Four-posters and candlelight: Britain’s 20 most romantic hotels

2 The Painswick, Gloucestershire
From the people behind the popular Calcot Manor near Tetbury and the chic celeb-haunt Barnsley House spa hotel near Cirencester comes the Painswick, which opened in a honey-stone building in the pretty village of the same name last year. This is a 16-room hideaway with pared-down rooms with tasteful art and slick bathrooms. The designer Nicky Farquhar describes the style as “Covent Garden rather than Mayfair”. Lounges are scattered with comfy sofas, the candlelit bar serves mean cocktails, there’s a dimly lit, romantic restaurant and a boutique spa with two treatment rooms.
Best room George’s Suite has a four-poster bed, a sitting room with a log-burner, roll-top bath and a balcony.
Details Doubles are from £129 a night; George’s Suite is from £354 (01452 813688, thepainswick.co.uk)

3 Padstow Townhouse, Cornwall
Rick Stein has a challenger in Padstow. Paul Ainsworth, a thirtysomething from Southampton, has gained a Michelin star at his fine-dining restaurant Paul Ainsworth at No 6 (a great choice for a tête-à-tête candlelit meal, with seafood and meat dishes). In late 2015 he opened this townhouse B&B with six seriously stylish rooms furnished with antiques and reclaimed materials. Posh products in the sparkly bathrooms are by the local St Kitts Herbery company. And everything is high tech: Apple televisions, iPod docking stations, Marshall speakers. There’s a downstairs “honesty pantry” stocked with Ruinart champagne and cakes. Breakfast is served a short stroll away at Ainsworth’s bistro/bar, Rojano’s.
Best room All are good but Toffee Apple — with its double oak and copper bath tub, plus separate lounge and dining area — and Honeycomb, with its wrought-iron superking-sized bed, are the pick of the bunch.
Details B&B doubles are from £260; Toffee Apple and Honeycomb are from £320 B&B (01841 550950, padstowtownhouse.co.uk)

There are bracing walks outside The Brimstone and spas within

4 Brimstone Hotel, Great Langdale, Cumbria
Glorious setting in a valley amid rolling hills? Tick. High-class rooms with slick decor and touches such as electronic curtains and iPod docking stations? Tick. Cosy pubs with log fires a short walk away? Tick. Oh yes, and there’s also a high-class spa in a separate timber and stone building overlooking a lake. Good-quality massages are available and the steam rooms are a perfect place to wind down after a day exploring the rugged countryside. Complimentary alcoholic drinks and snacks are provided in the “reading room”. Food is served in the unfussy main restaurant or at the nearby Wainwrights’ Inn.
Best room All 16 rooms are slick but rooms 1 and 9, the “spa suites”, are the most ostentatious with ostrich-egg-shaped baths and water that flows from ceiling chutes.
Details B&B doubles are from £250; spa suites are from £375 B&B (01539 438062, brimstonehotel.co.uk)

5 The Slaughters Manor House, Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire
In the picturesque village of Lower Slaughter, this 19-room hotel is in an elegant 17th-century manor that underwent a stylish makeover last year. Out went the chintz and in came a cool cocktail bar with shocking-pink velour stools, walls decorated with abstract art, a snug for watching films and a snooker room with a caramel-baize table. Rooms are split between the main building and the more contemporary coach house. The restaurant serves flamboyant modern British cuisine and has a seven-course set menu.
Best room The spacious Valentine suite in the coach house has steps leading up to a massive four-poster bed. The Antoinette suite in the main building also has a four-poster bed.
Details B&B doubles are from £189; the Antoinette suite is from £250 B&B, or the Valentine suite is from £350 B&B (01451 820456, slaughtersmanor.co.uk)

6 Seaham Hall, Co Durham
This 20-room boutique spa hotel is in a Georgian mansion on a hill above cliffs overlooking the North Sea. It was where Lord Byron married Annabella Milbanke, the daughter of Seaham’s owner, in January 1815 — and the hotel plays up this connection with its cosy Byron’s Bar (excellent martinis) and enjoyable Byron’s Grill fine-dining restaurant, featuring a striking picture of the poet. The highlight of Seaham is the first-class spa, found in a modern annexe linked to the main building by a long purple-lit corridor. Inside are treatment rooms, saunas, steam rooms, hydrotherapy pools, hot tubs, a 21m pool — and a good Thai restaurant.
Best room Seaham’s massive penthouse suite and room 21 have fine sea views.
Details B&B doubles are from £195; the penthouse suite is from £595 B&B, and room 21 is from £385 B&B (0191 516 1400, seaham-hall.com)

Be a pioneer at the brand-new Beaverbrook

7 Beaverbrook, Leatherhead, Surrey
Be one of the first to stay at a new French château-style country house hotel in Surrey. It will be one of the hot openings this year, run by a former hotel director at the super-cool Lime Wood hotel in the New Forest and an ex-general manager of the slick Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge, London. The estate was once a manor belonging to Lord Beaverbrook, the press baron who owned Express Newspapers, and it’s in 400 acres of pretty countryside. The stylish 11-room garden house is already taking guests (expect colourful interiors with antiques, original British art, free Sipsmith gin and bathrooms with roll-top baths), while rooms in the traditional main building will open in the early summer. A spa will open later in the summer. The restaurant offers Italian-inspired dishes such as crab chilli linguine.
Best room Go for the Sage room in the Garden House, which has an old-style four-poster bed.
Details Double rooms in the garden house, including Sage, are from £280; suites in the main building are from £1,000 (01372 227670, beaverbrook.co.uk)

8 Isle of Eriska, Argyll
It feels as though you’re entering another world as you rattle across the old iron bridge near Oban on to the Isle of Eriska. The late 19th-century castellated main building has a secretive feel, tucked beyond trees at the end of a winding lane. In the main house, the well-judged decor is pink and soft grey in the reasonably sized rooms. The island consists of 300 acres, including a private nine-hole golf course. After a stroll, have a drink in the old-fashioned lounge and eat at the Michelin-starred restaurant run by Paul Leonard.
Best room Some will prefer being in the old building for the atmosphere, although the five “spa suites” in a modern annexe by the spa (which has a pool in a former stables and treatments using ESPA products) will appeal to others because they have garden hot tubs.
Details Half-board stays in a double room are from £370 a night; spa suites are from £440, dinner B&B (01631 720371, eriska-hotel.co.uk)

9 Burgh Island, Bigbury-on-Sea, Devon
Another island — and this one is a glamorous art deco retreat off the south Devon coast, with a hint of mystique thrown in. Agatha Christie used to love Burgh Island, which inspired the setting of two of her whodunnits, And Then There Were None and Evil Under the Sun. Guests reach the island via Land Rover or the world’s only hydraulic sea tractor. Rooms are smart with period furniture in tasteful shades of lilac and pearl-grey. Dinner in the Ballroom is black-tie only and there’s an old-style billiards room, which has been restored to its 1930s glory (the hotel opened in 1929). The little spa has a sauna, and there’s a choice of restaurants as well as the 700-year-old Pilchard Inn. Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor used to slip away to Burgh Island for romantic weekends.
Best room Follow Christie and stay at the island’s Beach House, which is in a fantastic, isolated location away from the main art deco hotel building on a rocky shoreline.
Details B&B doubles with dinner are from £400 a night, the Beach House is from £665 for dinner and B&B (01548 810514, burghisland.com)

Grab a cabin at the Soho Farmhouse

10 Soho Farmhouse, Great Tew, Oxfordshire
This much talked-about Cotswolds country house hotel is part of the Soho House private members’ club group, but welcomes non-members who book a night in one of its 40 cabins, dotted on its 100 acres of rolling countryside on the Great Tew Estate. Each cabin has a rustic-chic Little House on the Prairie style. There are chic restaurants, brilliant cocktail bars, a barbecue shack and a spa with a big indoor-outdoor pool. Romantic couples who don’t wish to leave their cabins can order cocktails and hotdogs, delivered on converted milk floats.
Best room Play Cabins have four-poster beds, wood-burning fires and record players.
Details Studio cabins are from £330; Play Cabins are from £490 (01608 691000, sohofarmhouse.com)

11 Yorebridge House, Bainbridge, North Yorkshire
In the North Yorkshire Dales on the edge of the village of Bainbridge, Yorebridge House is a decadent hideaway with lavish rooms and an atmospheric candlelit restaurant. Some of the seven rooms in the main building, a grey-stone former headmaster’s house dating from 1850, have French boudoir-style beds, antler-shaped lamps, chandeliers and exposed beams. The look is English countryside meets New York loft apartment; indeed, one of the most romantic, private rooms is called the Greenwich Loft Suite. Or go for one of the barn rooms, which come with outdoor hot tubs, some overlooking the River Ure. The restaurant serves good modern British food such as Wensleydale beef fillet and North Sea Halibut.
Best room The Nishiki room has an Asian theme and a four-poster bed.
Details B&B doubles are from £220; the Greenwich Loft Suite and the Nishiki room are from £270 B&B (01969 652060, yorebridgehouse.co.uk)

12 Chapel House PZ, Penzance, Cornwall
Just a stroll up a small hill from Penzance station is this bijou six-room hotel overlooking the sea. Chapel House PZ is a lovely converted Georgian townhouse that was the home of Admiral Samuel Hood Linzee of HMS Temeraire, the ship made famous by Turner’s painting The Fighting Temeraire. It’s in pride of place, at the end of a run of 18th-century houses, close to the harbour from where ferries depart for the Isles of Scilly. Rooms are minimalist and arty, some with four-poster beds — all have sea views of some description. Breakfasts are served in an open-plan kitchen/breakfast room, where dinners with the freshest seafood are also available on request. Room rates are reasonable.
Best room Room 5 has a view of St Michael’s Mount.
Details Doubles are from £150 (01736 362024, chapelhousepz.co.uk)

13 Blakeney Hotel, north Norfolk
In the village of the same name, the Blakeney has a wonderful location overlooking salt marshes thick with reeds by an estuary in north Norfolk. It’s such a peaceful, isolated spot, and there are plenty of gorgeous walks along the coast. The hotel has 64 contemporary rooms in muted colours. Laze in one of the lounges with fireplaces and nautical memorabilia; telescopes face out across the estuary. Or else go for a dip in the 12m-long indoor pool, or relax in the steam room, sauna or hot tub. Expect fresh oysters and seafood on the menu in the restaurant. For a day trip, head off to Holkham Hall (holkham.co.uk), Blickling Estate (nationaltrust.org.uk) or Sandringham (sandringhamestate.co.uk).
Best room They may not sound that inspiring, but Category A rooms have lovely views of the marshland.
Details B&B doubles are from £184; Category A rooms with estuary views are from £268 B&B (01263 740797, blakeneyhotel.co.uk)

Shabby-chic at The Pig at Combe

14 The Pig at Combe, Gittisham, Devon
Tucked away in the Otter Valley with little in sight other than fields and woodland, The Pig at Combe is in an incredibly peaceful setting. Other hotels in the popular shabby-chic Pig chain are in the New Forest, Dorset and the Mendip Hills, but this is the pick of the crop in a fabulous Elizabethan country house shaped like a big “E”. You enter into a snazzy cocktail bar, which doubles as the reception and has a crackling fireplace. There are more lounges with fireplaces, and a restaurant with ingredients supplied by an enormous walled kitchen garden, beyond. Rooms, which are either in the main building or in a renovated stables, are decked out in reclaimed wood and have sisal carpets, Smeg fridges stocked with English bubbly, and smart bathrooms.
Best room The Hayloft, one of the four “hideaway” rooms, is open plan with a beamed ceiling and a freestanding bath in the bedroom.
Details Doubles are from £155; “hideaway” rooms are from £275 (01404 540400, thepighotel.com)

15 Ynyshir Hall, Powys, Wales
This arty “restaurant with ten rooms” is a former shooting lodge, parts of which date from the 15th century. It’s in a secluded location, set amid well-maintained gardens with a design that dates from the time when Queen Victoria owned the property. Under her supervision, giant redwoods, rhododendrons and wellingtonias were planted. Rooms are opulent and in vibrant colours: mustard yellows, pinks and shades of silver and gold. The hotel’s art collection is first rate, with many fine original landscapes and portraits, as well as abstract works. One of the highlights is the restaurant, which is overseen by the Michelin-starred chef Gareth Ward, who serves modern Welsh and English dishes, including roast lamb, sweet-and-sour mackerel and barbecue-flavoured pork.
Best room Chagall and Miró have wood-burning fires and garden views.
Details B&B double rooms are from £150; Chagall and Miró are from £350 B&B (01654 781209, ynyshirhall.co.uk)

The intriguing Bailiffscourt by the English Channel

16 Bailiffscourt Hotel & Spa, Climping, West Sussex
A minute’s stroll from the Channel and a beautiful, isolated pebble beach, Bailiffscourt is a little spa hotel with bags of character. The main building used to be home to one of the Guinness family; it was completed in the 1920s in a gothic style. Several outhouses were built at the same time and connected by intriguing tunnels beneath the well-tended gardens. Expect an ornate, traditional look in the 39 rooms, some of which have four-poster beds; there’s nothing minimalist or fussy about the decor. Heated indoor and outdoor pools feature in the spa, which also has steam rooms and treatment rooms. The fine-dining restaurant is dimly lit and atmospheric.
Best room The Baylies room has a particularly big four-poster bed and a high ceiling with rafters.
Details B&B doubles are from £229; the Baylies room is from £519 half-board (01903 723511, hshotels.co.uk)

17 Coworth Park, near Ascot, Berkshire
In a quiet parkland setting with meadows and polo fields, Coworth is based in a stylishly modernised Georgian mansion and is part of the Dorchester Collection. Rooms are slick and in muted colours, some with copper roll-top baths, four-poster beds and oatmeal rugs on pale wooden floors. There is nothing fussy about the crisp, clean look. The highlight is the top-quality spa, which is cleverly sunk into the garden and has an 18m-long indoor heated pool with underwater music, a relaxation area with crystals, and an aromatic steam room. There’s a fine-dining restaurant and a more laid-back brasserie, The Barn, which offers burgers and soups.
Best room The Mansion House Premium Suites have four-posters, but they’re eye-wateringly pricey.
Details Double rooms are from £298; Mansion House Premium Suites are from £1,216 (01344 876 600, dorchestercollection.com)

18 The Talbot Inn, Mells, Somerset
Just round the corner from Babington House, the private members’ club favoured by celebs, the Talbot is in the picturesque village of Mells. It’s perfect for a romantic escape with its eight super-chic rooms, cosy bar and down-to-earth restaurant serving pies, steaks, fish ’n’ chips and white chocolate cheesecake. This hideaway has an in-the-know following and it’s popular with the Babington House crowd, some of whom stay for a cheaper weekend away — rooms do not break the bank. Expect crisp Egyptian cotton sheets, Siberian goose down duvets, good-quality Bramley organic products in bathrooms, and smart televisions that allow guests to stream films through the free wi-fi. Mells is a quiet village with the church where the war poet Siegfried Sassoon is buried (mellsvillage.co.uk).
Best room Go for the Very Large Double room.
Details B&B doubles are from £100; the Very Large Double room is from £160 B&B (01373 812254, talbotinn.com)

19 The Vineyard, Stockcross, Berkshire
This one is for wine lovers as well as loved-up couples. More than 30,000 bottles of wine are stocked at The Vineyard, many of them visible through a reinforced glass floor above its magnificent wine vault. There’s also a first-class restaurant run by Robby Jenks. His renowned seven-course Judgement Tasting Menu (£89) features dishes such as crayfish raviolo, cod curry and slow-cooked partridge; to have accompanying wines selected by the sommelier, add £95. The 49 rooms are smart and well-appointed with modern art and tasteful decor. The hotel also has an excellent little spa with a circular swimming pool with currents.
Best room The massive grand suites, with four poster beds and spacious seating area.
Details B&B double rooms are from £216; grand suites are from £516 B&B (01635 528770, the-vineyard.co.uk)

Raymond Blanc’s Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons

20 Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Great Milton, Oxfordshire
And finally, it would be remiss not to include this perennial favourite. The Manoir aux Quat’Saisons is one of the most romantic hotels in Britain (if a tad pricey). The French chef Raymond Blanc has been running this Oxfordshire hotel for more than three decades and it has maintained its two Michelin-starred status since 1984. Dishes include tempting dishes such as roasted duck with blackberries and chard, risotto of wild mushroom with truffle cream, or crab with langoustine, coconut and lemongrass sorbet. There are 32 rooms and each is decorated differently — from southeast-Asian style, to French boudoir or with art deco touches.
Best room The minimalist-yet-opulent Blanc de Blanc.
Details B&B double rooms are from £555; dinner is an extra £140pp for a five-course meal; the Blanc de Blanc is from £1,465 B&B (01844 278881, belmond.com)