LUXURY HOTELS WITH GOLF COURSES WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE

Emma Love

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From the epic scenery to the bunkers and fairways that determine difficulty, there are multiple factors that add up to a destination golf course. Not many, however, belong to an equally exceptional hotel where the food, spa and activities on offer are all on par. Here are five of the best hotels with golf courses in the UK.

Golf has been an integral part of this Dartmoor hotel since it was opened in 1930 by Great Western Railways. You can perfect your swing in the tee practice area (it includes four heated covered bays, plus dedicated spaces for chipping, pitching and putting) before playing the John Abercromby-designed, 18-hole golf course. For beginners or anyone wanting to brush up on their techniques, lessons can be booked with PGA pro Rob Selley. Afterwards, choose from dining at the Great Western Grill for classics such as steak and lobster, or Smith’s Brasserie, which serves international food. Plush rooms (velvet sofas, thick drapes, marble bathrooms) are split between the historic manor and courtyard while the private estate lodges are ideal for families or groups of friends. There’s also a spa, yoga studio and masses of on-site activities: think trout fly fishing with a ghillie on the castle lake, cider making in a candle-lit barn and an off-road land rover driving experience through the woodlands.

Four Open Championships have taken place at The Ailsa, one of the best-known golf courses in the UK. Set on the Ayrshire coastline with Arran and Ailsa Craig as the backdrop, the par-71 course was reimagined in 2014 (changes included adding five new holes) when The Trump Organisation invested over £200m. There’s also a newer course named after the 13th-century king of Scotland, King Robert the Bruce, who was born in Turnberry Castle (several holes have views of the castle ruins). The Duel in the Sun restaurant, named in honour of the legendary play-off between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus in the 1977 Open Championship, specialises in steak and lobster – one of five restaurants at luxury hotel Trump Turnberry. If you only eat dinner at one, make it the signature 1906, where service starts each evening at 19.06. Traditional rooms are furnished with mahogany beds, faux-silk wallpaper and gold leaf-detail bedside tables; the two-bedroom Turnberry Lighthouse Suite has a living room, terrace and seascape vistas. In the spa, treatments use ishga skincare products, made from organic Scottish seaweed.

The PGA tournament golf course at this family-run luxury country house hotel on the edge of the Cotswolds has historic roots. Adjacent to the site where the 15th-century Battle of Tewskesbury took place, the 18-hole par 72 course was built on a medieval deer park – hence its name, which was changed several years ago to The Deerpark, after £10 million of investment (in 2016, it was upgraded by former Walker Cup captain, Peter McEvoy OBE). There’s also a second, 9-hole par 3 course, The Acorn. On non-golf days, soothe aching muscles with a relaxing spa massage, join a wellness class or play tennis. Local single-estate gin and tonics are served in the cocktail bar and lounge; dinner happens at Mint at Tewkesbury Park, where you can choose from the six-course tasting menu or hearty classics on the a la carte menu, such as Gloucester Old Sport pork belly and butter chicken curry. Sunday brunch is a real occasion at Tewkesbury Park and includes a pudding table with a Wonka-esque chocolate fountain.

From the dramatic first tee which overlooks a waterfall to the tree-lined fairways and bunkers, the 18-hole par 72 course at this Wiltshire hotel in Castle Combe is special. The Manor House Hotel & Golf Club is also run with the environment in mind: there are electric buggies and the clubhouse is powered by biomass fuels and solar panels. The open-air driving range, chipping and putting greens is the place to warm up; the halfway hut is a converted airstream trailer where players can fuel up for the back nine. The honey-hued manor house itself is surrounded by parkland with Italian gardens, a babbling brook and period mews cottages dotted around the grounds (some of the best suites come with a wood-burning stove, others a cedar hot tub on the terrace). No stay is complete without trying the seven-course tasting menu at Michelin-starred modern British restaurant Bybrook, overseen by executive chef Robert Potter, followed by a nightcap at Time bar, where Margaret Thatcher penned her memoirs. 

Recent host of The Ryder and Solheim Cups, luxury country house hotel Gleneagles has not one but a trio of legendary championship golf courses: The King’s Course, an inland links classic created by James Braid which opened in 1919; The Queen’s Course on the north and west of the estate; and The PGA Centenary Course, which has views over the Ochil Hills. The Perthshire landscape is also the inspiration behind the interiors of the elegant, homely rooms (choose between sleeping in the main house, or closer to the spa and pool in the newer Braid House wing). With four restaurants, including two Michelin-star Andrew Fairlie and The Strathearn for fine dining, as well as a Centenary Afternoon tea (influences include the 1980s Taste of Gleneagles cookbook and the late queen’s Scottish favourites), the food at Gleneagles is another big draw. There are country pursuits galore – deer stalking, trout fishing, gun dog training – and more than 400 whiskies on the menu in The Century Bar, which is the perfect place for a wee dram.