Best UK castle hotels to stay in 2024

Millions of sitting rooms are glued to the game – and The Traitors’  lavish setting is as key to the show as its round table duels.

As a nation newly faithful to a staycation, the desire to lord over a castle like Claudia has stirred in the UK.

Ardross Castle, the 19th century house and estate where the BBC reality show is filmed, is used as a wedding and conference venue, as well as as a film and TV set, but the rooms are not available to let individually. Fortunately, similar haunts to this Gothic Scottish Highlands castle welcome fans from Fife to Bristol.

Hiring whole castles, tucking-in to turret rooms and slumbering in affordable four-poster beds await – and they won’t require plotting for a slice of the prize pot.

We aren’t lying when we say these paranoia-free pads host nooks built for gossip, acres of grounds for games and breakfast spreads that your whole party can arrive alive to enjoy.

Here are the best stronghold stays from Scotland to Cumbria – where shields are decor, not lifelines – to make your booking mission easier.

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Lumley Castle, Durham

Chester-le-Street’s Lumley Castle looms over the River Wear and its opulent four-star suites echo a bygone era. Baroque four poster queens clash with the wallpaper in the Bishop’s Suite, and bed chambers in the castle’s former chapel are fit for a faithful to live out a fairytale.

Look out for murder mystery dinner dates to sleuth the stronghold in your very own whodunnit tied into a decadent three-course meal in the Knights Restaurant and a royal night’s sleep.