10 new and refurbished hotels and B&Bs in Britain for 2021
Hoping to make up for lost holiday time? We pick the best places for city, coastal and country getaways
Glebe House, Devon
Inspired by agriturismos, this former vicarage in the Coly valley, east Devon, is being turned into a smallholding, guesthouse and restaurant. There are five bedrooms and a self-contained annexe (due to open on 12 April), plus three dining areas and two living rooms. The house sits in expansive gardens and woodland, with a tennis court and outdoor heated pool. The owner recently retrained as a chef and will be serving simple nightly suppers (pies, casseroles) and a four-course set menu from Thursday to Sunday, using ingredients from the polytunnel and kitchen garden, and surrounding farms. Cookery classes are planned in the on-site bakery and charcuterie room. The room rate includes home-baked refreshments on arrival and a farmhouse breakfast. It is a short drive to the Jurassic Coast and fishing villages such as Beer and Branscombe.
Telegraph Hotel, Coventry
Coventry is the UK’s City of Culture 2021, with a year of events planned from 15 May. The Telegraph Hotel is due to open in May (postponed from November 2020) and is in the former offices of the city’s newspaper. These have been transformed into an 88-bedroom hotel that celebrates the building’s mid-century architecture, with touches of 1950s glamour: from the Forme & Chase all-day restaurant and lounge to the rooftop bar, with period furniture and art to match. The Lord Iliffe Suite is named after the family who started and, until recently, owned the newspaper, and comes with a hot tub and its own terrace.
The House at Hawes, Yorkshire Dales
A grand house in Hawes, built in 1890 from Stags Fell stone, is the latest boutique B&B from Fiona and Tim Gardham, who have previously owned guesthouses on the North Yorkshire coast and North York Moors. The four bedrooms each nod to the heritage of the Dales, such as brass bands and cheese-making. The Music Room, for example, has bedside lights made from trumpets and the words to the Swaledale anthem on the wall, while the Library has a box set of James Herriot books and a wall map of the Herriot Way. Breakfast changes with the seasons – although there is always a full Yorkshire – and may include a Wensleydale scramble or a breakfast salad with local black pudding. There are also vegan options, from homemade beans on toast to coconut pancakes with banana and maple syrup. Hawes is one of England’s highest market towns, with attractions including the Wensleydale Creamery, Dales Countryside Museum and Gayle Mill.
The Alice Hawthorn, North Yorkshire
This Grade II-listed foodie pub in Nun Monkton unveiled 12 new rooms in the first lockdown. Nearly a year on, it’s looking forward to opening permanently. Four existing rooms above the pub were reconfigured and feature exposed beams and, from two of them, views of the village green. The eight garden rooms were newly-built from Douglas fir with corrugated iron roofs – a nod to agricultural buildings. Inside, they are minimalist, in bare brick and timber, and with free-standing baths. The revamped beer garden with a pizza oven is bound to be a popular spot from 12 April, when people are allowed to sit outside pubs and restaurants again. The National Trust’s Beningbrough Hall is just outside the village; York is a 20-minute drive and Harrogate half an hour away.
Qbic Manchester
The Qbic chain started in Amsterdam and also has hotels in Brussels and London. This spring, a fourth property is opening on Deansgate in Manchester. Rooms range from Mini (small double) to Fancy (suite). Motley, the all-day restaurant and bar, will serve a menu described as “veggie forward”. All four hotels are intended to offer affordable city-centre stays, with an emphasis on sustainability: water-saving showers, organic toiletries and mattresses, solar panels and electric car-charging points. Guests who stay for more than one night without having their room serviced are rewarded with a free drink. Each hotel partners with local charities and social enterprises: at Qbic London, this includes Bikeworks (guests can borrow recycled bikes) and Cafe Art, which works with homeless artists.
Richmond Harbour Hotel & Spa, London
The former Richmond Gate hotel, an 18th-century building at the top of Richmond Hill, south-west London, has been bought and refurbished by the Harbour Hotels Group. It reopens in May with 90 bedrooms , restaurant and spa. Rooms have a British seaside feel – lots of red, white and blue, and stripes – and luxury rooms have free gin and sherry. The Gate is the hotel’s all-day brasserie, with a courtyard garden, and will turn into a bar with live music and DJs on Friday and Saturday nights. The spa has a gym and indoor pool, plus a zen garden with a hydrotherapy pool, plunge pool, hot tubs and sunloungers. The hotel is two minutes’ walk from the gate to Richmond Park, and a short stroll from the Thames and Richmond town centre.
Bodmin Jail Hotel, Cornwall
Bodmin Jail was built in 1779 and held prisoners until it closed in 1927. Now it has been converted into a 70-room hotel, each bedroom made from three former cells, with lots of original features – but significantly better toilet facilities. The governor’s office is now a bar with more than 100 varieties of gin, and there are two restaurants: the casual Jolly Hangman Tavern and the more formal Chapel Restaurant. A 75-pod glampsite and a spa will open in July. The new Bodmin Jail Attraction is on the same site, but is run separately. The hotel is less than a mile to the Camel Trail, a cycling and walking route along a disused railway line from Wenford Bridge to Padstow.
Plas Weunydd, north Wales
Llechwedd, an award-winning attraction in Snowdonia with a deep mine tour, plus zipwires, underground trampolining and mountain biking, will soon have a luxury B&B, too. The former mine manager’s house was originally going to open as a boutique hotel in 2020, but the pandemic prompted a change. Plas Weunydd will now be a 24-room B&B with a bar. There are also glamping lodges on site, which have recently been upgraded and are now open all year (restrictions allowing). Llechwedd is planning a literary and outdoors festival for October, with author appearances, running groups, live music and more.
The Albion, south-west Wales
Fforest farm, an 80-hectare site by the Teifi gorge, has a host of places to stay, from geodesic domes to a Georgian farmhouse. Now it is opening a 23-room hotel in the town of Aberteifi (Cardigan), in two historic warehouses by the river. The warehouses were formerly used for sail- and rope-making, and the renovation will preserve lots of original features, including 19th-century graffiti: pencil sketches of tall ships cover many of the lime-washed walls. The name is a tribute to the Albion, a brig that took the first Welsh settlers to Canada in 1819.
The Reef Inn, Inner Hebrides
This is a new-build luxury small hotel on the island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides. It is family-run inn and designed to be eco-conscious: the building is very well insulated, with air-source heat for the underfloor heating; no disposable plastics are used; bedding and toiletries are organic and the latter are refillable. Five of the eight bedrooms are suites and have stone freestanding baths; all have walk-in rain showers. The laid-back restaurant and bar serves dishes such as Tiree lobster, seafood linguine and pizza. To some, Tiree is known as the Hawaii of the north, thanks to its 46 miles of white sandy beaches, great surf and long hours of sunshine. It can be reached by ferry from Oban in four hours.
Andy is a camping expert with over 20 years of outdoor experience. He shares his expertise through his blog that features on his very own e-commerce camping gear store. He aspires to use his knowledge and experience to help disabled families get the most out of every trip they take.
