We've rounded up 10 spectacular sporting hotels which offer excellent local shooting, delicious menus and comfortable beds. Dogs also welcome.
Tarr Farm, Exmoor
Plenty of choice here whether you are looking for rough walked-up shooting or a formal driven shoot. The hotel will make all the arrangements for you and within a half hour drive you will find five of the best commercial shoots in Europe. You just need to bring your gun. The hotel was designed with the comfort of shoot teams firmly in mind and will organise special breaks to suit a group.
The hotel is directly opposite Tarr Steps on the River Barle.
Comfortable accommodation for shooters at Tarr Farm, Exmoor
The bar at Tarr Farm on Exmoor
Each of the nine ensuite bedrooms has its own gun safe. Dogs are welcome, with blankets, bowls and biscuits provided.
Rates start at £150 for a double room including breakfast.
Holbeck Ghyll, Cumbria
Holbeck Ghyll, Cumbria
Looking for a stunning view of Lake Windermere and the spectacular local countryside? Then you’ll find that this is one of the finest sporting hotels in the Lake District.
If you want the feel of a country house then that’s just what you’ll discover if you stay at this hotel. After a day spent outside you can relax over pre-dinner drinks and canapés in a comfortable drawing room, swapping stories with your shooter friends.
Relax in a comfortable room
Dinner is £68 a head for three courses. Your dog is welcome too. This is the perfect place to stay whether you are planning to go shooting, walking or just need a break.
Rates start at £160 for a double room including breakfast.
Notley Arms, Monksilver, Somerset
If you want to take over a venue for a group of shooters, then this country pub with magnificent accommodation fits the bill to perfection.
There is plenty of shooting nearby – the owner of the Notley has excellent links with many local shoots, including Coombe Sydenham. Newly refurbished rooms offer a comfortable place to dream after a day out in the fields.
Notley Arms Somerset
The fresh seasonal menu changes daily – the pigeon risotto is sublime.
Rates start at £60 for a double room including breakfast
The Devonshire Arms, North Yorkshire
Devonshire Arms, North Yorkshire
Stay here and you’ll enjoy being in prime sporting country. The Bolton Abbey shoot is on the doorstep and there are plenty of other pheasant and grouse options in easy reach.
The hotel as we see it today was built in the early 17th century.
During the 19th century the Royal Family would stay at Bolton Abbey for grouse shoots and The Devonshire Arms, which was often used for hospitality, expanded, so that by 1840 it could stable twenty horses and four carriages.
In 1981 the hotel underwent a major refurbishment and additional bedrooms were added, under the supervision of Her Grace the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. Much of the artwork has come from Chatsworth’s Devonshire Collection, one of the finest private art collections in Europe.
Traditional elegance
You’ll find large, traditional rooms in the original wing and smaller, modern rooms in the Wharfedale wing.
Guests can enjoy the sublime talents of talented young chef Alan Smith, who was a Roux scholar at trained at the Ritz in London. The wine list is superb too.
Rates start at £175 for a double room with breakfast.
Fishmore Hall, Ludlow, Shropshire
If you fancy holding your own party, then you can take over this hotel for your exclusive use if you wish.
Fishmore Hall is privately owned and was extensively restored a few years ago so that it now offers 15 luxurious bedrooms with equally luxurious ensuite bathrooms.
Look outside and you’ll see amazing views over the spectacular Shropshire countryside.
Rates start at £150 for a double room with breakfast.
Arundell Arms, Lifton, Devon
If you’re a country sports lover then you couldn’t really be in a better place.
The hotel offers deer stalking as well as driven pheasant, driven snipe and rough shooting. Evening duck flighting is also available. There is something for the experienced gun or for those looking to learn something new.
Hotel owner Adam Fox-Edwards is a former RAF Tornado pilot who took over the reins from his mother, Anne Voss-Bark, who established the hotel as one of the most famous destinations in the world for fishing. So, like many of the best shooting and fishing hotels, it’s in the family. This means you can be guaranteed a level of personal service that you won’t get in a chain hotel.
Rates start at £150 for a double room with breakfast.
Lake Vyrnwy Hotel, Powys
This sporting hotel has almost everything a sportsman could wish for. There’s a secluded 24,000-acre game shoot on its doorstep; rooms overlooking a 60,000 mega-litre reservoir; a fully licensed pub and even a spa for non-shooting guests. The 52 rooms – 34 with lake views (21 have their own balcony) – are either Victorian or contemporary in design.
Guns seeking to get their eye in during spring and summer can enjoy clay shooting on the estate, while the trout in the reservoir are an equally strong attraction.
Stay at this hotel and you’ll definitely feel you are ‘off the beaten track’.
Rates start at £150 for a double room with breakfast.
Meldrum House Country Hotel & Golf Course, Aberdeenshire
Here you can choose stay in the baronial mansion that makes up the main hotel or in one of the 13 stable blocks that date back to the 17th century.
The hotel can arrange walked-up and driven shooting. Take your golf clubs along too – this is one of the best sporting bases in Scotland.
Rates start at £195 for a double room with breakfast.
The Park House Hotel, West Sussex
Park House Hotel in West Sussex
This Victorian house has been completely refurbished to the modern taste of its family owners. Rooms are fitted with all manner of creature comforts and a selection of cottages across the drive are available to guests who’d like a little more privacy.
Those looking for shooting in West Sussex need look no further than the local area where prestigious local shoot days take place. Excellent clay pigeon shooting facilities and fishing are also within easy reach, and the hotel is an ideal base for fly fishing breaks.
There’s the huge back lawn for croquet and there is the blissful silence afforded by the escarpment in the near distance (the hotel is right on the doorstep of the South Downs). The new spa is an oasis of calm, perfect for non-shooting guests when others are enjoying a day of sport at nearby shoots like Angmering, Goodwood or King’s Walk.
The characteristic that best sums up Park House Hotel is the ‘honesty bar’, where guests serve their own drinks.
Rates start at £162 for a double room with breakfast.
Stapleford Park, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
This sporting hotel was once the family seat of the Earls of Harborough and used as a base from which to exploit the famed fox hunting opportunities in the area. This part of Leicestershire has certainly been one of the heartlands of hunting in the UK, and remains so today. The hotel can arrange game shooting on a number of nearby estates. There are also many other sporting opportunities, including clay shooting, fly fishing, falconry, off-roading, quad biking, horse riding and an increasingly prestigious championship golf course.
The emphasis throughout the hotel is on luxury delivered in an informal manner and all of the 55 fantastic bedrooms are individually designed and offer the ultimate in style. There are two restaurants – the Grinling Gibbons and the Pavilion – serving excellent food, and there are four private dining rooms, which are ideal for shooting parties.
With easy access from London and excellent road, rail and air links, Stapleford Park brings a contemporary meaning to the pleasures of being a house guest at a splendid country estate.
Rates start at £160 for a double room with breakfast.
Please note all the rates quoted above are subject to change. All the hotels above run special offers and rates at different times of year, so it’s worth giving them a call, particularly if you want to make a group booking.