Summer Has Arrived In Britain – Experience It In Full Bloom With PoB Hotels

There’s a particular quality to the British light in early summer. As it floods over gardens finally reaching their fullness after months of waiting, the colours are dazzling: the yellows of laburnum and flowering currants, the pinks and whites of magnolias and cherry blossoms just holding on, the greens of everything else suddenly luminous after the grey. This is Britain at its most generous – and the best way to experience it is from one of PoB Hotels‘ independently owned properties, set in the heart of the country’s most beautiful landscapes.

The thing about this heady season full of gilded light is that it doesn’t last. Gardens unfold, bloom, then gently fade. The light shifts daily. The foraging windows are narrow. This is precisely why PoB Hotels – a carefully curated collection of properties set across the British Isles – offer more than rooms with nice views: they curate full-sensory experiences designed around the specific magic of this season. Many sit within their own historic gardens or beside wild coastlines. All are positioned to help you experience the season fully: taste it through expert-led foraging walks, smell it through flower workshops, see it from terraces and gardens designed for slowness, and then sit down to long lunches featuring what you’ve gathered or what grows around you.

Britain is blooming – and the time to check in is now.

This summer, PoB Hotels has curated ‘Blooming Britain‘, a go-to guide a things to do and places to stay, designed to make the most of our nation in full flourish. From foraging for your supper to flower-filled garden strolls, these seasonal getaways are designed for long lunches, lazy mornings and glorious getaways. Better still, a selection of pop-up events promise a blooming good time.

The Taste Of The Season

Foraging is experiencing a cultural renaissance, but to find untapped produce you might need to look further afield. And with a collection stretching from coast to coast, PoB Hotels can promise a little something different. Because with different coasts come different landscapes, different plants and different experiences.

Join expert Tom Radford on a foraging adventure.

At Thurlestone Hotel perched on the South Devon coast, this summer guests can join expert forager Tom Radford on a walk down to the water’s edge where wild sorrel, sea beet and coastal herbs grow in the salt spray, learning which plants thrive on that specific stretch of coast. Then come back and eat what you’ve gathered (23 June 2026, book it).

Inland, at Calcot & Spa, the 220-acre Cotswold estate offers a different ecosystem entirely. Rewilded acres mean different abundance: woodland sorrels, wild garlic just fading out, young nettles still tender, foraged mushrooms. Join Radford on this walk before tucking into summer’s freshest flavours (30 June 2026, book it).

Calcot’s rewilded land is abundant.

Surrounded By Bloom

Britain’s hotel gardens are pure magic. Rose-lined terraces, ancient walled grounds with espaliered fruit trees just coming into blossom, kitchen gardens spilling with growth. Everything announcing: yes, this is what we waited for.

Stroll among the flowers – or get hands on.

Britain is blooming in all four corners of the country, from Gilpin Hotel & Lake House nestled in the breathtaking Lake District to a pick-your-own cut flower garden at Homewood Hotel & Spa near Bath. For those looking to get hands on, don’t miss Gravetye Manor’s seasonal flower workshops, led by florist Sharon in the Oak Gazebo. The point isn’t Instagram-ready arrangements but understanding how to work with what’s in bloom right now – how to see a garden and translate what’s there into something to sit pride of place on your dinner table.

At Mar Hall, the walk is the thing. Move through 240-acres of growth on the Scottish estate, ending at the Bee Garden where five hives gather the season’s nectar. North Wales’ Palé Hall Hotel is built for blooms, too. Expect estate gardens with sculptures among the planting, Snowdonia visible on the horizon, and the promise of afternoon tea waiting inside once you’ve walked it all.

Blooming beautiful surroundings are part of the PoB experience.

Blooming Film & Fashion

This is also the season when fashion wakes up. New collections arrive, wardrobes shift, and some hotels have leaned into this so completely that they’ve become destinations in their own right. Think Bailiffscourt Hotel & Spa with retro Goodwood Revival right on the doorstep, or The Fife Arms with its new Coco Chanel-inspired bedroom.

Guests can find The Fife Arms’ Secret Room dedicated to Coco Chanel hidden behind a trompe-l’œil door.

PoB Hotels has teamed up with a selection of brands on its Blooming Britain campaign: countryside chic House of Bruar, playful Shrimps, and Bicester Village for a shop-and-stay experience. Think curated boutiques, personalised styling, VIP services – all a short drive from some of Britain’s finest independent hotels. New season collections by day, exceptional hospitality by night, and the entire experience of dressing up and stepping out with somewhere beautiful to come home to.

This season, PoB Hotels has teamed up with Bicester Village for a shop-and-stay experience.

With its flourishing gardens, long golden evenings, coastal light and countryside greens, there’s no wonder Britain in bloom has long inspired creatives – and it’s not just fashionistas. Summer makes Britain itself feel like a filmset, from Glenapp Castle with Outlander filming locations within easy reach, to the living film set of The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa in Bath, which has brought everything from Bridgerton to Persuasion to Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials Mystery to life.

Come summer, Britain is a ready-made film set. (The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa, Bath)

Art Of The Garden

Some hotels have gardens – others are defined by them. PoB’s Art of the Garden collection is built on this principle: properties where the landscape unfolds around you as thoughtfully as the interiors, where walled kitchen gardens supply the kitchen, where roses scent the air you breathe. These are places designed for lingering: mornings spent moving through grounds as unhurried as the breakfasts that follow.

Find our top picks from the Art of the Garden collection below.

Middlethorpe Hall & Spa, York

A classic heritage country house, Middlethorpe Hall is all red brick and limestone set within 20 acres of gardens and parkland. Threaded with history, understated rooms, suites and cottages sit throughout the grounds, but it’s the generosity of the landscape that makes you want to stay, moving slowly between the house and the gardens.

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Hambleton Hall, Rutland

Hambleton Hall sits on a peninsula at Rutland Water, surrounded by grounds that are as much a draw as the house itself. The Victorian estate is built within parkland and gardens designed for lingering: views across the water, walks through mature grounds, spaces where wildlife thrives. The rooms and suites are elegantly appointed, and the restaurant holds a Michelin star. But come here for the landscape and the birds that move through them (don’t forget your binoculars).

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Bodysgallen Hall & Spa, Llandudno

Bodysgallen Hall is one of those places where the landscape has the upper hand: woodland paths that twist deeper than you expect, views of Snowdonia that shift as you move, grounds that have been left to grow as much as they’ve been tended. Rooms, suites and cottages are scattered throughout, but the parkland and woods feel bigger than the 13th century building. You’ll spend most of your time outside – just don’t forget your sturdy shoes.

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Whatley Manor Hotel & Spa, Malmesbury

Guests can enjoy 12 acres of lush Cotswold countryside at Whatley Manor. With gardens restored to their 1920s designs, this is the kind of landscape that rewards a nosey wander. Quietly confident rooms and suites are comfortable and quintessentially English. And if Britain’s rain arrives, you can while away the afternoon watching a classic in the cosy cinema.

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The Montagu Arms, Hampshire

Though the New Forest is right on the doorstep, it’ll be tricky to tear yourself away from The Montagu Arms’ lush, postcard-perfect gardens. An epitomic English escape, rooms and suites exude timeless country elegance and bring the outdoors in with nature-inspired furnishings. For dinner, there’s The Terrace with its elegantly wood-panelled dining room, the charming Monty’s Inn, or go alfresco in the garden; regardless, you’ll enjoy seasonal dishes crafted from the bountiful New Forest larder.

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