A 'Good Hotel Guide' to some of the best Hotels in the Cotswolds

Good Hotel Guide - The Wheatsheaf

From luxury spas to cosy B&Bs, stately homes to coaching inns, there’s an overwhelming range of great places to stay in the Cotswolds. Narrowing down the options can be difficult – but it’s a nice problem to have! 

This is where the Good Hotel Guide can help you. If you like your accommodation to have character and a personal touch, chances are you’ll like the hotels in the Good Hotel Guide's Cotswold Collection.   

The Good Hotel Guide curates one of Britain’s most respected and diverse selections of accommodation with personality. Simple B&Bs and village inns are listed alongside grand country houses and city hotels. Most are small, family owned and family run, where the owners and their staff spend time looking after their guests rather than reporting to an area manager. 

The fiercely independent nature of the Good Hotel Guide means its judgements are made without fear or favour. In fact, the Guardian once described them as “squeaky clean”. The Guide’s inspectors always arrive unannounced and pay their own way, and expert editors write up the reviews. The Guide doesn’t accept payment or hospitality in return for an entry in the print edition of the Guide.* Entries are chosen solely on merit, and often start life as recommendations from Guide readers with tried and trusted tastes. 

Hotels that make it into the Guide have a warm welcome with flexible service, a convenient or impressive location, a coherent and considered style and a fondness for small gestures such as fresh flowers, fresh milk, homemade biscuits and passing kindnesses. Inadequate bedside lighting, weak showers, intrusive noise and bossy notes or house rules are big no-nos.

If you value these things too, you’ll probably appreciate these Cotswolds hotels.

Find out more information about the Cotswolds hotels in the Good Hotel Guide by clicking here.

Lords of the Manor, Upper Slaughter - www.lordsofthemanor.com

Michelin-starred cooking, neatly cropped box hedges and a traditional grand old English style are the order of the day at this country house hotel in one of the Cotswolds’ most quintessential villages. Service is warm, smiling and efficient, and breakfasts are generous. Lords of the Manor is one of the most acclaimed hotels in the Cotswolds, and is one of the Good Hotel Guide’s Editor's Choice 2016 Country House Hotels. www.goodhotelguide.com/editors-choice-country-house-hotels

The Wheatsheaf, Northleach - www.cotswoldswheatsheaf.com

There’s an unmistakeable buzz at this modern conversion of a former coaching inn. There are flagstone floors in the bar, which is favoured by locals – always a good sign – and polished wooden floors in the two dining areas with well-spaced mismatched tables and chairs. A striking series of portraits on canvas decorate the walls. Rooms have free-standing baths and ‘have you forgotten’ packs of bathroom essentials that are a cut above.

The Redesdale Arms, Moreton In Marsh - www.redesdalearms.com

Dating back to 1650, this old coaching inn on the main street of a medieval market town has an oak-beamed interior, old passages in the bars and restaurant, and an open fire in the residents’ lounge. The hands-on owner/manager greets his guests with a warm welcome and staff provide terrific service.

The Feathered Nest, Nether Westcote - www.thefeatherednestinn.co.uk

There’s a pylon-free view of the Evenlode valley from this 300-year-old malthouse. It has been converted into a smart pub and restaurant with flagstone floors and a log fire in the bar, which stocks cask ales. The bedrooms have Nespresso coffee machines, fresh flowers, fruit, chocolates, books and current magazines, free-range hangers in the wardrobe and extra directional reading lamps. It (almost) goes without saying that the food’s delectable too.

Calcot Manor, Tetbury - www.calcot.co

Bedrooms in this renowned luxury hotel in a converted 14th-century farmhouse are spread between the main house and a collection of medieval stone barns and stables around a Cotswold stone courtyard. There’s a spa, tennis courts, outdoor pool, and real ales and a log fire in the Gumstool Inn, all within the hotel’s 220 acres of meadowland.

The Broadway Hotel, Broadway - www.cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/the-broadway-hotel

Once a retreat for the abbots of Pershore, this welcoming hotel in a 16th-century stone house has a cool, modern atrium restaurant and individually styled bedrooms named after winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Breakfast is particularly delightful, with personal touches such as homemade Drambuie marmalade.

Find out more information about the Cotswolds hotels in the Good Hotel Guide by clicking here.

* Hotels do pay a fee to appear on the Guide’s website, but only those hotels and B&Bs that are chosen for the print edition are eligible for a web entry.

Saltridge Woods (Credit: Ken Long)