The Luttrell Arms Hotel

About The Luttrell Arms Hotel

The Luttrell Arms stands at the top of Dunster's High Street, directly opposite the octagonal Yarn Market and beneath the wooded knoll carrying Dunster Castle. Parts of the building date to the fifteenth century, when it served as a guest house for the abbots of Cleeve, and the medieval fabric is still very much on show: stone fireplaces, a hall with a hammerbeam roof, mullioned windows and a warren of staircases that no two guests navigate the same way.

There are 28 en suite bedrooms, individually decorated and varying considerably in size and character, from snug doubles under the eaves to substantial rooms with four-posters and castle views. Public rooms include two bars, a series of sitting rooms with open fires and a terraced garden climbing the hillside behind the hotel, which is an unexpectedly peaceful spot on a summer afternoon.

Food is a serious part of the operation, with an accomplished restaurant using Exmoor lamb, venison and West Country fish, alongside a more informal bar menu and a good showing of local ales. The position is close to ideal for a first visit to the national park: the castle, watermill and packhorse bridge are all within a few minutes' walk, Minehead and the coast are ten minutes by car, and the road up to Dunkery Beacon leaves the village directly.