We’re calling last orders on country pub stays that feature surly service, soggy Yorkshire puddings and swirly carpets. Luckily for us, a new generation of landlord has arrived to gently nudge these historic public houses into modernity with artisan-crafted interiors, farm-sourced fare and spoiling spas in sheds. Here we’ve gathered our pick of the best country pubs with rooms, each perfect for basking in England’s bucolic beauty (with local ale in hand).
BEADNELL TOWERS & KITCHEN
Northumberland
The Northumberland coast may be beautiful but it doesn’t exactly have a reputation for being warm – so you’ll be glad of the cosy greeting that awaits you at Beadnell Towers & Kitchen in the namesake coastal village, which lies at the edge of a curving beach.
The Grade II-listed hotel has a 300-year-long history, with the vintage stone, wooden beams and snug fireplaces to prove it. Equally enticing after a day out exploring the windswept coast is the kitchen, which will gladly help you get toasty by dispensing Cuddy’s Cave soufflés, slow-roasted harissa lamb with tzatziki, and some comfort-food staples, including, of course, plenty of hyper-fresh seafood from the local fishermen.
There are many castles to choose from along this wild shoreline – most famously Alnwick, which stood in for Hogwarts in the early Harry Potter films (eagle-eyed fans may recognise the Quidditch and broomstick-class backdrops). Also worth a visit is the 16th-century Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island, accessible only during certain times of the day due to the causeway being covered by the North Sea at high tide.
THE BECKFORD ARMS
Wiltshire
It’s been a boozer since 1740, so ivy-covered idyll the Beckford Arms has had 242 years to perfect the art of wining, dining and unwinding. And we say they’ve got it nailed – beamed ceilings, bay windows and open fires help to create the cosiest of surroundings downstairs.
But don’t just take our word for it: the surest sign of a cracking country pub is that it’s packed with locals, and, sure enough, the Beckford bustles all weekend long. The food here is famous (we don’t use the word lightly) and on a Sunday lunch time, seemingly the entire county congregates here for a roast. Everything on the menu is seasonal and straight-forward with strictly no gastro gimmicks, and always served with a genuine smile from an unfeasibly healthy-looking local lad or lass.
Upstairs, the eight bedrooms are stylishly furnished with Welsh wool blankets, sisal rugs and just-picked wild flowers in bud vases. You’ll be particularly charmed by breakfast, which comes on a proper tea tray with a silver teapot to boot. And speaking of boots, the pub sits on the 10,000-acre Fonthill Estate, so they’ll come in handy for roaming the rolling parkland, woodland and formal gardens.
DOUBLE RED DUKE
Oxfordshire
This honey-hued Cotswolds (in spirit, if not by the letter of the geographical law) stone pub takes its name from a folkloric figure, which is apt because a stay here does feel a bit like living in a fairy tale.
Perhaps it’s because some of Britain’s finest artisans had a hand in the Arts and Crafts-inspired interiors – there are Fermoie fabrics, bespoke Little Greene paint on the walls and hand-crafted tiles on the floor.
Maybe it’s the shepherd’s hut in the grounds where you can skip off for spa treatments using 100 Acres aromatherapy products. And possibly it’s because of the wolfish appetite you’ll need to work up to tackle the pub menu – the Double Red Duke‘s chefs are both alumni of meat temples Hawksmoor and PittCue, so expect hearty steaks cooked over an open grill, throwback staples like shrimp cocktail, and comforting bar snacks including cheese toasties and bacon rib croquettes.
It all combines for a pleasingly soporific effect – luckily the snug’s overstuffed sofas, roaring fire and stash of board games were made for lazy afternoons.
THE PHEASANT INN
Berkshire
The Pheasant Inn may share its name with a game bird, but the talk is mostly of thoroughbreds inside this sporty pub in the North Wessex Downs, also known as ‘the Valley of the Racehorse’ because of the sheer number of training grounds in cantering distance.
This means you’re more than likely to rub fetlocks at the bar with Britain’s foremost owners, trainers and perhaps even jockeys, particularly after race days at Newbury. But if talk of gallops and geldings leaves you cold, don’t worry – as well as horses, the surrounding countryside is also peppered with quaint villages, historic market towns and antiques havens (make Hungerford Arcade your first stop).
We’ll have a flutter that you won’t want to venture too far from the locally-sourced menu that’s worth loosening your jodhpurs for, cosy bedrooms complete with duck-down duvets, bath tubs and Bamford bath products, or Bloody Mary bar that gets wheeled out at brunch time.
LORD POULETT ARMS
Somerset
Firstly, a Lord Poulett Arms tip: it’s not pronounced like the French word for chicken, it’s ‘paulett’. The name comes from the Hon Earl Paulett whose ancestral seat is just down the road from the pub’s sleepy, south Somerset village of Hinton Saint George.
Really, though, who needs a stately home when you’ve got a thatched English inn with pétanque in the garden, craft beers from the nearby Butcombe Brewery and glorious walking paths leading straight from the front door?
The six characterful bedrooms above the inn have comfy super-king-size beds where you can sleep off the coma-inducing effects of cider battered fish and chips, triple chocolate skillet cookies and pints of Poulett cider.
THE BRADLEY HARE
Wiltshire
The Bradley Hare reposes in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the Duke of Somerset’s estate (though it’s actually just over the border in Dorset).
Although we’d be remiss not to address the outstanding beauty inside – interiors aficionados, beware, you’ll be itching to redecorate after laying eyes on the soft grey wool curtains, 18th-century antiques, heritage wallpapers and covetable cushions that adorn the historic bones of this not-so-average village pub.
The man responsible is James Thurstan Waterworth, a former design director at Soho House, whose inimitable eye has ensured that every bedroom (seven in the main pub and five in the neighbouring coach house) oozes softly-spoken sophistication. Despite all this urbanity, the Bradley Hare’s feet are still firmly planted in the duchy’s soil – there are local Somerset ciders on tap, dogs and little Smiths are very welcome and there’s a stash of wellies for walks around the West Wiltshire Downs.
THE OLD BELL HOTEL
Wiltshire
The Old Bell Hotel claims to be England’s oldest, but you’d be wrong to picture a dusty old watering hole with a creaky bar and a few modestly arranged rooms. In fact, aside from its retiring wisteria-clad façade and dramatic hooded fireplace (which dates all the way back to 1220) there’s nothing obviously old here at all.
Rather, this maximalist dame is dedicated to another character of English life – the flamboyant and frill-loving eccentric. Imagine Grayson Perry as a landlady and you’ll have a rough approximation of the Old Bell’s moodboard; pattern-clashing wallpapers, William Morris prints, pop colours, subway tiles and, of course, faux-taxidermy giraffe heads.
Religious relics and stained-glass windows reference the rich history of the hotel’s equally magnificent neighbour, Malmesbury Abbey, with 8,000 gold stars hand-painted on the restaurant’s ceiling. And the food is just as heavenly.
But while there’s nothing traditional about this unorthodox alehouse, it still has one thing in common with your classic country pub. Namely, the cosy, convivial atmosphere where pub quizzes and live music, crackling fires and the dulcet chatter of well-dressed locals will have you feeling right at home.
THE QUEEN’S ARMS
Somerset
Flanked by Jurassic scarps and undulating Somerset hills, the ancient settlement of Corton Denham isn’t a place you’ll find in guidebooks. Home to just 189 people, this blushingly bucolic village is composed of butchers, bakers and craft cider makers who busy themselves with modest but noble affairs; parish council meetings, monthly book clubs, and even a gardening society.
But now, thanks to an energetic family who bought the Queen’s Arms back in 2020, you’re just as likely to find trendy out-of-towners flocking here for a tipple or two, and staying long after last orders in one of eight colourful bedrooms.
Hailing from an impressive foodie background (Ballymaloe cookery school and a lengthy stint at Leith’s in London, that is), the new owners have combined their gastro credentials, keen eye for interiors and a love of landscaping to create a West Country crowd pleaser with something to suit every season..
That means a ginkgos-flanked garden with enough rose bushes to dress a Tudor wedding, plenty of cosy nooks to curl up in when the weather won’t play ball, a farm-to-fork menu of delicate dishes and elevated pub classics, and a thorough inventory of Somerset ales and Babylonstoren wines besides.
WILD THYME AND HONEY
Cotswolds
If your idea of a wild time is eating your bodyweight in ox-cheek bourguignon and locally-made cheeses, spending quality one-on-one time with nature, or sinking yourself into a deep, sud-strong bath tub, Wild Thyme and Honey may just be for you.
Set by a babbling brook in a handsome Gloucestershire hamlet, this spruced-up 16th century inn and its neighbouring pub is all about country life, taking its name from the honey-hued Cotswold stone of local houses and the fragrant purple herbs that grow in between them.
Join the locals propping up the bar which has been whetting punters’ whistles for centuries, not that you’d know it, with its authentic-but-aspirational blend of wood, wicker and wool; grab a negroni and hit the courtyard for scenic sipping in England’s green lung, or tuck into a Herculean roast from one of the alfresco glass dining domes of the sort you’d see along the South Bank.
And though rooms here may have the haute-rustic feel of a chic city loft, the relentless hum of city life is notably absent so you can end each day on an all-thyme high.
Continue your crawl around the rest of our boutique pubs with rooms
Updated in July 2024 with additional text by Stephanie Gavan and Caroline Lewis