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October 14, 2020
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October 28, 2020
Top 10 Luxury Places to Stay In & Beyond Bath
We at ‘In & Beyond Bath’ are passionate about sharing the very best and breadth of our beloved city of Bath, with you; curious and discerning visitors looking to truly connect with our heritage, culture, and region. Here then, for your delectation, are our Top 10 Luxury Places to Stay In & Beyond the City – all hand-picked by us because it’s what we’d recommend to our own friends and family.
Located at the very centre of one of Bath’s most iconic buildings, the Royal Crescent, the Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa is the ultimate choice for those looking to encounter the very best of luxury, service, and heritage. Formed from the two central addresses in the Crescent, the hotel is an oasis of tranquility and comfort boasting a fabulous spa, restaurant, gym, and garden. It also boasts stunning, spacious rooms that suitably reflect the building’s (and city’s) incredible Georgian heritage. The service is impeccable and polite, and there is no better way to connect with Jane Austen’s Bath than to stay a night or to enjoy a decadent afternoon tea in the garden with friends or a loved one.
Located just eight miles east of Bath in the southern Cotswolds, Lucknam Park is one of England’s most luxurious and exclusive hotels. A former grand country estate, the main house was built in the Palladian style in the 1720s and the hotel’s goal is to offer purely ‘refined’ luxury. Set within 500 acres of managed parkland and gardens, it has a Michelin-starred restaurant, a cooking school, horse-riding, archery, and probably the most impressive spa in the country. Lucknam Park is the perfect place to get away from it all and indulge in complete relaxation and recuperation.
For those wanting to stay in the heart of Bath, but away from the noise and crowds, The Gainsborough Bath Spa is the ideal choice. A 5-star hotel located just several hundred yards from the Roman Baths, Abbey, and central shopping areas, it is the only hotel in Bath whose spa uses the very same spring water as the Roman Baths – filtered of course. The hotel offers beautiful, Georgian-inspired rooms, a triple-Rosette restaurant, and fantastic service at the heart of the city. But it is the hotel’s ‘spa village’ that is its greatest selling point, offering a beautiful, classically inspired indoor pool and spa and all the spa treatments one could ever wish for.
This ‘new’ hotel opened in Bath in late 2020 and occupies a series of adjacent Georgian townhouses dating from the late 1700s, it represents a very exciting addition to the city’s high-end accommodation. On acquiring the site, the new owners entirely gutted the interior, rebuilding it from the bare-bones to create a hotel that conforms to the very latest safety and accessibility standards whilst ensuring that the décor reflects the splendour of its Georgian past.
Every room and fitting has been custom designed to combine the best of Georgian elegance with modern convenience and comfort whilst minimising the hotel’s environmental impact. For example, every room has access to the latest, most modern air-con system, and the hotel is fully accessible by lift/elevator. The bar and restaurant are truly atmospheric and the hotel’s location south of the river, just 500 yards from the Abbey and Roman Baths, makes it an ideal refuge for those looking for somewhere that combines the best of old and new, convenience and solitude.
One of my favourite hotels in the whole of England, this historic hotel oozes charm and old school elegance. Located in the incomparably pretty Cotswolds village of Castle Combe, just 10 miles outside of Bath, the hotel has spent most of its history as a manor house, dating back to the 1200s and becoming a hotel in the 1950s. Since then, it has become a quintessential English country hotel filled with character, heritage, cosy fire-places, intimate wood-panelled bars, stunning grounds, Michelin-starred restaurant, and an internationally regarded 18-hole golf course. This is not that glossy, everything-is-consistent kind of luxury, but the understated, eclectic, intimate variety.
Located on a quiet street on the southern bank of the River Avon, The Roseate Villa resides in a noticeably different building for Bath. Built in the 1860s, The Roseate Villa invokes more of a French Regency air than the British, Georgian regency that most would associate with Bath. Nevertheless, this luxury guesthouse offers sumptuously comfortable yet unfussy, elegant rooms with a highly personalised service delivered by Caroline and her team, all just a charming. It is a short walk from the centre and therefore the Bath Spa Railway Station. The breakfasts are to die for and tea on the lawn overlooking the river is an experience well worth investing in.
The Pig Near Bath offers a pretty special and rather unique experience. Located in Hunstrete, 9 miles outside of Bath, The Pig is a rather delightful mix of rustic aesthetic, relaxed comfort, and a focus on organic, garden-to-table cuisine. Every room is playfully designed, set within a soft, natural palette of earthy colours. It is based around the calming aesthetic of lots of unadorned woods, natural fibres, and classic furnishings. However, it is the dining that takes centre stage – expect simple but delicious dishes with ingredients from the kitchen garden and the hand-reared chickens, pigs, and deer. Every ingredient comes from within a 25 miles radius making for a truly local, yet exquisite, dining experience.
8) Eight
For those of you looking for a truly intimate and immersive Bath experience, Eight is perfect. Destined to feature in the 8th spot in every Top 10 list it appears on solely due to its name, Eight is a delightful, atmospheric, and intimate choice based off of one of Bath’s historic squares, along a narrow, pedestrianised street and featuring, you guessed it, eight bedrooms. Situated in an historic Bath townhouse, what Eight lacks in facilities, it more than makes up for in service. With just eight bedrooms to serve, the team is utterly focussed on providing the most comfortable stay possible and offering highly personalised recommendations and assistance to make your stay truly memorable.
In just a brief few years since opening, No.15 has already managed to establish itself as something of an icon. Founded by Ian and Christa, two local hoteliers, they bought a former Salvation Army building at the centre of one of Bath’s most picturesque and filmed streets. Since then, they have lovingly transformed it into one of the most unique and inspiring hotels in England. Pooling their years of experience as hoteliers and combining that with Bath’s Georgian heritage alongside their own love of art and design, they’ve created a hotel which is a work of art in itself. Every aspect of No.15 wholly serves the function for which it was designed whilst simultaneously bringing a mesmerising playfulness to the form. It’s simply a magical, charming, and heart-warming place to spend a few nights.
For those that prefer privacy and flexibility over the shared spaces of a hotel, but still desire a luxurious stay, the rather unimaginatively named Superior Stay luxury apartments offer exactly that. Superior Stay manage a collection of apartments around the city, catering for groups of up to six people. They are located in enviable positions to enjoy the best of Bath with each apartment furnished and maintained to the highest standards. Ideal for families or a group of friends who’d like to socialise and relax together, as well as enjoy the sights and sounds of the city and the local region, Superior Stay’s apartments represent the gold standard of self-serviced accommodation.
We hope that you enjoyed reading through our carefully chosen list of Top 10 Luxury Places to Stay in Bath, but if you feel that there’s somewhere we’ve missed out that fits our criteria of great service, great place, great team, great values, please do drop us a line at info@iabbmainwebsit.wpengine.com with your recommendation and why we should consider it.
Warmest regards,
Jules Mittra and the team.
