the times Saturday April 9 2022
Travel 39
four-poster so couples can stargaze from
bed, with the aid of an astronomy book
and telescope. For music, there’s a record
player, and a hamper can be delivered
for breakfast in bed. Those who want to
burst out of their bubble can stroll to the
spa and restaurant a few minutes away.
Details B&B double bubbles from
£295 (finnlough.com). Fly to BelfastThyme
Lechlade, Gloucestershire
Everything at this 150-acre farm-style
hotel revolves around nature, from the
spring-fed swimming pool and Bunny
Guinness-designed gardens to the water
meadows thick with wildflowers and the
botanical-themed spa. Caryn Hibbert,
with her daughter Milly and Quo Vadis-
trained son Charlie, have created the
hotel to feel like an extension of their
medieval home, with lavish bedrooms in
farm buildings and golden-stone houses
decorated in rich colours. In the store
you’ll be tempted by boho fashion and
covetable homeware — and in the
restaurant enjoy Gloucestershire
produce and veg grown on the estate.
Details B&B doubles from
£360 (thyme.co.uk)The Royston
Llanbrynmair, Powys
This seven-bedroom guesthouse is the
life’s work of its design-savvy owners,
Rob Perham and Clive Sweeting.
Furnished in part-contemporary, part-
country style, the rural Victorian house
is filled with vintage and modern pieces,
set against dramatic grey and dark-blue
walls. It’s a cosy place where you can
enjoy mountain views and the ten-acre
grounds between home-cooked feasts.
Days out include historic towns such
as Machynlleth, the Cardigan Bay
coastline and Snowdonia National Park.
Details B&B doubles from £129,
with a two-night minimum stay
(theroystonwales.com)Artist Residence
Penzance, Cornwall
This Georgian coach house has been
given a shot of new life by the Artist
Residence group. Upstairs, cosy rooms
are filled with quirky furniture, funky art
and stripped-back wood referencing the
seaside. Downstairs, the Clubhouse leads
to a lively café and boho lounge, plus a
terrace garden for cocktails and all-day
food, from big breakfasts to prawn tacos.
In Penzance there’s tons to do, from
lying on great beaches and swimming
in the art deco Jubilee Pool to visiting
Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens.
Details Room-only doubles from
£95 (artistresidence.co.uk)Newhall Mains
Black Isle, Highlands
Once derelict farm buildings on a 900-
acre estate on the Black Isle peninsula,
this is now a tempting hotel. Up the
road is the pretty village of Cromarty,
with its moreish deli and educational
dolphin trips in rigid inflatables. Nearby
are whisky distilleries galore and the
Glenmorangie House hotel, for tastings.
For shopping splurges, Campbell’s of
Beauly is half an hour’s drive away. If
you fancy a flying tour there’s a little
airstrip out front, and for those who
prefer to hunker down by the fire
there’s the chance to sample rare
Japanese whiskies with local oysters.
Details B&B doubles from
£240 (newhall-mains.com)
Additional words by Lisa Graingerexcellent adults-only, Michelin-starred
restaurant with rooms. The chef
Tommy Banks’s wizardry includes
smoked eel with Exmoor caviar,
chicken with wild garlic and Jerusalem
artichoke fudge, and all that tastes
even better after a decent pre-dinner
yomp. The homely, tartan-splashed
rooms feature solid-oak four-posters
and copper roll-top baths that keep
the love heart emojis coming. York is
a 45-minute drive for one of the UK’s
best dives into history.
Details Half-board doubles from
£560 (blackswanoldstead.co.uk)
Hotel Indigo Bath
The bonkbuster Netflix series
Bridgerton is back on our screens,
putting Bath firmly at the top of the
dirty weekend radar — not that the
Georgian splendour of the Royal
Crescent, Assembly Rooms and
Holburne Museum need a leg up.
Keep things cheeky at this terrace of
grade I listed Georgian townhouses
transformed into a 166-room boutique
hotel. Stay in one of its Romance &
Mischief rooms, where the look is
influenced by innocent 18th-century
debutantes and the feckless cads and
gamblers who hoped to trick them
into marriage. Think blush-red velvet
furnishings, bedside tables that
resemble playing cards, paintings of
love birds and portraits that have been
“vandalised” by former lovers. Three
centuries on, you can ensure your
script has a happy-ever-after ending.
Details Room-only doubles from
£177 (bath.hotelindigo.com)
Hotel Pelirocco Brighton
Any hotel that has bedrooms with
mirrored ceilings, pole-dancing areas
and “love” hampers is not offering the
kind of education Ofsted inspectors
would recognise. These 19 rock’n’roll-
themed crashpads — there’s Taboo,
which has cuffing points on the bed,
and Lovers’ Lair, with an 8ft circular
bed — have been cheering up the city’s
hotel scene for more than 20 years. Set
on Regency Square, they are a quick
skip from the beach, so perfect for
a saucy, kiss-me-quick seaside break.
Boudoir photography sessions can be
arranged. Just saying.
Details B&B doubles from
£84 (hotelpelirocco.co.uk)Old Quay House
Fowey, Cornwall
As soon as you enter this delightful
boutique hotel, squirrelled away in the
narrow lanes of Fowey, your eyes are
drawn through the sleek restaurant’s
floor-to-ceiling French windows andits terrace. There, nothing more than
a few feet of stone separates you from
the sparkling estuary and bobbing
boats. Good job then that the hotel
accepts only over-12s, so everyone can
soak up the rays on this suntrap stress-
free and preferably in conjunction with
a long, lazy lunch or afternoon tea
(put the jam on first round here or be
prepared for raised eyebrows). Dinner
is a thoroughly modern Cornish affair,
starring local mackerel and cod that
taste as good as that view looks.
Pared-back rooms are sea-breeze
fresh, decorated in soothing sandy
and perky blue shades to bring that
dreamy coast indoors.
Details B&B doubles from
£200 (theoldquayhotel.com)Rest + Wild
Whitchurch, Shropshire
This isn’t a hotel, really. But the owners
of Rest + Wild have set it up so well, it
feels almost like one. Ten minutes from
Ludlow, in fields on the edge of a forest,
the retreat consists of four black cabins,
set apart to ensure privacy. Outside are
chairs, a fire pit and a bathtub with
country views, and inside king-size beds
made up with feather duvets, a wood-
burning stove and a mini-kitchen to
make use of pre-ordered hampers.
Cabins come with a guide to the best
pubs and restaurants in the area too.
Details Room-only double cabins
from £175 (restandwild.co)Finn Lough
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh
Set beside a lake in remote
countryside, Finn Lough was created
so guests could immerse themselves in
nature. Set among the trees are seven
giant bubbles, each furnished with aThe Black Swan at OldsteadA room at Crockers, Henley