Every now and then you bump into a hotel that knocks your socks off, and Gilpin Lake House does just that. This is an extraordinary place – a tiny spa hotel with only six rooms, luxury and intimacy entwined. It sits away from the crowds, lost in the hills, surrounded by acres of peaceful woodland. A swimming pool in the house opens onto a terrace, where you can flop on loungers and gaze down on the lake. Elsewhere, beautiful gardens, a rowing boat, and a second hot tub overlooking fells. There’s a treatment room in a cabin that sits above the lake, then a snug boathouse with a deck on the water. As for the house, you’ll find sofas in front of a wood-burner in the sitting room, then lake views, books galore and beautiful art. Spoiling rooms have fabulous beds, sofas, beautiful fabrics, bathrooms that don’t hold back. Breakfast is served wherever you want: your room, the terrace, the conservatory. There’s a chauffeur to whizz you up to their sister hotel for dinner. Come with friends and take the whole place. Out of this world.
This is a small hotel and is cosy and comfortable with beautiful decor and antiques, and you are looked after and mollycoddled too! The spa and massage rooms are an appealing feature. The appeal of Gilpin Lake House is that it is set alone in woodland with complete peace and quiet and is like a private house.