6 Best Hotels in Yorkshire, England

Owned by the National Trust, and more like an actual country house than a country-house hotel, this splendidly restored Queen Anne building with mid-18th-century additions has furnishings, textiles, and wallpapers that perfectly complement its oak-paneled walls, carved-wood bannisters, and built-in window seats. Dotted with mature oak, cedar, and sycamore trees, the 20 acres of grounds also have walled gardens landscaped to period, as well as former outbuildings and stables that house additional cottage-style rooms. The pretty spa features Aromatherapy Associates treatments. There are two restaurants: the fine-dining The Oak, where the Modern British set-price menus change seasonally, and the less formal Pineapple, which offers lighter fare like sandwiches and salads.

If you've ever wanted to experience the Downton Abbey lifestyle, head for this luxury hotel in a Victorian Gothic castle that's complete with battlements, a tower, and a turret. The core of the house dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries, with the baronial features added in the 19th century by its current owners, the Cunliffe-Lister family. The plush public rooms epitomize the traditional country-house style, as do the spacious bedrooms, which are named after Yorkshire towns (and come complete with teddy bears). The castle's location on one of the largest private estates in England, 20,000 acres bordering Yorkshire Dales National Park, guarantees seclusion and abundant outdoor pursuits, including falconry. The property has 200 acres of parkland with 63 miles of trails and a 4-acre walled garden along with an excellent, modern spa complex, an on-site cooking school, two detached cottages, a 10-room Coach House, and eight luxury yurts in a meadow for "glamping" (camping glamorously). The formal restaurant specializes in seasonal Modern British food—much of it sourced from the estate itself. There's also a more casual restaurant with outdoor tables and a fine dining "chef's table" restaurant in the cooking school. Masham is 8 miles north of Ripon and 35 miles north of Leeds and York.

In a Victorian town house and former dairy near the city walls, this guesthouse retains atmospheric features like stained or etched glass, period fireplaces, and ornate plaster cornices. The pastel-walled bedrooms are simple but stylish, with books, games, and hospitable touches like complimentary cookies and chocolates. The flower-filled interior courtyard is lovely.

Close to the Minster in York's oldest inhabited house (dating from 1080), Gray's Court has its own ½-acre garden and atmospheric features like leaded-glass windows, limestone fireplaces, and a wood-paneled Jacobean Long Gallery. Several bedrooms are furnished with handsome antiques. Bathrooms, however, are modern, with walk-in showers. The Bow Restaurant emphasizes local produce, and meals can be taken in the garden.

Set on a 200-acre working estate, surrounded by ancient woodlands and overlooking the moors, this elegant retreat has rooms in a Georgian mansion as well as in buildings throughout the grounds that once served as shepherds' huts, a dairy, and a coach house and that might feature exposed timber beams, freestanding baths, woodburning stoves, or hot tubs. The menu at the fine-dining Forge restaurant, which uses ingredients sourced from the estate or elsewhere in the area, changes daily, with dishes like duck with salsify and cavolo nero in an herb emulsion or trout with kohlrabi buttermilk and Douglas fir dressing. The Coach House gastropub is a less-formal choice. If you're exhausted from tromping across the moors, revive with a dip in the heated swimming pool fed by the estate's own spring or with a therapeutic massage in the Forest Spa.