2 Best Hotels in Ripon, Yorkshire

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.

Part Palladian country house hotel, part lively resort, and part luxury wellness retreat, Grantley Hall is set on 30 acres of parkland, combining grandeur with glitz. Bedrooms are large and traditionally elegant in shades of taupe and aqua, and marble bathrooms have giant showers. There are three restaurants: a fine dining room run by Michelin-starred chef Shaun Rankin that specializes in set price, locally sourced tasting menus; an all-day informal Modern British restaurant with dishes like pork belly with carrot puree and Josper Grill dishes; and a buzzy cocktail bar that serves pan-Asian food and features a live DJ. For those who want even more nightlife, there's a below-ground Art Deco-style late-night Champagne bar featuring live jazz on weekends. The huge spa has a wide range of massage and beauty treatments, a two-story gym, an ice bath, and outdoor sauna, and and indoor-to-outdoor hydrotherapy pool. But the real draw is the 60-foot marble-clad colonnaded swimming pool.