The Good Hotel Guide 2020 announces its Editor’s Choice Winners

The Good Hotel Guide 2020: Great Britain & Ireland (www.goodhotelguide.com) is the leading independent UK hotel guide.

This year’s 42nd edition, co-edited by Adam and Caroline Raphael, together with award-winning travel writers Ian Belcher and Joanna Symons, features 830 hotels, inns and B&Bs, with 433 main entries (including 36 new entries) chosen for their exceptional hospitality and distinctive style and a revamped Shortlist ‎section (including 50 new entries) featuring 397 properties with extended text and a photograph for each entry.

The 2020 Editor’s Choice section highlights the 10 top hotels in 16 categories:  This Year’s Discoveries, Romantic, Spas, Seaside, Restaurants-with-Rooms, Dog-friendly, Country House, Gardens, Rooms with a View, B&Bs, Value, Pubs-with-Rooms, Family, Walking, Quirky and ‎Weddings. There are a further five online-only* Editor’s Choice hotel categories: Gourmet (new), Fishing, Golf, Eco-friendly and Historic. Many of the entries in the Good Hotel Guide 2020 are also available online at www.goodhotelguide.com.

Here are some of the highlights:

This year’s Country House choices include Lime Wood in the New Forest with its superb seasonal Italian cuisine and Tracey Emin artwork, Hambleton Hall in Rutland which has a Michelin starred restaurant and far-reaching views over Rutland Water and Hartwell House near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire which is owned by the National Trust. Other properties include The Priory in Dorset with its sublime riverside setting; Bodysgallen Hall and Spa in North Wales with views towards Snowdonia and former rectory, 17th-century manor house Lords of the Manor in the Cotswolds.

Dog-friendly hotels commended by the editors include Forest Side in Grasmere which sits in 43 acres of wooded grounds, The Cat Inn – a 16th century pub in West Sussex with a resident spaniel and dog-friendly tables at the bar and Widbrook Grange in Bradford-On-Avon which serves doggy afternoon tea complete with frothy puppichinos. The Dog at Wingham in Kent and former César award winner Moor of Rannoch Restaurant & Rooms in Perth and Kinross, Scotland also feature.

The Editor’s Choice Spa category includes coastal hotels The Scarlet in Cornwall with its cliff-top hot tubs, Seaham Hall’s award-winning 44,000 sq ft spa beside Durham’s heritage coastline and St Brides Spa Hotel in Pembrokeshire, which provides wine-based vinotherapy treatments. In Warwickshire, Mallory Court is an Arts & Crafts house with a separate Elan Spa housing indoor and outdoor hydrotherapy pools and Rhassoul mud room and Cumbria’s Gilpin Hotel and Lake House has cedar-clad spa lodges dotted around a lake. Dart Marina in Dartmouth and Bingham Riverhouse in Richmond, Surrey, also feature.‎

The Discoveries section of ten properties includes the six-bedroom The Ship Inn, Elie, Fife, which has its own beach cricket team and stunning sea views and The Pig at Bridge Place in Kent – the newest hotel in the Pig litter – which oozes period charm. In Cornwall, The St Tudy Inn in Bodmin is a smart pub with rooms decorated in Farrow & Ball greys and, in Scotland, 23 Mayfield is set in the heart of Edinburgh and serves delicious breakfasts by candlelight.

Spanning the UK, the Romantic hotels include the turreted baronial-style Glenapp Castle in Ayrshire and Georgian Bath’s No.15 Great Pulteney – one of the city’s best addresses – with its eclectic murals and lavish chandeliers. For something a little more off-grid, La Sablonnerie, on the delightful car-free island of Little Sark in the Chanel Islands, ferries guests around in a horse-drawn carriage. In Cumbria, Augill Castle has antique-filled bedrooms and a Gatehouse suite which occupies one of two towers.

The Editor’s Choice for Quirky hotels includes the bohemian Artist Residence in Oxfordshire which features upcycled furniture and wholesome comfort food, the whimsical Alice-in-Wonderland-themed Glazebrook House in Devon, Cley Windmill in the beautiful North Norfolk village of Cley-Next-The-Sea (guests have to sign a waiver form to climb the ladder to the Wheel Room) and the charmingly retro Howtown Hotel in Cumbria which sounds a gong for dinner and supplies electric blankets to guests.

The Editor’s Choice for Family includes Moonfleet Manor on Dorset’s Jurassic coast and Calcot, the sophisticated Cotswold haven – both of which have an Ofsted-registered crèche. In Cornwall’s Roseland Peninsula, The Nare is a popular spot for multigenerational family stays and The Blakeney Hotel in Norfolk is perfect for seal spotting and crabbing. In Hampshire, Chewton Glen has a new Kids Club Treehouse (alongside its luxury treehouse suites).‎

The new online-only Gourmet section includes The Pipe and Glass Inn in Yorkshire, with delectable dishes by Chef Owner James Mackenzie, Whatley Manor in Wiltshire where chef Niall Keating oversees a superb two Michelin star dining experience and the highly acclaimed Restaurant James Sommerin overlooking the bay in Penarth, Cardiff.

Each year ten César awards are presented to hotels which have demonstrated excellence in their field. Named after César Ritz, these are known as the Oscars of the hotel industry.

The Good Hotel Guide 2020: Great Britain & Ireland is priced £16 (including p&p within the UK) from The Good Hotel Guide, 50 Addison Avenue, London W11 4QP (Tel: 020 7602 4182; https://www.goodhotelguide.com/buy-the-guide/) or priced £20 from all good bookshops.

Discount vouchers worth a total of £150 are included in each copy of the Guide. They enable a 25% saving off one night’s normal B&B price at participating hotels. Good Hotel Guide gift vouchers are also available, in denominations from £100 to £1,000.

Notes to Editors/Photography link:

* Hotels are asked to make a modest payment for a website listing.

Press: For further information and photography, to receive a copy of the Guide for review or to interview the editors, Adam Raphael and Ian Belcher, please call Julia Farish, George Curtis or Sue Ockwell at Travel PR on 020 8891 4440 or email j.farish@travelpr.co.uk, g.curtis@travelpr.co.uk or s.ockwell@travelpr.co.uk.