense of tradition. The 26 rooms are conventionally furnished in quiet, soothing colours and the largest have free-standing baths. Food is a complete treat. The small menu offers exquisite dishes such as ravioli of quail breast and foie gras, and melt-in-the-mouth fallow deer with spiced red currants.

This handsome tavern, dating from the 1780s, has been been infused with music and real local buzz. There’s a warm bar/saloon on the ground floor, complete with two fireplaces, a reconditioned jukebox and a bar fashioned from recycled church panelling. There’s also a restaurant upstairs, under wonderful beams and wrought-iron chandeliers. All the rooms are kitted out with evocative Bisque Tetro radiators and are decorated in soothing browns, greens and creams. For a treat, book the spectacular Oak Lodge suite.

This has to be one of the loveliest spots for a hotel, overlooking a spectacular 19th-century parterre and surrounded by acres of ancient woodland running down to the Thames. The house has witnessed much intrigue over the years – it was the setting for the infamous Profumo affair – and a hint of naughtiness remains. There are 38 rooms and suites, each named after a figure from the house’s past and furnished to match. The finest suites are The Lady Astor and The Prince of Wales on the first floor of the main house.

A classic but modern country house hotel located on the edge of Windsor Great Park. The grounds are worth a wonder – the gardens are full of pools, lit with lanterns at night, benches and modern brass sculptures of women set among the foliage. All rooms are different, but are deeply cosseting: features could include a four-poster bed, copper roll-top baths and plump velvet chaises longues. The spa sits in timber and glass building, topped with a ‘living roof’ of thyme and lavender and set into the side of a hill. Facilities include a blue-lit pool with underwater music, steam rooms, mood showers and eight light-filled treatment rooms .

It’s the attention to detail throughout Lime Wood that makes it special and why it will stand the test of time. The oak doors are thick, the paint finishes lush, the brickwork laid to the architect’s design; soft floor lights switch on automatically as you walk into the bathroom; a million-pound glass roof retracts above the inner courtyard at the press of a button; stylized sitting rooms melt one into the other, pale lemon into lilac into mint green, each with an open fire. Rooms are Gorgeous and sexy; Pavilion rooms melt into their New Forest surroundings.

The hotel, located at 16 Royal Crescent, stands at the centre of John Wood the Younger’s magnificent curved terrace of 30 houses, overlooking a huge expanse of grass, the Lawn, with views to the city beyond. The essential Georgian character of the house is largely unchanged, best exemplified by the admirably plain entrance hall, with its open fire and chequerboard floor, and the two well-proportioned sitting rooms. The restaurant and Montagu Champagne bar are across the other side of the pretty garden, along with the spa.

The loveliest street in Bath, running between Pulteney Bridge and the Holburne Museum, is home to this well appointed and imaginatively designed boutique hotel set in a Georgian Grade I-listed building. There are 40 rooms, eight of which are in the charming coach house with its mock Gothic façade just to the back of the hotel by the garden. Spa 15 in the basement – part of it a former coal cellar – has four treatment rooms (offering a variety of massages and facial from £95), a cedar wood hot tub, sauna, steam room and post massage ‘retreat room’.

The Gainsborough occupies a grandiose 1820s building that started life as a hospital, and then for many years was part of Bath’s art college. The Romanesque Spa Village is quite something. There are three substantial thermal pools in which to wallow – the largest set under a glass-roofed atrium – as well as saunas and a steam room, plus 11 treatment rooms offering a wide range of massages and Asian‑influenced therapies. The 98 bedrooms have an understated neo-Georgian look. Beige marble bathrooms come with underfloor heating; in three rooms you can run a bath with the thermal waters.

This is one of Britain’s best country house hotels. Key enticements include its grand setting in a vast estate, Michelin-starred dining and a very impressive spa complex. It includes a 20-metre-long indoor pool, a substantial half indoor, half outdoor hydrotherapy pool, and various thermal cabins (sauna, steam room etc). A vast range of treatments is on offer, as are yoga and pilates classes most days in the Wellbeing House, a separate cottage in the grounds where you can also have sunlight therapy and a dry floatation session. Cookery lessons and an equestrian centre are also available.

This 15th-century inn in National Trust-owned Lacock offers atmospheric lodgings above a restaurant with flagstone floors and giant, inglenook fireplaces. Don’t arrive expecting a pub, however: the food here is exquisite – it’s all based on local produce, for example game terrine with streaky bacon and rosemary brioche crumb. Room Four, set off the guest lounge, is the most romantic, with a double bed lying under a huge beam and small windows. The pretty garden at the back has tables for al fresco dining and is dotted with apple trees, flanked by a stream and backs onto a paddock.

For a combination of standout views, lovely bedrooms and serious cooking – wrapped in low-key luxury and a calming atmosphere – it’s hard to beat The Samling. There’s space to relax indoors or outdoors with a sitting room and snug ‘library’, paved terraces, gardens and a hot tub. Walking guides are available and dogs are allowed (£25 per stay) or, if it’s chucking it down, you can book a cocktail or wine-tasting masterclass. Deer, rabbits and birds, including kestrels, flit around the grounds. The 12 rooms are perfectly executed studies in creamy calm. The restaurant only serves tasting menus and demands your attention – though the spectacular views through the wraparound windows are a distraction.

Gilpin Hotel is a stylish gateway to the Lakes with a well-deserved reputation for being beautifully run. This is true relaxation, albeit in a convivial atmosphere. Book a spa suite, on the edge of the main hotel property; perfect for those who truly want to switch off in total privacy — and there are plenty of switches to help you do it, via your own hot tub, sauna, steam room and Sonos system for music. The floor-to-ceiling window means you wake up to views across the fells. Fishing, shooting, horse riding and mountain biking can also be organised on-site.

This modern chalet-style retreat is tucked amongst trees, in one of the area’s finest fell-walking valleys. If you don’t want to stray far, there’s a swish spa with extensive thermal experiences, indoor-outdoor relaxation areas and a 20-metre pool. The 16 rooms are ridiculously large. Indeed, everything is big: huge beds, long sofas, deep rolltop baths (in the bedroom), and expansive balconies. Glossy bathrooms often have double showers. Everything is designed to calm and cosset from the smooth oak floorboards and real fires to the gentle colours of lilac, moss green and milky coffee.

A verdant, Grade 1-listed Eden between Dartmoor and Exmoor, with shell houses and hidden glades for romantic tête-à-têtes. The gardens, designed by Humphry Repton, have verdant glades, secret grottos, ancient trees, rose-wreathed arches, a shell house, formal parterre, and lawns that sweep down towards the River Tamar. Long corridors, hushed tones and wood-panelled walls studded with crests lend a collegiate feel, and there are two homely drawing rooms with roaring fires, ottomans, botanical paintings, plump sofas and bookshelves lined with classics. Room five is the most impressive, with a glamorous chaise longue, bird-themed wallpaper, roll-top bath and beautiful views.

Blissfully in the middle of nowhere, this is the ultimate romantic getaway. Two exquisite shepherd’s huts, each complete with a stargazing roof above the bed, sit within the grounds of National Trust’s Buckland Abbey estate. There are no televisions; instead there’s a pack of cards, Scrabble, DAB radio, fire pit on the radial oak deck and Cobb barbecue, plus plenty of kindling for the woodburning stove. For breakfast, the choice includes croissants, a Kilner jar of homemade granola or ingredients for full English – eggs from the estate chickens; bacon and sausages from the owners’ Saddleback pigs.

Britain’s most exciting new country house hotel in decades, with BBC Great British Menu icon Michael Caines MBE at the helm, and showstopping Michelin-starred food. Don’t miss the eight-course tasting menu. The house’s Hawthorne-garnished grounds slope right down to Devon’s Exe estuary, with its aggressive freshness and busy bird life. Sunsets are notorious here. Rooms are all different, with a colour palette inspired by local birds. Rolltop baths come as standard; some suites have outdoor tubs and fire tables overlooking the estuary.

The Pig at Combe House can be found at the end of a mile-long drive that begins in the thatched village of Gittisham. The house slips tantalisingly in and out of view as you approach. Combe House is sexy and fun as well as romantic. The heart of the hotel is the panelled Great Hall, where a glamorous bar stretches along one wall. As well as the kitchen gardens, there are two Potting Shed treatment rooms housed in the garden’s old potting sheds. The 27 rooms are are some of the most charming, traditional yet stylish in the area.

A sleepy village among the hills that inspired Dorset’s most famous author is home to The Acorn Inn, where tight spaces and creaky floors are the real deal, rustic charm comes in spades and the wonderful restaurant shows how a locally focused gastropub should do its job. There’s over 400 years of history at this coaching inn, but your focus is likely to be on late Victorian – it’s the inspiration for The Sow and the Acorn in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Hardy weaves his way into the accommodation too, with each of the 10 bedrooms named after a character or location from his Wessex. Most charm effuses from the Four Poster rooms.

No hotel in or around Lyme offers better views out across the west of the Jurassic Coast, in grey skies and sunshine. Throw open the windows for a delightful seaside breeze, or climb the garden’s folly tower for a private kiss. Direct access to the beach means barefoot walks across the golden sands is easy, or couples can stroll along the Cobb to relive a little of The French Lieutenant’s Woman (filmed in Lyme). Sundowners on the deck can be spectacular. It’s an easy walk to Mark Hix’s Fish House but really loved-up couples share fish and chips from one of the beachside kiosks.

The house, now extended and painted yellow by its current owners, is a quirky fantasy that reminds one, with its overlapping tiled Portland stone roof, of the witch’s gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretel. It’s cosy inside, full of antiques and curios, and relaxing outside, with terrace, huge lawn and walled kitchen garden. All the rooms are delightful, many with interesting original features; two are delightful two-storey thatched follies overlooking the kitchen garden, and another is in a converted shepherd’s hut under the trees, with its own bathroom.

Accessible luxury from the Hotel du Vin group, but very much real luxury. Contemporary rooms, all with deliciously comfortable beds, are somewhere to linger — for top romance and accommodation to impress it has to be the Dom Perignon suite (pictured), with an oversized sleigh bed, twin freestanding clawfoot tubs and an enormous monsoon shower room. There’s a modern French bistro with inhibition-lowering cocktails, which can be taken in a number of snug, cosy areas in the bar.

While many eco-hotels sacrifice style and comfort in pursuit of green credentials, The Scarlet more than lives up to the hype. The Ayurvedic spa has proved a big success and there are wide outdoor terraces on each level with designer loungers, log-fired whirlpool tubs, and a reed-filtered natural swimming pool. Rooms are all individually styled with luxurious sateen sheets on deep mattresses, blonde wood furnishings, oval baths – often in the bedroom itself – and powerful rain-showers. Most have a floor-to-ceiling glass wall that slides back to access outdoor space, all cleverly designed to give privacy.

Tresanton’s unique style is signalled from the moment you walk in. First of all there’s the terracotta Madonna and Child embedded in the wall above the door; then there’s the luxuriant sub-tropical vegetation, and the dizzying scent of exotic flowers; then the sea views from the tiled tables set out on the terrace. The hotel’s classic wooden yacht, Pinuccia, built in 1939, is available for skippered sails around the sheltered waters of the Fal Estuary and lovely Helford River from May to September. Thirty rooms in a terrace of five fishermans cottages and a stylish annexe, each subtly different, each with a sea-view, and 11 with their own furnished terraces or balconies.

The Lugger, a 17th-century old smuggler’s inn situated right on the waters edge of the peaceful fishing port of Portloe, offers a stylish yet homely retreat; walk the rugged South West Coastal Path, soak up the staggering views and enjoy the freshest local produce. So close to the sea that the air is salt-fresh, it provides a calm and tranquil setting for a romantic getaway or restorative escape, whatever the season. The bountiful fresh fish in Portloe is factored largely into the menus, with dishes including steamed monkfish, tomato and fennel salad with crab bisque, roasted miso cod, tempura red mullet, sesame carrot and pak choi and seared scallop.

This beautiful brick-and-granite Georgian townhouse has been designed to provide an ‘open house’ experience where quality and comfort merge; relax amidst a backdrop of seaside hues and spectacular coastal vistas. There are six large double rooms – some with stand-alone baths – designed to combine simplicity with supreme comfort. Dining is based on a ‘supper club’ formula. Menus are designed using seasonal ingredients: the likes of pan-fried hand-dived scallops, Cornish asparagus butter, organic fillet steak, saffron mash and wild mushroom risotto.

This coaching inn tops many a list of stylish country getaways – and rightly so. It’s located in one of Somerset’s most desirable and attractive villages, and offers huge, fashionably furnished rooms and tangible history. In rooms, expect Berber-style rugs, tactile sofas, fireplaces decorated with logs, and earthy colours enlivened with modern splashes of pink. Larger rooms have freestanding baths and enormous emperor beds. A down-to-earth dinner menu can include dishes such as peppery grilled wood pigeon breast with sweet radish and tarragon crème fraîche, and posh baked Alaska.

Ecclesiastical elegance meets boutique verve at this former 12th-century chapel in the arty village of Bruton. The heavy oak front door is always propped open, welcoming locals to the bakery, wine shop, light-filled restaurant or downstairs clubroom, which often holds private screenings or readings. All rooms are different but share features such as cowhide rugs, leather, Egyptian cotton-dressed beds and monastic-like, grey-marble bathrooms – all but two rooms have a freestanding oval-shaped bath for two. Guests receive chubby, still-warm croissants each morning in a paper bag hung on their doors.

Lively but laid-back Babington House can make a fair claim to being the UK’s original trendy country-house retreat. One set of outbuildings includes sizeable indoor and outdoor swimming pools (both heated year round), a sauna and steam room, plus a cinema showing films every evening. The substantial, rustic-chic Cowshed Spa offers a wide range of treatments. There are 32 individually designed, rather gorgeous and very comfy bedrooms, many with working fireplaces. The three tranquil and slightly more modern split-level Walled Garden Rooms have tub baths intended for two on their terraces.

The country garden food and respectfully hedonistic atmosphere are what keep people returning to this Grade II-listed country house with its own deer park. There are three lounge areas next to fireplaces and a rustic bar room that is flanked with shelves of coloured glass. Hunter wellies can be borrowed for walks around the kitchen garden, which has its own pigs. Deer wander past at dusk, which is a good time to find a window seat and try the excellent cocktail and bar snack menus. Comfy Luxe rooms and above have freestanding rolltop baths as well – some of which stand in the bedroom.

Guests are almost entirely repeat bookings and no one seems in a hurry to share this wonderful secret. There is a palpable sense of history in the wood-panelled long gallery where Kings have dined and in the grand formal rooms; other features include a collection of rare Gyles painted glass, leaded windows, thick wooden doors and limestone fireplaces. Breakfasts are exemplary and involve omelettes, kippers, pancakes and traditional fare. Plump for the black pudding full English served outside with the sound of blackbirds and the Minster bells and you will be in seventh heaven.

A Michelin-starred restaurant-with-rooms with chocolate-box, thatched-pub looks and a bucolic farming-village location. Menus are punchy, robust yet skilfully balanced and as much about texture as taste: crab stick with seashore vegetables and avocado ice, perhaps followed by roasted lamb chop with truffled faggot or honey-roasted duck with tea-poached quail’s egg. Bedrooms are across the road in converted farm buildings. Each has a quirky feature: perhaps a pool table, piano or bath with a countryside view.

Fun and exotic, individually themed rooms combined with a well-regarded seafood restaurant and an overall madcap sense of decoration make this a hugely popular choice for celebrations and special occasions. There are gardens for dozing with a book/proposing, a terrace around the restaurant for lingering lunches, a sitting room for (complimentary) pre-dinner canapés while most bedrooms have private whirlpool tubs (some also have saunas) and there’s a shared whirlpool tub and sauna for the rest. Rooms themselves are modelled on different parts of the world – say the Seychelles or Montauk.

A chic, award-winning boutique hotel set in six acres of private grounds in some of the Yorkshire Dales’ most beautiful scenery. It’s right by the River Ure on the edge of Bainbridge village in Wensleydale, with the photogenic triple-flight Aysgarth Falls waterfall just round the corner. Yorebridge House has 12 rooms: seven in the main house and four in the schoolhouse, the latter with private hot tubs. The Barn Conversion also has a hot tub and private terrace. Produce at the restaurant comes from within a 30-mile radius where possible, as well as the hotel’s own vegetable and herb garden.

This fabulous boutique hotel is said to be a favourite of Cate Blanchett’s, and a seaside pad for both Kylie Minogue and Woody Allen. It spans two late-Georgian townhouses almost opposite the pier, and is packed with gorgeous bedrooms and Art Deco-style detailing alongside a cool cocktail bar and restaurant. Superior and feature rooms have freestanding baths facing floor-to-ceiling windows, so you can splash in the tub while enjoying the twinkly lights of the pier. Book the Cristal Suite for the ultimate romance.

This 11-bedroomed guesthouse above Hove’s highly-acclaimed Ginger Pig Bar and Restaurant is ideal if you want a quieter seaside base. Spacious and elegantly understated rooms include thoughtful beach bags with towels and mats and well-stocked minibars. All have outstandingly good bathrooms equipped with powerful showers or freestanding tubs and Cowshed toiletries. Downstairs the sprawling gastropub serves up highly delicious grub and excellent Sunday roasts.

The 900-year-old castle began life as a manor house for the Bishop of Chichester and was fortified in 1377. After the Civil War, cloth merchant John Butler acquired it and built the present brick and timber manor, and the barrel vaulted Great Hall within the castle walls. It stands in lovely grounds next to the parish church in the village of Amberley, known locally as the ‘pearl of Sussex’. This is a romantic place, though proposals are best made in one of the garden gazebos rather than in the staid, hushed dining room.

Tucked in a crease of the South Downs, the Arts and Crafts village of Ditchling is all the better for this glorious 16th-century pub. Hidden behind a secret door in the pub is a staircase which leads up to four en-suite guest rooms. Split into Small and Medium categories, each are impeccably styled by Ditchling designer Jeanette Seabrook. A pint of Bedlam Pale Ale from The Bull’s own brewery is a welcome reward after a hike down Ditchling Beacon. The pub serves a modern British menu – all locally sourced, with veggies and herbs from the garden – and a popular roast on Sunday.

This tardis-like townhouse appears cottage-like from the quaint street but behind the low front door there are actually four dwellings knocked into one. All five rooms have character, three are spacious suites and some have been opened up into the old rafters. The Gaudi Suite has a double-height beamed ceiling plus a mezzanine lounging platform with cushions and rugs, reached by a ladder. The hotel is just two miles from Cowdray Estate which offers polo, golf and clay pigeon shooting. It is also seven miles from the antiques shops of Petworth.

A loving restoration of a Georgian building has created this romantic bolthole in central Chichester. There are 12 differently designed rooms across four categories. The Priory King has an antique four-poster bed and matching wardrobe carved in Breton with fishing and nautical scenes. The bed is approached, Princess and the Pea-style, via portable steps. Another room has a rolltop bath, and there’s also a standalone garden suite within the walled garden.

This early 19th-century windmill turned cosy guesthouse is in a scenic coastal location, making it a fabulous base for walkers, birdwatchers and romantic couples. Not only does it have characterful rooms, hearty food and friendly staff, but guests are privy to superb views over reed beds towards Blakeney Harbour too. There are nine rooms including three in the circular tower of the mill: these have the best views and the most character. The ground floor of the mill is a circular sitting room with a wood burning stove where games, books and complimentary sherry are left out for guests.

Arguably the most romantic and best-positioned retreat on the North Norfolk coast, which was once locally known as a smugglers’ hideout. Thirteen bedrooms ranging from ‘Small Better Coast View’ up to ‘Best Rooms’ are named after the crew of the Licensed Victuallers III, a Hunstanton lifeboat. Food is traditional and very tasty with classics of fish pie, baby back pork or battered fish of the day. The inn offers direct access to the coastal path.

A hidden gem in one of Norfolk’s least spoilt, rural market towns, off the beaten track but also a central base for touring the Broads and the heritage coast. Public rooms are homely, welcoming and largely open plan, with the exception of a cosy fire-warmed dining room with an additional ‘secret’ dining room next door, tucked behind a revolving book case. Eight bedrooms, all different, are great fun. ‘Natural History’, a snug double, with a private area of outdoor decking takes its inspiration from the eighteenth-century Grand Tour collectors. The largest and most glamorous room is Italian Palace, with a free-standing bath next to a silk-swathed bed.

The style is hard to pin down, but the building itself has been shortlisted for various architectural awards and is relentlessly modern. The views outside, however, are pure English country garden, thanks to owner David’s thoughtful planting over the past couple of years. The area beyond – the ‘five acres’ of the name – is rustic woodland, with gambolling rabbits, the odd muntjac deer and footpaths into the countryside beyond, one of which leads to the coast at Thorpeness in around half an hour.
There are five rooms in all, four of which have a mezzanine floor with a king-sized bed and, downstairs, a sitting area with a television, plus a bathroom. Two of the rooms offer baths. All have their own patio.

Step into a bygone era of English high society, original artworks and antiques at this luxurious country house hotel, where press baron Lord Beaverbrook entertained world leaders and literary greats. Bicycles, walking maps, iPod touches and iPads with Netflix are available and there’s a choice of films to watch in the cinema. The house’s 18 rooms are elegantly designed and named after former guests. Winston Churchill’s favourite suite retains a private door he used to escape discreetly during war time, while the huge Dowager suite, formerly Lady Beaverbrook’s bedroom, is adorned with beautiful antiques, Louise Bourgeoise artwork, and a beautiful shell-encrusted cabinet.

Guests are made to feel like royalty at this 16th-century Elizabethan hotel, offering afternoon tea with oven-fresh scones on a terrace overlooking manicured rose gardens, a three AA Rosette-awarded restaurant, impeccable service, beautifully styled bedrooms as well as a croquet lawn. The 22 rooms are beautifully appointed in shades of blue and green, rich oranges or royal purples. The gorgeous water views from the rooms come with a quacking morning alarm call from the ducks. Rooms offering overwater balconies, a four-poster bed and a four-poster bathtub make romantic options.

Italian gilt furniture, exquisite Flemish tapestries, elaborate Jacobean fireplaces and a one-Michelin-starred restaurant are the crowning glories of this luxury country-house hotel – once a 16th-century royal hunting lodge – with its fanciful topiary sculptures in the Saxon-moated gardens. There’s archery, an outdoor heated pool with original 1920s bathing boxes (open May-September), cycles for hire (£35 day) and in-room spa treatments. Expect precision cooking, intense flavours and expertly-chosen wines in the intimate Michelin-starred Tudor restaurant.

Visiting King Street Townhouse is like staying with a rich friend who has extremely good taste. Everything from the furniture to locally commissioned artwork has been sourced by owner, Sally O’Loughlin, and no two bedrooms are the same. There are two treatment rooms, but the infinity spa-pool on the seventh floor is the jewel in this hotel’s crown. It’s a calming spot from which to admire the Town Hall’s clock tower. Even entry-level rooms don’t feel cramped – but if space isn’t your priority, the smallest Snug room, number 56, is tucked between the two suites on the fifth floor with the same knockout view of the Town Hall clock.

First opened in 1903, the historic Midland’s claims to fame include being where Rolls met Royce and where Becks wooed Posh. First impressions of this hotel are undeniably grand – from the Grade II listed ornate red brick exterior to the pillared, glass-ceilinged reception area. There’s a good-sized spa with a large relaxation area, treatment rooms, sauna, steam room, whirlpool tub and small relaxation pool. Request a city view room to look out over Central Library.

From its sleek triple-height atrium to its 165 enormous hotel rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, the Lowry stakes its claim to a sexy, playful side of Manchester — this is footballers’ wives HQ, but in a classy way. The concierge desk offers good advice on local attractions, and can arrange football tickets to either of the city’s big clubs. The popular spa offers a wide range of treatments — book in advance — and has two saunas. Rooms are a study in tasteful grey flannels, dark wood, and splashes of cerulean or tomato.

Although a quiet, country-house setting, this Baroque-meets-Georgian mansion is shamelessly seductive. With swags and columns, brocades and velvets, rich colours and intimate corners, it is wildly opulent. Drama, theatre, romance and passion hang heavily in the air. Minimalism be damned; more is definitely more. It proves Oscar Wilde’s maxim that ‘nothing succeeds like excess’. Rooms are irrepressibly romantic in a husky-throated boudoir sort of way.

This extraordinary collection of fantasy suites is the ultimate romantic hideaway: sumptuous, indulgent and slightly (delightfully) mad. The nine suites are an antique dealer’s dream: the rooms set-dressed with fascinatingly eclectic clutter; all jewel-coloured velvets, silks and brocades, carved wood, gilding and candle-light – think decadent ecclesiastical. Beds are dramatically draped or four-postered (or both); chin-deep bateau baths are perfect for sharing.

Following a badly needed refresh and refurb, this destination restaurant with rooms is back doing what it does best, with a new chef, updated look and reinvigorated sense of discipline and purpose. The essential ingredients are there: attentive service, attractive rooms with mesmerising views and a talented young chef. The suites, in an adjacent building designed to capitalise on the views, are airy, high-ceilinged and gently contemporary, with a Scandi-meets-Scotia feel to the décor: pale, sophisticated simplicity in shades of sea, sky and sand.

A 19th-century mansion in Scottish baronial style on a private island accessible by a bridge, amid glorious scenery in the west highlands. Family-owned, it is a member of the Relais & Chateaux portfolio and boasts a Michelin-starred restaurant, an ESPA spa and a wide range of activities in 350 acres of grounds. Spacious rooms in the main building in soft, neutral shades exude comfort and Country Life style. Three spa suites are more contemporary, with outdoor whirlpool tubs in private gardens.

Queen Victoria said she ‘never saw a lovelier or more romantic spot’ than Inverlochy Castle in 1873, and it remains as impressive as ever. Lying at the foot of Ben Nevis, girdled by a ring of highland peaks (particularly lovely when coiffed with snow), this is a place of quiet beauty. Activities including skiing, white-water rafting, off-road driving, stalking or fishing. Or you can row around the pretty loch, then sip a whisky in the billiard room or read by the drawing room fire. Dinner begins with a drink by the fire in the Great Hall, followed by a delightfully light-handed five-course menu by Michel Roux Jr.

The hotel is set in 26 acres of grounds (including lawns, woodland and meadowland; a kitchen garden; and a walled garden) amid deep countryside, with distant views of the Preseli Hills. You may wake up to the sound of a woodpecker. The main building is a handsome three-storey residence with Georgian proportions and distinctive Arts and Crafts panelling and fireplaces. The lounges – cosy yet elegant, with real fires, window seats, plush sofas and modern prints and paintings of coastal Pembrokeshire – set the tone of the whole property. Expect treats such as the softest of sheets, posh toiletries, thick towels and house-made biscotti. Some rooms even have fireplaces.

Queen Victoria and Churchill have both sojourned at this Victorian mansion on the fringes of Snowdonia National Park, and it still hasn’t lost its special touch. This remoteness is intrinsic to its charm. Sitting in its own 50-acre estate above the River Dee, the Victorian manor looks out across sloping lawns and wooded hills, seemingly immune to time and trends. One of the hotel’s chief draws is its ‘Gin Venture’, combining a two-night stay with fine dining, a foraging-related hike to Mount Snowdon, and a pro gin tasting at the Snowdonia Distillery. With ornate fireplaces, original features and large windows with sweeping views over the grounds, the bedrooms are all gracious.

Boats reflected in still water; strawberry sunsets lighting the mountains opposite; mist hanging in the valley at dawn: an ever-changing panorama can be viewed from the huge windows and sunny terrace of this peaceful and historic former rectory. There are four bedrooms: the two upstairs have huge bathrooms with free-standing Victorian baths. There’s even an outdoor hot tub. The terrace is the perfect place to enjoy the sunset over the lake with a Welsh gin & tonic. The locally-sourced menu changes daily.