The Tempus
Doxford, Northumberland
From the chequerboard restaurant chairs to the disco ball-glittered bar and leopard print-cushioned bedrooms, this 41-bedroom hotel has more than a hint of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland about it. The 2026 winner of Visit England’s gold award for best small hotel, the Tempus recently opened eight wooden cabins overlooking the estate’s lake, and runs stargazing breaks in partnership with nearby Kielder Observatory. This month sees the launch of wellness experiences, combining gentle yoga and sound baths, while foraging workshops celebrate the estate’s wild bounty. Alnwick, Bamburgh and kipper-smoking Craster are close by.
Doubles from £121 B&B, thetempus.co.uk
The Old Bridge Inn
Aviemore, the Cairngorms
You can walk, cycle, swim or kayak straight from the door of this pub and bunkhouse on the banks of the River Spey in outdoorsy Aviemore. This mellow gastropub serves smoked haddock chowder and Caribbean lamb curry pies along with Cairngorm Brewery’s ales – and you’re likely to catch some live folk music too. Fresh from a recent revamp, its seven vintage-inspired bedrooms are decorated in autumnal shades of gold, green, rust and teal. Ranging from simple dorms to en suite doubles and family rooms, they come with access to a shared kitchen and dining room for DIY dinners and breakfasts.
Family rooms for up to five from £80 room-only, oldbridgeinn.co.uk
The Black Horse
Amberley, Sussex
Food is the big draw at this new pub with rooms in the South Downs. Run by farm-to-fork restaurateurs the Gladwin brothers, the 12-bedroom inn is their first venture outside London, and their first with accommodation. One thing they are deeply familiar with is local producers – not least their own family. Beef comes from their farm, wines from their vineyard, Nutbourne, and some of the pub’s artwork has been painted by family matriarch Bridget. Stay over and you can wake to breakfasts of homemade brioche with just-laid eggs, farmhouse sausages or trout gravadlax. Stroll around the village, with its castle hotel and pottery, or hike over to Arundel then catch a train back to Amberley.
Doubles from £125 B&B, blackhorse-pub.com
The Abergwaun
Fishguard, Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is home to spectacular beaches, but if an autumn storm blows in, it’s great to have galleries, cafes, pubs and cinemas where you can take cover. That’s where Fishguard comes in. This small harbour town has quietly blossomed over the last couple of years. The latest opening is the Abergwaun, a bistro with rooms launched in July by the folk behind the nearby Red Onion cafe. Feast on locally line-caught seabass with kelp beurre blanc, then drift off to sleep in one of five smart, latte-coloured bedrooms. The next day, take in a pottery workshop at Tŷ Clai, hike along the Pembrokeshire coast path for a Sunday roast at the Sailor’s Safety, or catch a gig at Ffwrn.
Doubles from £140 B&B, theabergwaun.co.uk
The Lister Arms
Malham, Yorkshire Dales
Malham is one of the Yorkshire Dales’ great hiking hubs, with Malham Tarn, the amphitheatrical cliffs of Malham Cove, and Janet’s Foss and Gordale Scar waterfalls within easy reach – and staying in the village became a little easier this summer with the opening of Lister Farmhouse. Its 13 bedrooms pair smart taupe, olive and blueberry fabrics with warm wood and leather. Part of the expanded Lister Arms, which includes rooms at the inn itself and at a nearby barn conversion, the new farmhouse bedrooms are two minutes’ walk away, beside sister pub the Buck Inn. For breakfast, stroll across a packhorse bridge to the pub.
Doubles from £135 B&B, listerarms.co.uk
The Great Decoy
Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire
Formerly the George & Dragon, when this Test valley pub with rooms opened in June, its name was changed to the Great Decoy in a nod to the area’s second world war history, when the surrounding countryside was used as part of a network of decoy sites to draw enemy bombers away from strategic targets. These days, a tempting mix of pub bangers (venison steak frites, wood-fired pizzas), plump-pillowed bedrooms and affordable rates is luring a more peaceful crowd. The pub is a low-beamed, candlelit haven and its eight bedrooms mix antiques with bright modern art and jauntily striped, scalloped headboards.
Doubles from £90 B&B, thegreatdecoy.co.uk
The Riverside Inn
Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire
It was in Ross-on-Wye in the late 18th century that the artist and writer Rev William Gilpin set the blueprint for British tourism. Popularising the picturesque, he encouraged travellers to explore the local landscape for pleasure, helping to establish the idea of the British scenic escape (albeit infamously suggesting that “a mallet judiciously used” might improve the ruined charm of Tintern Abbey). More than two centuries later, five elegant new bedrooms have just opened at the Riverside Inn, giving modern-day visitors a suitably comfortable base from which to explore the area’s antiques and salvage shops, and stroll the leafy riverside pathways around Symonds Yat. Named after Charlie Mackesy characters, the rooms are decorated with finds from Baileys Home Store and other local businesses.
Doubles from £180 B&B, riversideinn-wyestreet.com
The William Cecil
Stamford, Lincolnshire
On the edge of the Burghley estate, along one of Stamford’s cute-as-a-bonnet Georgian streets, this treasured hotel underwent a major renovation two years ago. Named after Lord William Cecil, chief advisor to Elizabeth I, the 18th-century building is home to 26 bedrooms decorated in Bridgerton-meets-Babington chic, all chalky pink and sage green stripes, ginghams, velvets and chintz. The latest addition is Wild Floral, a botanical-inspired room launched this summer in collaboration with Lincolnshire designer Sophie Allport. Head out to explore the copper-flecked parkland of Burghley House, then return for pheasant kiev and blackberry tart at Milly’s, the in-house bistro.
Doubles from £155 B&B, thewilliamcecil.co.uk
Corsham House
Corsham, Wiltshire
It was no surprise that Corsham was chosen as a backdrop for the recent TV dramatisation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals – the market town is a primetime destination. Wild peacocks roam its Georgian streets, a “secret” garden unwinds behind stately Corsham Court – home to one of Wiltshire’s finest private art collections – and independent shops and cafes rule. In the centre of it all is Corsham House, a new brasserie and bottle shop with rooms that opened in July. Once a bank, it’s now profiting from the town’s “Bath in miniature” credentials, serving its signature Corsham chips with chicken salt alongside fat rump cap steaks, and putting guests up in 11 small but daintily designed bedrooms painted in shades of rose, damson and beech.
Doubles from £111 room-only, corshamhouse.com
The Copley Arms
Hessenford, Cornwall
Just off the A387, between Plymouth and Looe, this riverside pub with rooms is worth detouring off the beaten Cornish track for. Recently taken over by the couple behind Lydford’s award-winning Castle Inn, its 17th-century core has been elegantly refurbished. Fill up on fish tacos or the catch of the day, then head upstairs, or into the cottage just behind the inn, to slumber in one of eight earthily coloured, softly lit bedrooms (the cottage rooms are the quietest). The following morning, wake to a full Cornish before hiking a loop through the woods of the Seaton Valley or strolling a section of the South West coast path over to Looe.
Doubles from £100 B&B (two nights for £160 from Sept-April), copleyarms.co.uk
The Swallow Falls Inn
Betws-y-Coed, Eryri (Snowdonia)
Just across the road from its namesake waterfall, this former coaching inn reopened last year after a major overhaul, offering visitors a comfortable and affordable base for exploring Eryri national park. Its 38 bedrooms are painted in warm, muted shades and bookended by floral wallpapers, tongue-and-groove panelling and bright, metro-tiled bathrooms. Family rooms come with sturdy wooden bunk beds and, downstairs, you can order lasagne or sausage and mash in a space framed by fringed lampshades, floral curtains and mossy green paintwork. From the inn, you can follow a riverside trail into the village of Betws-y-Coed or soak up the autumn colours on one of the waymarked paths in the nearby Gwydir forest park.
Doubles from £76 B&B, inncollectiongroup.com
The Crown
Bildeston, Suffolk
Estate-to-plate dining is the cornerstone of this sunshine-hued Tudor inn between Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich. One of several Suffolk pubs and hotels owned by the Nedging Hall estate, who completed a sympathetic makeover this spring, it has 13 smartly understated new bedrooms. It’s fully plugged into the estate’s homegrown supply chain; the owners also operate a butchery, kitchen garden and East Anglia’s oldest brewery, Mauldons (for which they grow malt barley). Head out on a gentle three-mile loop walk to neighbouring Chelsworth, then take a seat by the dining room’s open fire to feast on treacle-cured pork ribeye with garlic croquettes, and deliciously wibbly Basque cheesecake.
Doubles from £195 B&B, thebildestoncrown.com
The Customs House
Bowling, West Dunbartonshire
A hop, skip and jump (or 30-minute train ride) north-west of Glasgow, this stylish new hotel sits at the western end of the Forth and Clyde canal. Well-placed for towpath walks and cycles, it’s a grand reimagining of what was built in 1790 as the customs house for Bowling harbour. There are seven tweed-hued bedrooms in the main building, each with a view of the water and each named after a different cargo, and a floating lodge suite was added this summer, along with a sauna and cold plunge. When the restaurant opens in a neighbouring building next year, it will operate as a full-service hotel but, for now, staff are only on site during the day; evening arrivals are self check-in and continental breakfasts self-serve.
Doubles from £120 B&B, thecustomshousebowling.co.uk
Le Strange Arms
Old Hunstanton, Norfolk
Close to the RSPB reserve at Snettisham and the nature reserve at Holme Dunes, this stretch of north Norfolk coastline is a prime destination for spotting waders and waterfowl as they stop to rest on their way south, and is similarly restorative for humans. Follow a day of beach walks and sky-gazing with dinner at newly renovated gastropub the Ancient Mariner – menu highlights include Barsham’s beer-battered fish and chips, and cheeseboards ripe with local favourites Norfolk Dapple and Binham Blue – before walking across to sister hotel Le Strange Arms to sleep. Its more affordable standard rooms have yet to be updated, but recently renovated self-catering lodges and apartments put a modish mustard and navy spin on seaside chic.
Doubles from £91 room-only, lestrangearms.co.uk
Wild Duck
Ewen, the Cotswolds
Open fires? A scene-stealing, carved wood bar? Plates of buttery chicken and chips? Double Diamond ale on tap? If you were Pinterest-boarding the fantasy Cotswolds pub after a yomp through the fields (or along the river – the Thames Path starts 10 minutes’ drive away), it would be something like the Wild Duck. Just south of Cirencester, this 16th-century gardeners’ cottage turned coaching inn has been stylishly overhauled by local hospitality luminaries Sam and Georgie Pearman. Reopened in March, it now has five bedrooms above the pub and 14 others in a new wing, each decorated with heritage wallpapers, Edward Bulmer paints, antique finds and custom-designed rugs.
Doubles from £150 B&B, countrycreatures.com
Prices are for October-November and were correct at time of publication