See Britain from up high
From elevated eyries to lofty lighthouses and sky-tickling hotels, here’s our pick of Britain’s highest places to rest your head. Enjoy the views and don’t look down!
Stay at England’s highest inn in the gorgeous Yorkshire Dales. The Tan Hill Inn sits 1,732ft above sea level and is the perfect isolated getaway. It’s a great rest stop if you’re walking the Pennine Way – the long distance footpath from the Peak District National Park that passes through the Yorkshire Dales. The inn has seven cosy bedrooms with camping facilities for hardier patrons outside.
This soaring 43-storey tower cleaving the Manchester skyline has become an instantly recognisable landmark above the city. Occupying 23 floors, the Hilton has an indoor swimming pool, a spa and a spectacular cocktail bar with far-reaching views across Manchester and beyond. On a clear day you can see Liverpool, the mountains of Snowdonia, the Pennines mountain range, the Peak District, the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool and Blackpool Tower.
Halfway up the Old Man of Coniston, one of the Lake District’s tallest peaks, this youth hostel is a favourite with hikers and walkers. Surrounded by fells it’ll give you a great head start if you’re planning to bag Wetherlam or the Old Man itself. The journey to the hostel up a rutted track from Coniston is a great hike and the views when you get to the top are unbeatable.
Unleash your inner squirrel, scale an ancient oak and then spend the night sleeping soundly in its branches. Mighty Oak offer tree climbing experiences that climax in a night suspended high above the forest in a specially designed tree hammock. We’re assured they’re completely safe, though we’re not quite certain what the drill is if nature calls!
This fantastic folly in Suffolk has five bedrooms, the lofty ‘room at the top’ offering the best views across Thorpeness Golf Course, Thorpeness Meare and the glorious Suffolk Heritage Coast. This cottage perched 70ft –high was built in 1923 to disguise the water tower within and now provides fun family accommodation. The village of Thorpeness was created in the 1900s by Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie, a Scottish barrister who was inspired to create a magical holiday village by the work of his friend, Peter Pan author, J M Barrie.
Built in 1830, this towering 33m (110ft) lighthouse has eight floors including the lantern-room that’s reached by a steep ship’s ladder. From here you can look through the reinforced glass floor that looks down into the galley kitchen. It has the best views in Somerset, quirky round rooms and is a short stroll from six miles of award-winning beach.
This imposing fortress of a lighthouse is now a hotel. Take breakfast in the Victorian dining room which allows guests to look down over a 100m (360ft) vertical drop whilst enjoying the traditional Welsh breakfast for which the Lighthouse is widely renowned. If you’d like to stay try and book the lamp room which has 280 degree views over the sea.