The leaves have turned golden and the season of hot chocolate, glowing sunsets, cosying up by a log fire and bracing walks in the countryside are upon us. Where better to enjoy the autumn than with a minibreak at some of the UK’s top ultra cosy pubs with rooms? Here, the Good Hotel Guide introduces some of their favourites.
The Gurnard’s Head, St Ives
The Gurnard’s Head is a dream destination that sits between St. Ives and St. Just, close to the Minack Theatre, Zennor, Penzance and Newlyn. The pub-with-rooms is a blissful place to stay, with eight bedrooms and views of the Atlantic as well as the moors and tors of Penwith. Each area of the hotel has been carefully considered and beautifully styled. Bedrooms are individually designed, featuring bright colours, Vi-Spring beds, a Roberts radio, fresh flowers, Bramley toiletries, local art and warm, Welsh blankets. Food is local, simple and earthy, while drink is warming and chosen with thought.
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The Felin Fach Griffin, Brecon
Brimming with convivial warmth, The Felin Fach Griffin is a stylish and peaceful pub-with-rooms set between The Black Mountains and The Brecon Beacons. The perfect combination of countryside bliss and carefully considered design, rooms are filled with beautiful details such as Welsh blankets, a Roberts radio, cut flowers, home-made biscuits, fresh milk, local artwork, and botanical toiletries. In the restaurant there’s a nightly-changing menu using ingredients from the surrounding Welsh larder including vegetables from the kitchen garden as well as local meat, and fish from Cornwall. Beers, wine, sherries and fruit juices are all chosen with love.
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The Rose & Crown, Norfolk
Behind a facade festooned with roses, The Rose & Crown in Norfolk is a charming, dog-friendly, 17th-century pub-with-rooms close to the RSPB’s Snettisham Nature Reserve. Full of character, this is a favourite haunt for both locals and visitors, with a welcoming atmosphere and lots of charming details. On cold days fires burn in cosy bars, and guests can choose to dine in the Cellar Bar or the Garden Room, tucking into a menu of staple pub classics with a twist. Retire to cottage-style rooms equipped with a cafetière and home-made biscuits for a restful night’s sleep.
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The Meikleour Arms, Perth and Kinross
A picturesque, Georgian, cottage-style inn on the Marquess of Lansdowne’s estate, The Meikleour Arms is a dog-friendly hotel, pub and an anglers’ dream. Surrounded by verdant gardens and delivering a superbly peaceful experience, the hotel echoes the deep Franco-Scottish roots of owners Sam Mercer Nairne, scion of the Marquesses of Lansdowne, and his Bordeaux-born wife, Claire. Take, the French antiques and toile-draped canopy beds, decanter of sherry and Arran Aromatics toiletries for example, in the rooms. When it comes to wining and dining, the Gallic-inspired menu adopts an estate-to-plate ethos with favourites including Meikleour black pudding scotch eggs and estate venison.
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Wild Thyme & Honey, Cirencester
The embodiment of Cotswold Chic, Wild Thyme & Honey is a boutique country inn surrounded by countryside. A chance to escape for a taste of the good life, it’s a little world of its own, with 24 bedrooms and its own cosy 16th-century pub, The Crown at Ampney Brook. Dining is a chance to experience imaginative farm-to-table dishes and whizzed-up classics dispensed from an open kitchen. Then retire to the rustic stylings of their chic accommodation, where natural wood floors, and lovely woolly textures blend with a New York loft-style look.
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The Angel Inn, Skipton
Under the guidance of chef patron Michael Wignall, The Angel at Hetton was awarded a Michelin star in 2022, just 18 months after it opened, and has also earned four AA Rosettes for its superb culinary offering. This charming Yorkshire destination is not only about fantastic food however, it’s also achingly stylish. Guests can stay in one of their 15 rooms, including Fell View Barn houses, three gorgeous suites and two luxury studio rooms across the road from the main building. Sycamore Bank is a cottage conversion next door with two studios and two suites, and each room includes beautiful details, ranging from roll top baths to magnificent views over Rylstone Fell.
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The Alice Hawthorn, York
A stylishly renovated Grade II-listed country pub between York and Harrogate, The Alice Hawthorn is a culinary treat as well as a charming place to stay. Run by Chef/patron John Topham, the menu offers elevated, seasonal, Yorkshire-influenced pub fare that are a joy for special occasions or simply just because. Meanwhile, there’s a choice of rooms to stay in, from those above the pub to newly-built, RIBA award-winning garden rooms constructed from homegrown Douglas-fir and finished inside with timber and exposed brick for a tranquil, contemporary experience.
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The Feathered Nest, Chipping Norton
A hedonistic haven, The Feathered Nest is an enchanting restaurant-with-rooms in a former 18th-century malthouse, sitting proudly overlooking the Evenlode Valley in Oxfordshire. Head Chef Renemar Pinedo is a master of the modern British menu, using locally sourced ingredients to earn the inn a reputation as one of the best places to eat in the Cotswolds. There’s also a choice of rooms to stay in, with names such as Cuckoo’s Den and Cockerel’s Roost, all with their own unique charm and thoughtful details such as home-baked biscuits, an espresso machine and Bramley toiletries.
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The Bell at Skenfrith, Monmouthshire
Beside a stone bridge over the River Monnow, The Bell at Skenfrith is a whitewashed former 17th-century coaching inn, set within the Monmouthshire landscape as if it was always meant to be there. A haven for walking and enjoying a peaceful weekend away, the dog-friendly destination embodies the best of countryside experiences. Step into a world of original beams, exposed stonework, stripped-wood floors, polished rustic tables and spindle-back chairs and tuck into meals that reflect the local larder, such as Wye Valley beef carpaccio, followed by pan-roast minted Welsh lamb cutlet, and Welsh cheeses. Rooms are named after fishing flies, and are cosy places to spend the night, with much-loved details like Welsh blankets, ground coffee, fresh milk and shortbread. Some have four-poster beds and freestanding baths; all have views over the garden, river or hills.
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The Bonnie Badger, Gullane
A well-known Michelin-starred gastropub-with-rooms set in the heart of East Lothian’s enchanting coastal village of Gullane, the Bonnie Badger brings together Scottish and Scandi style as well as a reputation for excellence. Here, everything is five-star but unpretentious, and dogs are welcome to join in the fun. Award-winning breakfasts and evening feasts are served with equal relish, always adopting their nature to plate philosophy and commitment to the Scottish seasons. There are also 12 individually designed rooms and one master suite to stay in, located across the main house and two cottages, each offering Scottish textiles, fine linens, luxurious bathrooms and bespoke Scottish toiletries.
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