The Best Boutique Hotels to Book in Harrogate

Rooms are like hotel suites at this boutique B&B: imagine big-city-smart spaces furnished with brass bedsteads, funky striped fabrics and champagne-tone walls and carpets. The lounge bar lures guests with its open fire in colder weather – the perfect spot for a G&T before dinner at one of the culinary hot spots close to this coveted location in Franklin Mount. Make sure you breakfast on the Grafton’s home-baked bread, spread liberally with Harrogate honey, before lazing with the complimentary newspapers in the lobby.

Country-contemporary is the look in this charming 18th-century coaching inn, snuggled in the pale-stone village of Timble – close to the windswept trails of the Yorkshire Dales. Robes and slippers encourage indolent weekends, as do supplies of Yorkshire tea and biscuits. The views steal the show in the first-floor rooms, overlooking the village, Washburn Valley or the garden and terrace. Secluded ground-floor rooms are more about privacy, with their own entrances. The owners focus on local products – with gin, ales and toiletries from Harrogate and Yorkshire, not to mention eggs laid in the village.

This handsome Georgian mansion is bistro-chic. Features include shiny Chesterfield sofas, pastel pea-green walls and wine-related paraphernalia for art – plus the classic French bistro on-site and heated terrace at the back. Soft-hued bedrooms are all named after vineyards – with roll-top tubs to laze in, immersed in L’Occitane bath products. There’s double-bubble fun in the Moët Vintage Collection suite, which has a pair of bathtubs for couples, side by side. For something more down-to-earth, make your way over to Bettys Tea Rooms, and fill your faces with Yorkshire “Fat Rascal” scones.

Enjoy a luxurious stay at West Park Harrogate, which has an array of 25 glam rooms behind its white facades. Gold blends with jewel tones of amethyst, turquoise and smoky quartz to opulent effect. For special-occasion visitors, two of the eight suites are duplex penthouses. Get stuck into field-to-fork dining in the smart bar-brasserie – roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for Sunday lunch can be enjoyed until 8pm. Peruse the posh shops, pubs and delicatessens of the surrounding streets and be sure to walk the Stray, an attractive swathe of grassy parkland opposite the hotel.

Dreamy grounds – with trim lawns centring on a fountain – welcome you to Cedar Court Hotel, every bit as impressive as the green acres of parkland across the way. High on comfort, with deep-soaking tubs and walls in bold shades of orange and plum, the 100 rooms have families in mind – there are bunk beds in some. It’s the perfect precursor to dinner in the garden-facing brasserie, which favours Yorkshire produce.

There’s a range of these boutique hotel-style apartments around Harrogate’s historic heart – Duchy Road is a Victorian villa, York Road a Tudor-style house, and King’s Road a smart townhouse. Step into any of the three and you’re in the pages of a glossy interiors magazine – from the wooden floorboards to the gleaming, high-spec kitchens. Fluffy towels and aromatic bath products are part of the deal, as are the essentials for your breakfast cuppa. You can even order a breakfast pack ahead of your stay.

Built in 1892, you can tell this suburban honey-stone mansion was once a family house. Close to the town centre, it’s family-run today, noticeable in the snug beds as well as the welcoming atmosphere. Not that it’s remotely run of the mill – eye-catching features are everywhere, from turrets to tiles and stained glass windows. You won’t need much persuading to dine in – the starch-clothed restaurant cooks modern British classics to perfection. Try slow-cooked lamb shank with root vegetables, overlooking the peaceful gardens.