10 Of The UK’s Most Beautiful Boutique Hotels
From a Georgian house perched above the Thames to a lodge built for groomkeepers deep in the New Forest, we have rounded up the best boutique hotels the UK has to offer. Some are grand, some are gloriously eccentric, and a few will make you rethink what a hotel room can even be. From city hideaways to countryside escapes, here’s our pick of the properties worth planning a trip around.
Hyll Hotel
Set within 60 acres of Cotswold countryside, Hyll Hotel offers a boutique stay outside of the hustle of the city. The architecture and interiors are thoughtfully done without feeling showy, and the whole place is designed to nudge you into slowing down, whether that’s through long dinners that aren’t rushed or quiet corners made for doing absolutely nothing. It’s less about ticking off amenities and more about creating room to actually switch off, which sounds simple but is surprisingly rare.
Where: HYLL Hotel, The Cotswolds, Charingworth, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire GL55 6NS
Website: hyllhotel.com
Cliveden House
Cliveden House sits on 376 acres of National Trust parkland in Berkshire, a Grade I stately home built in 1666 with a history full of scandal, royalty and grand parties, just 40 minutes from London. The five AA Red Star property pairs proper country house grandeur with genuine indulgence, from the sunlit Cliveden Dining Room overlooking the Thames to the more relaxed Astor Grill tucked into the old stables. Add a top-of-the-range spa, individually named suites full of character and gardens that beg to be wandered, and you’ve got a stay built for slowing right down.
Where: Taplow, Maidenhead SL6 0JF
Website: www.clivedenhouse.com
The Gore
Few London hotels can claim a Rolling Stones connection and a royal postcode in the same breath, but The Gore London has both, quietly holding court in Kensington since 1892.
Each of the 50 rooms and suites is dressed with antiques, rich fabrics and a real sense of theatre, so no two corners of the hotel feel quite the same. Downstairs, 190 Queen’s Gate Restaurant is serving up seasonal British produce and English wine. It’s a hotel that wears its storied past well, without ever feeling like a museum piece.
Where: 190 Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5EX
Website: collezione.starhotels.com
The Pelham
Step through the door of The Pelham London and you land somewhere that feels less like a hotel and more like a particularly well-travelled friend’s townhouse, right across from South Kensington station and minutes from the Natural History Museum, the V&A and the Science Museum. Kit Kemp’s interiors give each of the 51 rooms and suites its own personality. Think bold patterns and colours, antiques and playful art.
Downstairs, the library and drawing room channel English country house charm, ideal for a lazy afternoon tea, while La Trattoria brings a taste of Italy courtesy of Head Chef Roberto Roncolato’s seasonal cooking.
Where: 15 Cromwell Place, South Kensington, London SW7 2LA
Website: collezione.starhotels.com
The Beaumont
Tucked away on a quiet Mayfair garden square yet only minutes from Bond Street and Selfridges, The Beaumont wears its Art Deco bones proudly. Inside, Chef Lisa Goodwin-Allen puts a fresh spin on British classics at Rosi, cocktails come with a side of people watching at Le Magritte’s terrace, and afternoon tea at The Gatsby Room arrives with live piano for good measure. Down below, the hotel hides a spa sanctuary, Hammam, ice bar and all, easy to miss if you didn’t know it was there. But the one to talk about is ROOM, the suite built inside an Antony Gormley sculpture, cave-like and strange in the best way, the sort of place that makes you rethink what a hotel room can even be.
Where: The Beaumont Brown Hart Gardens Mayfair London W1K 6TF
Website: www.thebeaumont.com
Broadwick Soho
Broadwick Soho basically is Soho in hotel form, all the grit and glamour of the neighbourhood squeezed into 57 rooms on the corner of Broadwick and Berwick Street. The interiors effortlessly bring together Jazz Age glitz, pieces of Italy, English eccentricity and a good dose of disco without any of it feeling forced. It’s over the top in the best way, the sort of place that makes you want to dress up a bit just walking in. Properly independent and properly Soho, it’s got more personality than most hotels twice its size.
Where: Berwick Street, London W1F 8TH
Website: www.broadwicksoho.com
Lucknam Park
Lucknam Park is a Palladian mansion set within 500 acres of parkland on the edge of the Cotswolds, the kind of place where the driveway alone takes a good few minutes to walk.
Inside, its interiors embody country house living. Think high ceilings, quiet grandeur, a Restaurant Hywel Jones holding a Michelin star and the sort of spa people plan whole weekends around. There’s an equestrian centre too, so mornings can start on horseback through the grounds before easing into afternoon tea or a long lunch at the Walled Garden Restaurant.
Where: Lucknam Park, Chippenham SN14 8AZ
Website: www.lucknampark.com
2 Chesham Hotel
Behind a Grade II listed facade in Belgravia, 2 Chesham Hotel i is comprised of 18 bespoke rooms. Each of these keeps the bones of its Thomas Cubitt heritage but softens them with contemporary touches. There’s no grand lobby or fanfare here, just genuinely attentive service and a level of privacy that’s gone missing from most of central London. With Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Sloane Square all on the doorstep, it’s a quiet, well- placed base for the city, the kind of boutique stay that earns the word rather than just borrowing it.
Where: 2 Chesham Street, London SW1X 8DT
Website: 2cheshamhotel.com
THE PIG, The New Forest
This is the original PIG, tucked away in Brockenhurst’s ancient woodland and built way back in 1602 as a lodge for the New Forest’s groomkeepers. It’s all about the Kitchen Garden, a lovely old walled plot that feeds the greenhouse restaurant, where the menu changes daily and barely strays more than 25 miles from the door. The 31 rooms run from snug doubles to converted stables and quirky garden hideaways like Bert’s Box, each one shaggy round the edges in that comfortable, lived-in PIG way. Add ponies wandering past the windows, a fire worth sinking into after a forest walk, and treatment rooms hidden in old potting sheds, and you’ve got the kind of place that makes doing nothing feel like the whole point.
Where: B3055, Brockenhurst SO42 7QL
Website: www.thepighotel.com
Richmond Hill Hotel
Perched high above the Thames with those famous views stretching out below, Richmond Hill Hotel wears its nearly 300 years of Georgian history beautifully, blending original charm with a thoroughly modern boutique feel. The bedrooms and social spaces are effortlessly stylish, while dinner at 144 On The Hill feels like a proper destination in its own right. Step outside, and you’re minutes from Richmond Park’s wild open spaces, the riverside paths and a cluster of lovely independent shops, yet central London is still within easy reach.
Where: 144-150 Richmond Hill, Richmond TW10 6RW
Website: www.richmondhill-hotel.co.uk
