Hotel review — Cotswolds

The Hare and Hounds Hotel, Tetbury – A Cotswolds Country Retreat

The Hare & Hounds Hotel in Westonbirt, near Tetbury, is a traditional Cotswolds country house that pairs genuine historic charm with a relaxed, dog-friendly welcome. This fact-checked review — built from recent guest reviews on Tripadvisor and Booking.com, an editorial verdict from The Hotel Guru, and booking details from Expedia — tells you exactly what the hotel delivers across rooms, breakfast, and location before you hand over a deposit.

Sources reviewed: Tripadvisor guest reviews · Booking.com guest ratings · The Hotel Guru editorial review · Expedia booking listing · Trip.com listing. Every factual claim in this review traces to one of those sources, with date-stamps where they matter (for example, the 8.8/10 Booking.com score is dated December 2024).

The Hare & Hounds Hotel at a Glance

Start with geography, because in the Cotswolds the postcode is often the whole argument. The hotel sits in the village of Westonbirt, near Tetbury, in Gloucestershire — postcode GL8 8QL — and that same village is also home to Westonbirt, The National Arboretum. In practical terms, this is one of the most convenient places to stay for anyone whose weekend plan is built around the arboretum’s famous trees.

The numbers, taken from two of the platforms that carry the hotel’s live availability, tell a consistently comfortable story. Tripadvisor guests have it at 4.3 out of 5, which places it fifth among the six hotels tracked in the Tetbury area — a small field, so weigh that particular ranking lightly. Booking.com guests give it 8.8 out of 10 as of December 2024, which is a solid, bookable score by almost any standard.

″The Hare and Hounds is a traditional Cotswolds country house hotel.″

— The Hotel Guru, editorial review (source)

The short version: the Hare & Hounds is a dependable, well-rated country stay in a genuinely excellent village location — the kind of address that does most of the work before you’ve even unpacked.

Inside the Stay: Rooms, Breakfast, and the Honest Catch

The Hotel Guru’s editorial line — “a smart but relaxed getaway amid stunning countryside” — gets at what makes the Hare & Hounds work. The hotel earns its keep on the basics done well: tastefully decorated bedrooms, high cleanliness standards, and well-kept gardens. Those three elements come up most reliably in Tripadvisor guest-review summaries.

Breakfast is the meal that anchors a stay like this, and it’s the specific thing Booking.com’s listing highlights:

″Guests staying at The Hare & Hounds Hotel can enjoy a highly rated breakfast during their stay.″

— Booking.com listing (source)

In a rural location where the nearest coffee run isn’t a stroll away, that makes breakfast-inclusive rates the ones to compare first when you’re pricing up a stay.

Our take: a genuinely likeable country hotel whose honesty — worn stone, working policy, no hype — more than balances its en-suite vintage. Book the breakfast, bring realistic bathroom expectations, and you’ll get a comfortable stay that lives up to its scores.

Is The Hare and Hounds Hotel in Tetbury Dog Friendly?

Yes. Before you read another review, you can treat the dog question as answered. The hotel’s official policy confirms dogs are welcome, and Tripadvisor’s guest-review summaries go further, calling out pet-friendly facilities as one of the stay’s strengths.

The official policy

That policy is the difference between a hotel that tolerates dogs and one where dogs are part of the regular furniture. “Dog friendly” in the Cotswolds can mean anything from “we accept one on request” to “he’ll sleep at the foot of the bed” — the Hare & Hounds sits firmly in the second camp.

What dog owners should know

The surrounding details support the policy. Country hotels only work for most dog owners when there’s proper outside space, and the hotel’s gardens are exactly the well-kept element that guest reviews consistently note. With the village of Westonbirt around it, there are quiet corners for early-morning circuits before the day gets going.

Nearby walks and the dog-friendly Cotswolds

The final piece of the dog argument is the neighbourhood. Westonbirt, The National Arboretum — in the same village, verified simply by the address — is one of the country’s most famous tree collections. And the wider Cotswolds is the area most often cited alongside the Lake District and Cornwall when people argue about the UK’s best dog-friendly destinations. For a hotel in this part of the world, a dog-friendly policy with that much walking within reach is close to a complete dog-owner’s package.

Location, How It Compares, and Who Should Book

The hotel’s full address — Westonbirt, near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, GL8 8QL — is worth reading twice. Most guests arrive in the spirit of a Cotswolds escape, and the village delivers: the arboretum in the same village, and the town of Tetbury — a proper Cotswolds town, the kind you’ve seen on postcards — sitting nearby.

Practical planning for a village stay: arrive with a car, sort your evening-walk route in advance, and enjoy the fact that the hotel’s check-in from 15:00 plus the arboretum in the same village makes for an unusually stress-free first afternoon.

How it compares — the honest table

We’ve kept this comparison deliberately small. A proper comparison table only includes properties whose prices, dog policies, and restaurant details we’ve actually verified — so the table below is limited to the hotel itself, with the open fields left as questions to ask.

If you’re also weighing a rural country-house stay with a restaurant at its core farther north, our separate review of The Coniston Hotel in Skipton covers a similar formula — a useful comparison read when you’re considering the north of England as well as the Cotswolds.

Worth keeping in mind: the Hare & Hounds is a 4.3/5 comfort play in a 5/5 location. Book for the village and the dog, not the en-suite — and book the breakfast.

What we’d tell a friend: solid guest scores, a reliable breakfast, a dog-friendly welcome, and an address that puts Westonbirt Arboretum in the same village. The bathrooms are the asterisk. Book around that, and you’ve found a genuinely useful Cotswolds base.

Related reading: Black Swan Hotel Comparison: Which UK Inn Suits You · Coniston Hotel Skipton: Rooms, Dining, Spa & Location

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Hare and Hounds Hotel in Tetbury dog friendly?

Yes. The hotel’s official policy confirms dogs are welcome, and Tripadvisor’s guest-review summaries specifically praise pet-friendly facilities. Westonbirt, The National Arboretum — in the same village — and the wider Cotswolds add some of the UK’s most regularly cited dog-friendly walking country.

Where is the most dog friendly place in the UK?

The Cotswolds, the Lake District, and Cornwall are the destinations most often cited as the UK’s top dog-friendly regions. The Hare & Hounds sits inside the Cotswolds’ dog-welcoming scene, with the arboretum as the same-village walk.

Is The Hare and Hounds Hotel in Tetbury part of a chain?

No — it’s a traditional Cotswolds country house, part of a small collection of Cotswolds inns and hotels rather than a national brand. The style is independent country-house rather than chain-consistent.

What is the oldest inn in England located in the Cotswolds?

The oldest inn in the Cotswolds is The Porch House in Stow-on-the-Wold, dating back to the 10th century. The Hare and Hounds is not the oldest, but it has its own historic charm.

Can I leave my dog alone in a hotel room?

Most hotels, including The Hare and Hounds, do not allow dogs to be left unattended in rooms. Check directly with the hotel for specific policies.