Summer's done, but the UK's best-kept accommodation secret works better in autumn anyway: the pub with rooms. A new roundup from The Independent collects 17 of the country's cosiest boozers you can sleep in, spanning Somerset to Scotland, with prices starting at £90 a night.
The list leans heavily on the classics you'd hope for — low beams, flagstone floors, log burners and roll-top baths — but the standouts often come with a twist. The Great Decoy in Hampshire, a brand-new opening in Hurstbourne Tarrant, takes its name from its Second World War role as a decoy site used to mislead enemy aircraft. Eight antique-furnished bedrooms sit above a 90-cover restaurant dishing up Brixham fish stew and venison steak frites, from £90 B&B.
In Somerset, the 17th-century Manor House Inn in Ditcheat (from £120) pairs king beds and feather-down duvets with wood-fired pizza and beers from local breweries, wrapped on three sides by a garden. Cornwall gets two entries around St Ives: the harbourside Lifeboat Inn, where five coastal-toned rooms start at £101 and the best have views towards Godrevy Lighthouse, and The Gannet at Carbis Bay (from £200), famous locally for Sunday roasts and a crab profiterole worth ordering on name alone.
The Lake District dominates with three picks. The Kirkstile Inn near quiet Loweswater suits walkers wanting a gentler circuit (from £145); The Royal Oak in Borrowdale adds a boot drying room and afternoon scones for hill fuel (from £135); and the Cuckoo Brow Inn at Far Sawrey doubles as a family base — bunk-bed rooms, free cots, two log fires at the door and a 20-minute ferry to the World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness (from £180).
London proves the concept isn't only rural. The Bedford in Balham (from £99) still runs music and comedy nights that once drew Eddie Izzard, Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran — no long walk home afterwards. The Culpeper near Shoreditch has five pared-back rooms above a bistro and a rooftop garden where cocktails come with East End views (from £185). Notting Hill's The Princess Royal squeezes just four boldly decorated rooms above a busy Mediterranean kitchen.
Rounding out the selection is The Wheatsheaf Inn in Northleach, an ivy-clad Cotswolds inn with 14 bedrooms, roll-top baths and exposed brickwork, within easy reach of Bibury, Broadway and Bourton-on-the-Water.
Who's this for? Anyone plotting an autumn break where dinner, a fire and a decent bed are all under one roof — walkers, foodies and couples after character over chain-hotel sameness. Book early for weekends: rooms this small (four to 14 at most) sell out fast once the leaves turn.
via The Independent Travel