As the purists will tell you: it’s not a hot tub unless you have to stoke and stir. Here are some of the UK’s best

Rory GouldingThe Sunday Times

The view from the clifftop hot tubs at the Scarlet, main, practically demands blustery Atlantic weather — all the better to appreciate that warm soak as you watch the waves roll in to the deep angle of Mawgan Porth beach. Book well ahead, though, to use these and this adults-only hotel’s other spa features, which include a natural reed pool. Bedruthan Hotel & Spa, the Scarlet’s sister property just along the hill, takes families and has hot tubs too.DetailsB&B doubles from £255; hot tub £30 for half an hour (scarlethotel.co.uk)

The hot tub at Knotting Hill Barn House, Leicestershire

It doesn’t take a vast forest to give you that cabin-in-the-woods feel — at this spot near Melton Mowbray, a few hundred yards of silver birch, oak, cherry and chestnut trees fully envelop the off-grid cabin in its small clearing. The reclaimed timber interiors sleep eight in four bedrooms, while outside there is a barbecue pit, pizza oven and that all-important wood-fired hot tub, far right, which is a bit of a faff to get to optimum temperature (plenty of logs, plenty of stirring), but then a dream to wallow in. There’s a small lake on site should you wish to cool off.DetailsFrom £440 a night, with a three-night minimum (knottinghillbarnhouse.com)

Hot tub breaks: lodges, cabins and hotels to soothe away your troubles

Traditional and unconventional, this 11-acre smallholding in the low hills just west of Lampeter gives guests a choice between the 18th-century Beudy Bach (“Little Cowshed”), sleeping two in whitewashed comfort, or fully kitted-out safari tents for up to six guests each. The cowshed and the Seren tent have hot tubs, and you might see red kites circling above as you ease in.DetailsBarn from £300 for two nights; Seren safari tent from £392 for two nights (canvasandcampfires.co.uk)

Hikki hot tubs are on offer at Lympstone Manor, Devon

A pretty Georgian manor house hotel between Exeter and Exmouth, with a Michelin-starred restaurant and vineyards sloping down to the estuary of the River Exe, is not a place for roughing it. Its six shepherd huts stationed around the grounds are more like suites, individually hand-painted and sleeping four to five people. Most come with tin bathtubs on the outside terrace, but two — Bee Hive and Fox Den — also have Scandinavian-style wood-fired Hikki hot tubs.DetailsShepherd hut from £485 a night, B&B (lympstonemanor.co.uk)

Off the Old Military Road that leads north from Perth into the wilds of the Cairngorms, Glenshee Glamping offers a variety of overnight options, from tent pitches to a converted 1940s goods wagon. Guests can book the large hot tub, filled with spring water and overlooking the glen, but if you stay in a wood-panelled glamping pod you can have a cosier one delivered to your door.DetailsGlamping pod from £178 for two nights; add hot tub from £85 a night (glensheeglamping.co.uk)

Advertisement

Boulder Field Cabin, Derbyshire

As visually dramatic as it is snug, this cabin for two is built on and among mossy, fern-covered boulders in a half-hidden setting just outside the Peak District village of Birchover, with panoramic windows opening up the small space. The same logs that heat the stove inside will do the job for the hot tub on the deck that looks out over the treetops to hills dotted with stone circles and hermit caves.DetailsFrom £175 a night, with a two-night minimum (boulderfield cabin.co.uk)

It may not be strictly in Constable Country — it’s closer to Newmarket and Thetford Forest than Flatford — but this mill dates from around the time the painter was born, in 1776. Besides rooms and a refined restaurant in the old building, there’s a series of Meadow Nooks along the mill stream that are eccentric yet smartly contemporary. Two of the cabins have cedarwood hot tubs slightly screened off on the lawn outside.DetailsCabin with hot tub from £265 a night, B&B (tuddenhammill.co.uk)

Sign up for our Times Travel newsletter and follow us on Instagram and Twitter

Related ArticlesRead Full StoryUKRead Full StoryThe Barnsley-based Wellhouse Leisure has been doing campervan conversions since 2002, and one of its stars is built on a...Rory GouldingUKHebridean sheep and Angora goats graze the fields. You’re welcome to say hello to hens and donkeys. Still, the Lamotte and...James StewartRelated Articles

UK