Not everyone wants to escape to the country; the built environment can be just as refreshing. Here, as The Good Hotel Guide for 2025 goes live online, the editors pick 12 favourite bases from which to explore the UK’s towns and cities…
Grays Court, York
Tucked away down a narrow, cobbled street, this beautiful hotel, with an oasis garden bounded by the city wall, dates in parts from Norman times, with later additions. Bedrooms are furnished with antiques, one has a William IV four-poster, some look out to York Minster.
You can lunch on small and large plates in the panelled Jacobean Long Gallery and dine on organic home-grown produce in the Georgian Bow Room. Museums, art galleries and independent shops are nearby.
Book it: rooms from £240, B&B grayscourtyork.com
The Cookie Jar, Alnwick, Northumberland
In the centre of a historic market town, Debbie Cook has transformed a former convent into a fun hotel and restaurant serving modern British cooking. Each bedroom has a Hypnos bed, home-baked cookies, a drench shower and Penhaligon’s toiletries.
They’re all lovely, but the stand-out is the Chapel Suite with copper bath and stained-glass window. Alnwick Castle is practically next door and Barter Books in the disused Victorian station is bibliophile heaven.
Book it: rooms from £205, B&B. cookiejaralnwick.com
Darwin’s Townhouse, Shrewsbury
Animal and plant wallpapers, maps, globes and natural-history artefacts adorn this Georgian townhouse named in honour of Shrewsbury’s most illustrious son. It’s a B&B with the ambience of a private home, with a dog-friendly garden lodge for those who want to bring the beagle.
After breakfast in the conservatory, you might walk the River Severn path or explore the town’s Tudor backstreets.
Book it: rooms from £140, B&B. darwinstownhouse.com
The Lime Tree, London SW1
Occupying two handsome 19th-century Belgravia townhouses, this hotel is praised for its understated charm, after an extensive lockdown redesign and refurbishment. Reasonably priced bedrooms come in various sizes, some with a wrought-iron balcony, all very chic with good fabrics and Farrow & Ball colours.
Breakfast, brunch, light lunches and tea and cakes are served in the Buttery, and guests can use the little back garden, with good restaurants close at hand, including the legendary Poule au Pot.
Book it: rooms from £215, B&B. limetreehotel.co.uk
The Old Bridge, Huntingdon, Cambs
A cream tea awaits arrivals at this riverside hotel in a market town just an hour by train from London. Although under new owners, it remains a local institution, a friendly drop-in with an all-day lounge menu, and foodie fare served in the restaurant or on the patio.
There is a good choice of characterful bedrooms, and a bottle shop for daily wine tastings. A museum dedicated to Oliver Cromwell is housed in the grammar school he attended.
Book it: rooms from £189, B&B. oldbridgehuntingdon.co.uk
Hart’s Hotel and Kitchen, Nottingham
Built in 2003 to an eco-friendly design, on the ramparts of what survives of Nottingham Castle, this sleek hotel stands in a peaceful, leafy setting, away from the city bustle. Bedrooms and suites are contemporary, tasteful and uncluttered but generously equipped.
You can dine or drink cocktails in Hart’s Kitchen or alfresco, from a menu of creative takes on the classics. Breakfast features freshly squeezed OJ and bread from the owners’ bakery.
Book it: rooms from £169, room-only, cooked breakfast £17. hartsnottingham.co.uk
The Angel Hotel, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
In a market town dubbed ‘the gateway to Wales’, this Georgian coaching inn offers spiffy, commodious rooms and suites for visitors, and social gathering spaces for everyone. Food is served all day in the Foxhunter Bar, with formal dining from an eclectic menu in the Oak Room. At breakfast there are breads and pastries from the next-door Angel Bakery, while fine-dining sister restaurant the lauded Walnut Tree is 10 minutes away by taxi.
Book it: rooms from £185 B&B. angelabergavenny.com
Brocco on the Park, Sheffield
An Edwardian park-side villa has been brilliantly made over as a Scandi-chic hotel. Each of the air-conditioned bedrooms has an espresso machine, smart TV, mini fridge, fresh milk, homemade cakes and Bramley toiletries. The Dovecote room with freestanding copper bathtub commemorates a visit from Picasso in the 1950s.
Food is served in the restaurant and alfresco all day, with a midweek small-plates menu, and à la carte and tasting menus at weekends.
Book it: rooms £140, B&B. brocco.co.uk
The Queensberry, Bath, Somerset
They’re serious about food and service, yet an irrepressible sense of fun runs through this hotel, which is named after Oscar Wilde’s nemesis, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry, and spread over four townhouses.
The best bedrooms have floor-to-ceiling windows; cheaper club rooms are small but chic with ravishing use of colour. There’s a relaxed menu in Old Q Bar, and Chris Cleghorn’s Michelin-star menus in the Olive Tree restaurant.
Book it: rooms from £182, B&B. thequeensberry.co.uk
White Hart Hotel, Lincoln
In a great setting at the city’s historic heart, within sight and sound of the cathedral, this former coaching inn has had a swish makeover by new owner Andrew Long. From cosy doubles to the luxury King Edward Suite, the rooms are spruce, all with an espresso machine, a mini fridge and a dusky palette.
Bistro classics are on the menu in Antlers restaurant. It’s the perfect base from which to explore ‘England’s most underrated city’.
Book it: rooms from £119, B&B. whitehart-lincoln.co.uk
Number Thirty-Eight Clifton, Bristol
Set at the top of one of Bristol’s highest hills, this Georgian merchant’s house is an uber-cool B&B with views across the city to the Mendips from sexy, uncluttered bedrooms at the rear. All have a fridge and luxury toiletries; some a copper roll-top bath and walk-in shower. Drinks can be taken in the lounge, the library, or on a suntrap rooftop terrace.
Book it: rooms from £155, B&B. number38clifton.com
Prestonfield House, Edinburgh
Peacocks patrol the parkland at this impossibly glamorous 17th-century country house in the city, under Arthur’s Seat. Theatrical interiors are filled with artworks and antiques, tapestries and curios. Romantic bedrooms, some with a four-poster, have rich velvets, flowing drapes, dark patterned wallpapers and marble bathrooms.
A gourmet candlelit dinner is served in Rhubarb restaurant, and if your budget won’t run to that, you could come by for afternoon tea.
Book it: rooms from £375, B&B. prestonfield.com
Prices quoted per night for a double room. More info at goodhotel guide.com