County town Taunton boasts one of the best known Hotels in Somerset, the crenellated wisteria-clad Castle Hotel. Out of town, to the south-east in Hatch Beauchamp is the small family owned Farthings Country House Hotel & Restaurant, a charming 200-year old establishment set in extensive gardens. The Cleve Hotel & Country Club at Wellington, further down the M5 motorway, has extensive leisure facilities and views over the Blackdown Hills. Wells, south of Bristol, is England’s smallest cathedral city. The cathedral’s walls date from 1230 and the Bishop’s Palace is one of England’s oldest continuously inhabited houses. The Swan Hotel, one of the oldest Hotels in Somerset, is a former Coaching Inn facing the cathedral.
Near Wells is Wookey Hole and one of the more intriguing Hotels in Somerset: Millers at Glencot House. This lies in an oxbow of the river Axe in 18 acres and has its own cricket pitch. East of Wells, near Shepton Mallet, is one of the most luxurious Hotels in Somerset Charlton House, now owned by dragon Duncan Ballantyne, and with a spa and hydrotherapy pools. Also with a spa and 17 acres of gardens and wooded grounds is one of our favourite Hotels in Somerset - Holbrook House, near Wincanton. Lanes Hotel, at West Coker, near Yeovil in the South of the county, is a former rectory and has added a contemporary extension of 17 rooms.
One of the most exclusive small Hotels in Somerset is Ash House Country Hotel at Martock,
with just nine bedrooms. In the very southwest of the county, at the convergence of Somerset, Devon and Dorset near Chard is the Lordleaze Hotel & Restaurant, a family owned hotel with fine gardens overlooking open countryside.