The Bath Arms at Longleat

Style

Hearth and soul

Setting

A prowl from Longleat

The Bath Arms at Longleat offers the kind of reassuring, ‘get your battery back up to 100 per cent’ break that you leave feeling truly buoyed. They achieve this by selecting the friendliest staff from the area, ensuring the pub inspires warm fellowship between locals and minibreakers, and by plying you with top worldly wines and local brews with a good head on them. And, if you’ve had one too many Butcombes or slugs of the hotel’s own Horning Ale, they’ll spark you back up with a free Bloody Mary come breakfast. Its antiquity has bestowed plenty of character, with the odd creaky floorboard, wonkily shaped room and heritage trees in the garden; but rooms with a mod-rustic look and elevated country dining gently modernise it. Plus, Longleat Safari Park’s spectacular beasts are so close by – you can even faintly hear them from some rooms.

Facilities

객실

16, including four Large Doubles.

Checkout

10.30am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 4pm.

상세 정보

Rates include a full English or continental breakfast and a make-your-own Bloody Mary station.

Also

The hotel’s delightful vintage means that it’s not the easiest to navigate with a wheelchair; however, some ground-floor rooms would suit guests with mobility issues.

Hotel Closed

The hotel closes annually over Christmas on the 24 and 25 December.

무료 인터넷

반려동물 가능

호텔 내 레스토랑

At the Hotel

Lounge, garden, free WiFi. In rooms: TV, radio, tea- and coffee-making kit, Bramley bath products.

Our Favourite Rooms

You might get some Lady Chatterley yearnings in Large Double Room 10: set in the former stable block, it has high beamed ceilings and a super-king-size bed so you won’t have to roll in the hay. For small families, Large Double Room 7 is a charming attic hideaway (six-footers take note, the ceilings hang a little lower here) with a small day-bed set away from the master bed, where a little one can snooze soundly.

Spa

Head to the nature-swathed Bramley treatment cabin for a menu of massages and facials. And nature isn't just called upon for the serene setting – Bramley products are botanically boosted with apple peel extract and other sustainably sourced ingredients to leave you feeling as fresh as a nearby-growing daisy.

Packing Tips

Bring binoculars for spotting shy animals and pairs of wellies for muddy rambles.

어린이

A limited number of travel cots (£10 a stay) can be added to all rooms and extra beds (£25 a stay, including breakfast) can be added to Large rooms. There are highchairs, baby-changing facilities and a children's menu too.

갤러리

Food & Drink

Top Table

Move your meal outside to the terrace or garden when the sun shines, and if you’re dining à la bubble, the larger wooden tables indoor will suit.

복장 규정

You could sport shooting party breeks or full-on bohemian pomp like that worn by former Marquess of Bath Alexander Thynn.

Hotel Restaurant

The restaurant’s rooms all have cosy nooks, farmhouse tables for larger gatherings, mismatched antique seats and leather banquettes with a satisfying crack as you sit on them. Meals here range from the sort of thing a farmer of old might take on his lunch break to something that could grace the tables of Longleat House. Menus are staunchly British and largely local, with meat and game from the estate, chicken from Castlemead poultry farm, oils from Fussels farm, fish brought up from the south coast and fresh produce from the kitchen garden. Chef Jack Chapman knows the honest, down-to-earth grub pub patrons want when they’ve come in from a brisk walk: a traditional Ploughman’s with Twanger cheddar and slabs of ham, cider-battered haddock with minted peas, game pie. And for finer dining, the likes of pancetta-rolled pork tenderloin with black-pudding fritters, or pistachio-crusted hake beached on ginger butter. Desserts are a saucy bunch with lemon posset and a rich sticky toffee pudding, but we’d pick the affogato which comes pooled in Beckford rum. On that note, breakfasts of whisky-glazed porridge and syrup-slicked eggy bread will get you out of bed, even if you’ve overdone it the night before – the hangover-busting free Bloody Marys will set you right.

Hotel Bar

Pull up an oak stool to the stylishly sage-green bar for a pint of the hotel’s own Horning Ale, potent local brews of all ilk, classic cocktails and superb wines from the hotel’s own merchants the Beckford Bottle Shop. It’s a come-one-come-all kind of inn, and the locals do come in droves, so be expected to hear a few tales and see a few cap doffings.

Last Orders

Breakfast runs from 7.30am to 9.30am, lunch from 12 noon to 3pm and dinner from 6pm to 9pm. The bar pours pints from 11am to 11pm.

Planes

London Heathrow is the closest of the capital’s hubs at just a two-hour drive away – and a very pleasant one at that, with the option to detour to the North Wessex Downs or the South Downs along the way for a breather. Alternatively, land at Bristol Airport, just an hour’s drive away, where flights arrive direct from major European cities.

Trains

Frome railway station is a 15-minute drive away. You can catch a train all the way there from London Waterloo (a three-hour journey) or Bristol Temple Meads (an hour’s journey).

Automobiles

Yes, you’ll need a car – safari-park tours are somewhat scarier without one, and you wouldn’t want to miss out. Having a set of wheels will also make it easier to reach speck-on-the-map villages, remote farms and one-for-the-road country pubs. If arriving from London, the drive will take around two-and-a-half hours via the M4, M25, M3 and A303. Take the second exit from the roundabout on the A36, then exit for Longleat; drive along the A362 until you turn off for Horningsham, turn right onto Hollybush Road and the hotel will be on your right. To drive from Bristol, head south on the A4 and and the A36 via Bath; turn off onto the A36 then B3092, turn at the stone cottage onto Forest Lane and you’ll see a sign for the Bath Arms – the drive should take an hour. There’s usually good availability for on-street parking.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Eat, drink, be merry pretty much sums up ways to pass the time here. For a more fulsome list of west country pursuits, chat to the staff who are very approachable and are brimming with recommendations. First follow the rumbling purrs to Longleat Safari Park – it’s more placid entrance lets you wind through Capability Brown’s exquisite Pleasure Walk, through elegant greenery with glimpses of the house and lakes beyond. Longleat House is a prime example of High Elizabethan architecture – still the residence of the 8th Marquess of Bath – and various guided tours cover the goings on among former butlers and housekeepers, whiffs of scandal and a climb to the rooftop. Top it off by puzzling your way through the hedge maze. And, over Christmas, be sure to catch the Land of Light festival, when the house is bathed in vivid hues. The safari park is a menagerie from far-flung climes, including lions, zebras, giraffes, red pandas, marmosets, crocodiles and a further taxonomy of wild beasties. On the calmer side of things is Horningsham Village – its name may be a derivative of an ancient word for ‘bastard’, but it shows off a sleepy yet charming slice of country life; and the people are really quite pleasant. From here, country walks wend off into more rural parts, say, the Heaven’s Gate loop, a not-too-strenuous three-kilometre ramble. A little further south, what Stourhead Gardens lacks in prides, it makes up for in Palladian follies and tranquil picnicking spots. For more contemporary culture head to Hauser & Wirth’s gallery on Durslade Farm, which frames Somerset’s art scene in a modern light. Nearby Frome (Froom to the locals) has a decidedly hippie-ish side, largely thanks to its proximity to Glastonbury, whose mega festival drew in counter-culturals over the years that never left. Secure your tickets well in advance and hit all the stages (or as many as you can muster) in June when musical legends roll up, but otherwise there’s flower-arranging classes at Bramble & Wild, stocking up on handicrafts in the Frome Independent on the first Sunday of each month, or catching a gig at indie venue Cheese and Grain, where the Frome Flea Market is also held every Wednesday. And, with one of England’s greatest Georgian cities less than an hour’s drive away, you’d be remiss not to stop by the Roman Baths to take the waters, go on the free In the Footsteps of Jane Austen walking tour and stop for a not-a-cake, not-a-scone – not, technically, a bun – Sally Lunn ‘bunn’ at her eponymous eating house.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .