Hiking to the high life – eight indulgent pubs you’ll be sprinting home to
Sawday's Expert
5 min read
We love a good hike, especially if it starts and ends at a cosy place which rewards you for your efforts in true splendour. We asked David Hancock, our chief pubs inspector and no stranger to either muddy boots or great food (we’re not sure if he’s into reiki), to pick out some of his favourite places that are worth working up an appetite for. Here’s his choice of eight pubs where trails run right to the finest of bars and spas.
Wild Thyme & Honey, Gloucestershire
There’s no bad room to stay in at this gold and glowing Cotswolds inn, but those in the know will book suite No.3, London Road, if they can. The private deck has a hot tub and barrel sauna set in a nest of wicker screens, for perfect secluded indulgence. If you start to get wrinkly and dehydrated, it’s just a few steps over to the bar, where you can order something exquisite then sink into the deep armchairs, or sit by the river in one of the cool, clear waterside pods. You can follow the water along The Thames Path National Trail, all the way into London if you choose, although any short section will let you hop off in some classic Cotswolds villages before turning back to your cosy home.
The Brackenrigg Inn, Cumbria
This would be a beautiful, calming place to stay in its own right, with fabulous menus bursting with local produce and ales from round the corner on tap. But what tips it over the edge to being ridiculously indulgent is that the owners also run another place, the spa hotel down the road called… Another Place. Here you can get massages and treatments of all kinds, steam in the fellside sauna, or simply drift up and down in the pool with views of Ullswater through the towering floor-to-ceiling windows. Walks lead up into the hills and round the lake, and you can even join a local expert on a wild swimming safari!
The Riverside Inn, Herefordshire
The Riverside is perfect if you like your indulgence fresh and natural, rather than tiled and formal. Take on one of the four dramatic ridges around – Wenlock Edge, the Long Mynd, Stiperstones or Clee Hills – or a gentler stroll around Mortimer Forest before heading home to bask in the outdoors. The hot tubs are surrounded by trees, a horsebox sauna and treatment rooms sit nearby, and the calming cabins are tucked above the large kitchen garden, from which much of what you eat will be drawn. There are some great wellness packages to be had, but part of the joy of being here is simply wandering the land, meeting the pigs and other animals, then pulling up under the beams of the lovely old pub and browsing the wonderful menu at your leisure.
The Three Daggers, Wiltshire
If you go for the Full Wiltshire at breakfast, then stay for lunch and dinner accompanied by the pubs own superb range of Daggers Ales, you’ll need to head over to the Wellness Barn just for a lie down and some cucumber water. Once there, you may as well get one of their expert practitioners to ease any aches and pains then linger in front of the lovely views, before walking across Salisbury Plain (military manoeuvres permitting) or along the Kennet & Avon Canal to work up an appetite and start the whole process all over again.
Inn at Whitewell, Lancashire
The Forest of Bowland is one of England’s best kept secrets. A designated AONB since 1964, there are gentle ambles along the river, long trails like the Ribble Way or the Pendle Way, and tough hikes along steep-sided valleys and tracts of heather-covered grouse moor. Sitting proudly above it all, with a terrace that looks out over the countryside like the prow of a ship, is the Inn at Whitewell. On the top floor there’s a treatment room in case your ramble turned into a bit of an expedition, while the bar is warmed by a crackling fire in winter and the friendliness of the staff all year round.
The Three Horseshoes, Oxfordshire
When the owners of the renowned Daylesford Organics run a pub, you expect it to be pretty swish, and The Three Horseshoes does not disappoint. The whole place has an air of understated, refined elegance and everything from the sausages to the soap is exquisite. If simply being there doesn’t melt your stress away, then take long walks along the riverbanks into Burford or Witney, then book yourself into the Bamford Wellness Spa. There’s simply no way you can stay tense.
The Fitzherbert Arms, Staffordshire
Sometimes the best way to get completely in your comfort zone is to step (or even dive) out of it for a while. The Serenity package at The Fitzherbert Arms in includes a half-day wild swimming trip to the nearby Whitmore Estate Lakes and an hour in the lakeside sauna, before bringing you back to the cosy surroundings of the lovely bar so that you can get yourself warm inside and out. If you can bag the massive leather armchairs by the fire, all the better.
Cary Arms & Spa, Devon
As its name suggests, Cary Arms is a brilliant blend of seafront pub and luxurious spa hotel. There’s everything you could want from the former – views of the waves from the bar, boathouse cabin bedrooms, menus with a strong tang of seafood – plus everything you need from the latter – a full gym, plunge pool, treatment rooms and packages that’ll have you dissolving in delight. The inn sits at the base of a cliff, so you’ll also get a workout if you just hike up to take in the scenery from the top, but it’s more than worth it for the feeling of coming back to a place that cares for your every need.
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Christopher Wilson-Elmes
Sawday's Expert
Chris is our in-house copywriter, with a flair for turning rough notes and travel tales into enticing articles. Raised in a tiny Wiltshire village, he was desperate to travel and has backpacked all over the world. Closer to home, he finds himself happiest in the most remote and rural places he can find, preferably with a host of animals to speak to, some waves to be smashed about in and the promise of a good pint somewhere in his future.
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