The Best Cheap Yet Chic Hotels to Book in the Cotswolds

A colourful art-filled bolthole, The Close occupies a glorious heart-of-Tetbury townhouse from the 16th century. The lovingly converted, all-different rooms are freshly styled with bold prints, statement walls and original artwork, and have robes, slippers, coffee machines and full-sized Bramley bath products, too. Stays here involve browsing Tetbury’s antique shops and wandering Westonbirt Arboretum, Highgrove Gardens and once-Roman Cirencester. Then retreat to the fire-warmed library or the walled fairytale garden with a G&T, before dinner at the season-inspired Garden Room Restaurant.

There’s a Shoreditch-design edge to this affordable Georgian townhouse looking out on Cheltenham’s Pittville Park, home to the 19th-century Grecian-inspired Pump Room. Bold prints and punchy colours meet antique furniture, patterned tiling, historical features and original artwork in the 13 rustic-chic rooms (all dog-friendly). Luxury touches include Bramley and Acqua di Parma toiletries, hot-water bottles, cosy robes, rain showers and, for Excellent rooms, freestanding baths. Start the day with Insta-worthy breakfasts of avocado and poached eggs or smoked salmon. Doesn’t sound like a budget hotel? Our thoughts exactly.

What could be more authentic Cotswolds than staying at a cosy cottage tea house in the lovely, high-walled market town of Stow-on-the-Wold? The four modern-rustic rooms (all with coffee kits) are styled in soothing neutral palettes with pops of colour and art, some with beamed ceilings or antique furniture. Cotswolds-grown ingredients fuel the full English breakfasts and the afternoon teas of home-made cakes, oven-fresh scones and decadently rich cream, which you can devour in the sunny split-level terrace garden.

Chic 16th-century inn The Swan delivers on both design and gastronomy. Between Burford and Chipping Norton, with foodie favourite Kingham nearby, it’s in a less-touristed, still-charming patch of the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. Timber beams, open fireplaces and wood floors mingle with floral-stamp wallpaper and statement textiles; the handful of rooms have all-natural toiletries and, for some, freestanding baths. The ambitious gastropub wows with seasonal Cotswolds-sourced dishes such as Swinbrook Farm beef and red wine pie, and impressive wines.

Medieval homes surround a spectacular gothic church in the market town of Northleach – home to this creeper-covered hotel. Part of the classic-on-the-outside, cool-on-the-inside Lucky Onion group (also behind Cheltenham’s much-loved No 131 and No 38 hotels), The Wheatsheaf reimagines a 17th-century coaching inn with arty flair – colourful throws, freestanding bathtubs, Cotswolds-inspired tones, velvet bedheads, organic toiletries and roaring fires. The locally loved restaurant shows off seasonal British ingredients in deliciously inventive creations such as Cotswolds gin cured trout and beetroot-spelt risotto. Cirencenster, Bourton-on-the-Water, Burford and Chedworth are nearby.

Peter Creed and Tom Noest’s prize-winning, modern-British cooking has transformed the 17th-century Bell Inn into a Cotswolds-food-scene highlight, just south of honey-hued Burford. Dine by the crackling fire or out in the beer garden: hearty classics get an inspiringly original makeover, with fresh, locally procured ingredients finding their way into oven-fired pizzas, beer-battered fish and succulent steaks with hand-cut fries. Then stumble over to one of the eight effortlessly cool rooms, which spotlight historical quirks alongside king-size beds, feature walls, walk-in showers and local 100 Acres toiletries.

Set in a meandering mid-19th-century mansion on the edge of Westonbirt Arboretum, near Tetbury, the Hare and Hounds hits just the right country-cosy, boutique-charm blend. Whether you pick the original historical building, or the flashier Silkwood Court extension, all rooms have Molton Brown toiletries, fluffy bathrobes and jolly colour schemes (some are dog-friendly, too). The smart Beaufort Restaurant revolves around seasonal Cotswolds flavours, and there’s more relaxed dining at Jack Hare’s Bar.

In the honey-stone village of Bledington, this 500-year-old pub fuses country-retreat snugness with creative up-to-date style. Within a 10-minute drive you can be strolling around pretty Stow-on-the-Wold and Cotswolds-glam Daylesford Organic Farm, or checking out Kingham’s lively foodie scene. Courtyard rooms feel fresh and contemporary: those in the original inn channel a more rustic charm. At meal times, dig into jazzed-up, local-produce British cooking, including beer-battered haddock and rotisserie chicken.