And the world’s best small hotel is in ... Chester!
IT was up against idyllic tropical hideaways and exclusive villas, but a modest-looking hotel in Chester has been voted the best in the world.
Seven-bedroom Edgar House was judged the number one small hotel worldwide by members of internet review site Trip Advisor in its annual travellers’ choice awards.
The boutique bolthole, which is perched on the city’s ancient walls overlooking the River Dee, opened less than three years ago in a grand Georgian house, but has already won a string of accolades.
Of more than 400 reviews posted on the popular – but controversial – reviews site, all but three have rated it ‘excellent’. (The remainder settled for ‘very good’.)
Having had a £400,000 makeover, it boasts individually designed rooms, free-standing baths, a minicinema serving popcorn and ice cream and an honesty bar inside a phone box. Rooms start from £169 per night – but it does not cater for children under 14 and is described as ‘designed for adults’.
Happy guests include former 007 Sir Roger Moore, who visited last year with his wife Kristina and later thanked the owners on Twitter for his ‘very pleasant stay’.
Hotel guide Alastair Sawday’s describes Edgar House as a ‘super cool bolthole with a position that’s hard to beat, Chester’s equivalent of the royal box’. It beat the globe’s most exclusive hotels with fewer than 30 rooms, including The Place luxury villas on the Thai island of Ko Tao and the intimate La Minerva on the Italian resort of Capri.
Co-owner Tim Mills said: ‘We’re thrilled and humbled that people have voted us the best in the world. We haven’t been open for long, but our guests have been extremely kind.’
Other UK winners include The Old Rectory Hotel in Martinhoe, Exmoor, which was ranked number seven worldwide in the small hotels category, and South Lodge guest house in Bridlington, Lincolnshire, which was named the seventh best B&B in the world.