Lake Vyrnwy Hotel & Spa

Lake Vyrnwy Hotel was built in the 1890s for the engineers and sportsmen who came to the newly flooded valley, and it still occupies the best seat in the house: a terrace high on the southern slope, looking straight down the five-mile reservoir to the fairytale Gothic straining tower.

The interiors are country-sporting rather than minimal — tartan, antlers, deep chairs by fires — and almost every bedroom is angled at the water, several with balconies or window seats. The restaurant and the Tavern bar both make the most of the view, and the kitchen leans on the surrounding estate for game and lamb.

The hotel sits within a large RSPB-managed estate of moorland, forest and waterfalls, with marked trails, a lakeside cycle circuit of about twelve miles, and canoeing and sailing on the water. The spa offers treatments and there are clay shooting and fishing packages for those who want them.