The Best Hotels Near The Checkers, by the Record
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A Victorian country house hotel on 15 acres of Dee Valley parkland, with Snowdonia on the doorstep and, apparently, Queen Victoria's original bathtub still in situ. The rooms in the main house lean toward period grandeur; the coach-house Garden Suites go a bit more contemporary. The place is small enough that the service actually tracks you, without tipping into stuffy. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.
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A taxidermied badger under a glass dome watches guests climb the winding staircase, which sets the tone for this Grade II-listed Queen Anne country house hotel in rural Worcestershire. Ten acres of grounds come with tennis courts and croquet lawns, rooms carry names like Duchess and Black Worcester, and the oak-framed spa building runs to a cedar-scented sauna and a rainforest shower with sound effects. Dogs are welcome in most rooms.
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A design hotel inside a city famous for black-and-white Tudor Revival streetscapes, which makes the contrast the whole point. Hotel Indigo Chester is an IHG property rather than some independent find, but the interiors lean into Chester's architectural identity rather than ignoring it, and the in-house restaurant, the Forge, pulls a crowd on its own. Staff will cheerfully point you toward the city center when you've exhausted what's on site.
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A Georgian country house hotel set on nearly 40 acres of Cheshire farmland, close enough to Manchester and Liverpool to feel accessible, far enough from both to feel like an escape. Rooms split between the original house and a later wing that doesn't try too hard to disguise itself. The converted stables, now a spa with an indoor pool under a glass roof, are the most quietly impressive thing on the property.