The best boutique hotels in Wales, from vineyard farmhouses to foodie boltholes
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Wales has always known that small is beautiful, with tempting boutique escapes winging you from slickly converted, art-slung Victorian priories by the sea to minimalist-chic Georgian townhouses with culinary cachet, chic vineyard hotels and lovingly revamped coaching inns with soul-stirring views and farm-to-fork menus. Whether you opt for coast or country, moor or mountain, the croeso (welcome) is always heartfelt. Here's our pick of the best boutique hotels in Wales.
Probably Pembrokshire’s loveliest bolthole. It is not, in fact, an abbey but a late 18th-century house, built in the rare Strawberry Gothic style that explains the snaking, arched windows and door-frames. The sitting room is rose-hued and fire-lit. Floors are carpeted in warm, worn Persian rugs, the piano is topped with books, and the views are of dune and sea. It’s like a home from home (assuming yours too is worthy of a World of Interiors shoot). There are 11 bedrooms, all lovely and all unique in character, and the six and 10-course taster menus are inspired by a love of foraging and fermenting.
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This exceptionally smart, professionally run b&b occupies a late-Victorian mansion above a wooded valley on the fringes of St Davids. It was built in the 1880s, and served as a priory for a period of time up to 1985. Interiors feature grandly proportioned rooms, imposing marble fireplaces, dark boarded floors, velvet sofas and bold works of abstract modern art that have been specially commissioned for the house. There are six rooms in the main house and two in a coach house including a very snazzy suite with a giant outdoor terrace. Breakfasts feature lots of Welsh produce.
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This superb b&b is tucked away in six acres of gardens and grounds beyond electric gates in the village of Woodcroft. Three luxurious rooms are available: The Wye and The Severn with a separate private bathroom with roll-top bath and shower, and The Monnow Suite on the second floor with a lounge and sofa-bed for extra guests. All rooms feature subtle interiors with splashes of colour and have delightful window seats and luxury bedlinens. Afternoon tea in the garden, weather permitting, and excellent home-cooked dinner can be provided on request.
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The vineyard, centred on a whitewashed farmhouse dating to 1851, pulls off the delicate act of combining original features such as exposed beams and wainscoting with sophisticated, wine-related design touches. Charcoals and paintings by Welsh artist Gary Hamer Rees pay a nod to coal mining heritage. The home-style studios and apartments are bright and contemporary, with warm hues, clean wooden furnishings and sofa beds. – there is plenty of space for families. Overlooking the vineyard, the bistro-style restaurant is slick and modern, with nose-to-tail seasonal produce.
You come to this edgy, super-slick, Scandi-style take on a country house for the food. Chef Gareth Ward has one Michelin star under his belt and is surely gunning for a second, with menus that prize fatty meats, fermentation and gutsy flavours. Ynyshir’s location is pretty special, too; Queen Victoria even acquired the handsome white-painted house as a hidden retreat. There are a few nods to the past – a bay window here, Victorian tiles there – but overall the look is stripped-back, with oak floors, one-of-a-kind rustic furnishings and a palette of moody blues, greens and charcoals.
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Lawns, woodland and meadowland stretching for 26 acres add thoroughly rural peaceful elements to The Grove, which has established itself as the smartest country house hotel in Pembrokeshire. It offers Georgian meets Arts and Crafts interiors, luxurious and attractive bedrooms, and highly creative food. Under experienced chef Douglas Balish, The Grove offers some of the best dining in Pembrokeshire, with the emphasis on Welsh ingredients and vegetables and herbs where possible from the hotel's kitchen gardens.
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Escape is located just off this Victorian seaside resort's main shopping street. The design is a showcase of electic, personal touches – the owners have sourced vintage pieces of furniture from European design fairs and continue to refresh the rooms regularly. There are nine urban-cool rooms, and each one has it's own style: the boudoir-romance feel of Room Six with its LED wallpaper and gold leaf motif contrasts with the Zen-calm and suspended bed of front-facing Room Seven. Pick of the bunch is Room Five, with its retro-style design of red leather, vintage vinyl and a cupboard with a phone box mural.
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This Georgian coaching house sits snugly among the stone cottages lining the high street in the pretty coastal town of Newport, just a couple of miles from a broad, dune-flanked beach. It wows with eye-catching original artworks and an outstanding restaurant playing up locally sourced ingredients. The look is part rural Wales, part urban sophisticate, with a palette of muted greys, greens and charcoals, local slate, and lots of characterful reclaimed wood (revamped at the family sawmill). If you’re looking for a stylishly intimate base for rambles on this glorious stretch of the Pembrokeshire coast, here you have it.
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Aah… silence. Out in the Welsh sticks and just a stone's throw from the English border, this former 17th-century coaching inn huddles below wooded hills and sits astride the banks of the River Monnow. They simply don't make country pubs like this anymore: drinks are served on the terrace overlooking the pretty kitchen gardens in summer and by crackling open fires in winter. With polished flagstone floors, oak beams, old photos and botanical sketches, the Bell has morphed into a boutique retreat without losing a jot of character. Expect a peerless wine list, season-driven cuisine and 11 elegant rooms.
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The hotel is located on the main drag of Beaumaris, the attractive honeypot town on Anglesey’s southeast coast. The 17th-century building has been given a major contemporary overhaul; there’s a slightly postmodern, Seventies feel to the retro-style fittings but it works. Individuality runs throughout: one room has a sky-blue motif while another features iridescent wallpaper on a dandelion theme, Italian chairs and a giant hanging light shade. The Townhouse is the younger sister to The Bull, Beaumaris’ historic coaching inn.
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The Mansion House, on a rise above the Towy Estuary, has transfixing views of the changing tides, lights and moods of the river as it flows to meet the sea. It races you back to a more decadent era, with exquisitely revamped interiors and menus bigging up local ingredients. Expect original features such as ornate stucco, beautiful period tiles, stained glass and marquetry along with modern lighting, colour schemes and sleek furnishings. The overall feel is of a friend’s stylish country retreat – and that’s precisely the mood it wishes to capture. Just five rooms keeps the vibe nice and intimate.
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Harbourmaster sits right on the harbour wall, looking out to sea – and Ireland. The hotel is an ode to the sea, with its soothing spectrum of blues, cottagey wainscoting, reclaimed wood, coastal paintings and contemporary brass lamps. The living here is open-plan, so not always private, but it’s fun and the welcome is warm, with free afternoon coffee and cake on arrival. Wander beyond the bar area and you’ll discover lots of super-cool little details: local-interest books, games, old sewing machines and Welsh dressers. Sea views can be appreciated from almost every room.
Contributions by David Atkinson, Hattie Garlick, Wendy Gomersall & Fred Mawer