TEN OF BRITAIN'S FINEST GLOUCESTERSHIRE HOTELS

Adrian Mourby

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Gloucester is the UK's Cotswold County with strings of charming villages built out of this mellow limestone. The wool industry has been kind to Gloucestershire leaving behind lots of attractive, pre-industrial towns and the Regency spa city of Cheltenham, a rival in architecture to the glories of Bath. This is very much country house hotel territory, the kind of England I associate with long winter walks followed by a hot bath and a blazing log fire. The Severn Valley and Wye Valley, areas of great natural beauty are no distance. It's little wonder Prince Charles has his country home in Gloucestershire.
The Kings Hotel

Chipping Campden is a typical small Cotswold market town. The King's Hotel stands on its elegantly terraced High Street. The hotel's eighteenth-century façade is straight out of Jane Austen, although the building inside dates back to the fourteenth century in places. Expect a settle in the dining room, bedrooms with window seats and new leather sofas. You'll find the cosiest rooms are tucked under the rafters.

Buckland Manor

This thirteenth-century Cotswold manor comes straight out of Four Weddings & A Funeral. Log fires, oak panelling, big old chairs, afternoon tea and sherry before dinner, what more could you ask? The tiny local church is just next door if you really want the Richard Curtis experience. In 2012 the manor was one of the three finalists in the Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards.

The Greenway Hotel & Spa

Southwest out of Cheltenham on the A46 a small lodge guards the entrance to an Elizabethan-style manor house covered in ivy. Expect four posters and log fires inside and you won't be disappointed. The Elan Spa by contrast looks very modern indeed in amongst its exposed brickwork and old beams. The Orchard Brasserie is even more contemporary with hardwood floors and OTT chandeliers.