Cottages With Hot Tubs in East of England

Picture it. The sky over the reed beds turns pink, a windpump stands black against the horizon, and steam curls off the water as you sink in up to your shoulders. Out here, nothing gets in the way of the sunset. That's what hot tub retreats in the East of England do best: huge skies, quiet lanes and a warm soak to finish the day.

Every holiday cottage we list here has its own hot tub, and plenty have a wood burner too.

The region runs from the seal colonies of Norfolk through Suffolk's medieval wool towns, across the Cambridgeshire fens and up into the Lincolnshire Wolds. You'll find flint cottages, shepherd's huts by a lake, lodges on country parks and barns big enough for the whole family. Browse the listings above, then read on for six favourites and what to do around each one.

Where are the best hot tub retreats in the East of England?

It depends on the break you want. Head for the north and east of Norfolk if you love long sandy beaches, with the Broads a short drive inland. Rather have old towns and quiet countryside? Suffolk and Cambridgeshire suit you better, while Lincolnshire mixes a cathedral city with the rolling Wolds.

Distances come from the owners, so allow a little extra by road.

Want more to choose from? See our hot tub cottages in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. Down on the southern edge, Essex is handy for a drive up from London, and we've a page of hot tub cottages in Essex too.

Lincolnshire has plenty of lodges with hot tubs on quiet country parks too.

Six East Anglia hot tub cottages we'd book first

All six are rated 5.0 by guests. Four take dogs.

Fallowfield, Winterton-on-Sea

Rating: 5.0

Pets: Yes

Guests: 8 | Bedrooms 4 | Bathrooms 3

About the house:

A big, detached family holiday home in the seaside village of Winterton-on-Sea, with two bedrooms on the ground floor for grandparents. Bi-fold doors open from the living room on to the garden and its hot tub.

Why you'll love it:

Gated parking takes several cars and Great Yarmouth is 8.6 miles away. In winter, you're minutes from the seal colony on the dunes.

Cottage Info

4-Bedroom Hot Tub House in West Runton

Rating: 5.0

Pets: Yes

Guests: 8 | Bedrooms 4 | Bathrooms 3

About the house:

A luxury open-plan house with a king-size en-suite downstairs and three bedrooms upstairs, one with sea glimpses. The private hot tub sits on the patio of an enclosed garden, with a lawn where children and dogs can run about.

Why you'll love it:

The sandy beach is half a mile away, Cromer is 3 miles and Holt is 8. Parking for four cars means two families can share it easily.

Cottage Info

Damsel Shepherds Hut, Badwell Ash

Rating: 5.0

Pets: No

Guests: 2 | Bedrooms 1 | Bathrooms 1

About the hut:

A peaceful couples' retreat out on its own by a lake in the Suffolk village of Badwell Ash. You get a private hot tub, a sauna and a lake view, and not much else to do except enjoy them.

Why you'll love it:

It's remote but not cut off, as Bury St Edmunds is 11.5 miles away for supper in town.

Cottage Info

Barn Owl, Lode

Rating: 5.0

Pets: Yes

Guests: 4 | Bedrooms 1 | Bathrooms 1

About Barn Owl:

A single-storey, studio-style hot tub lodge with a double bed, bunks and field views. Outside, there's a shared games room with a pool table, plus a shared garden with barbecues, a fire pit and a pizza oven.

Why you'll love it:

Cambridge is 7.7 miles away and Ely 17.4. Book it with the two neighbouring lodges and it sleeps 12, which is handy for a family get-together.

Cottage Info

Sunset Lodge, Woodhall Spa

Rating: 5.0

Pets: Yes

Guests: 4 | Bedrooms 2 | Bathrooms 2

About Sunset Lodge:

A contemporary hot tub retreat with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a hot tub and a barbecue, in the well-kept grounds of Woodhall Country Park.

Why you'll love it:

Horncastle is 6.3 miles away and Lincoln 19.3. Woodhall Spa's woodland cinema is close enough for an evening film, and dogs are welcome.

Cottage Info

10-Bedroom Hot Tub Cottage in Wattisham

Rating: 5.0

Pets: Yes

Guests: 19 | Bedrooms 10 | Bathrooms 6

About the barns:

Three luxury converted barns booked together, and each one has its own private hot tub and enclosed patio with a view of a medieval moat. The largest has a double-height beamed ceiling and floor-to-ceiling glass, while another has a wood burner in its open-plan lounge.

Why you'll love it:

It's perfect for a big birthday, as everyone gets their own space and then meets up in the games room.

Cottage Info

What should you check before booking a hot tub break?

Not all hot tubs in East Anglia are equal, so check these before you pay:

• Is it a private hot tub? Some parks share hot tubs between lodges, so look for the word private.
• Is it heated and ready? Electric tubs are usually warm when you arrive, while wood-fired ones need lighting a few hours ahead.
• Is there a sauna too? A few retreats, like Damsel, have a sauna as well as a hot tub, and it's well worth booking for.
• How many dogs are allowed? Pet-friendly doesn't always mean two.
• Is it on a holiday park? Lots of log cabins and lodges are, which is perfect for families but less so if you want total peace.

Norfolk's coast: seal pups and a mammoth

It's the county most people picture when they book hot tub breaks in the East, and with good reason. The coast runs from cliffs in the north to dunes in the east, and you're never far from a beautiful beach. Better still, the best wildlife show of the year happens in winter, which is exactly when a hot tub feels best.

Grey seal pups at Winterton and Horsey (November to January)

Wrap up warm, climb the dunes and look down on hundreds of grey seals and their fluffy white pups lying on the sand. It's one of the best wildlife sights in the country, and it's free. Volunteer wardens from Friends of Horsey Seals point you to the roped-off viewing areas, rain or shine.

Most pups arrive between mid-November and mid-December. During the season you must not walk on the beach at all. Dogs have to stay on leads because a frightened seal will attack. Winterton's car park takes cash only and locks at 4pm sharp, while Horsey Gap's pay and display takes cards.

Distance from Winterton-on-Sea: the colony's a short walk from the village

The Deep History Coast at West Runton

In December 1990, a local couple spotted a big bone at the foot of the cliffs. It belonged to the West Runton Mammoth, a steppe mammoth around 600,000 years old, and 85% of its skeleton was dug out. That makes it the oldest mammoth found in the UK!

The Deep History Coast trail runs along 22 miles of shore from Weybourne to Cart Gap. Take a bucket at low tide to hunt for belemnites, then see parts of the mammoth at Cromer Museum.

Hot tub cottages near the Norfolk Broads

The Broads National Park offers more than 125 miles of navigable rivers and lakes across Norfolk and Suffolk. Surprisingly, the broads were dug by hand, as they're flooded medieval peat pits. Hire a day boat, enjoy a pub lunch by the river and look for swallowtail butterflies in summer, as Britain's only ones live here.

Winterton's only a few miles from the eastern broads, so Fallowfield works for beach and boat days alike.

Cambridgeshire: Anglesey Abbey, Wicken Fen and Ely

Inland, the pace slows right down, and the countryside is made for gentle walks.

Anglesey Abbey and Lode Mill

Stay at Barn Owl and the National Trust's Anglesey Abbey is in the same village. There are 114 acres to explore, with more than 100 statues, an 18th-century working watermill and a winter garden of red dogwood stems and white-barked birches. Visit from mid-January into February, when snowdrops carpet the Winter Walk.

Only assistance dogs are allowed inside, though there's a separate dog walk outside.

Wicken Fen and Ely Cathedral

Wicken Fen became the National Trust's first nature reserve in 1899, and it's recorded more than 10,000 species. Look out for the shaggy konik ponies that graze the fen. Ely's cathedral, with its wooden Octagon lantern, is 14 miles north of Cambridge.

Suffolk: Bury St Edmunds and Lavenham

The Abbey Gardens in Bury St Edmunds are free to wander, with the abbey ruins, a rose garden and a water garden inside the walls. Beer lovers can book the Greene King brewery tour, with a view from the brewhouse roof and a tasting at the end.

Lavenham, often called England's finest medieval village, is 8.5 miles from the Wattisham barns. Wander around its beautiful, crooked timber-framed houses, then head back for a soak.

Lincolnshire's castle, a cinema in the woods and the Wolds

Lincolnshire's the big, quiet county at the top of the region, with open countryside, wide views and far fewer crowds.

Lincoln Castle and Cathedral

Lincoln Castle keeps one of the four surviving 1215 copies of Magna Carta, and it's the only place where you can see it beside the 1217 Charter of the Forest. Walk the medieval walls and peer into the Victorian prison, then cross the square to the cathedral.

The Kinema in the Woods, Woodhall Spa

This one's a true one-off. The Kinema in the Woods began as a cricket pavilion and opened as a cinema in 1922, and it's the only fully working cinema in the UK that still uses back projection. Catch an evening film, and you'll be back in the outdoor hot tub at Sunset Lodge before bedtime.

Walks in the Lincolnshire Wolds

The Wolds hold the highest ground in eastern England between Yorkshire and Kent. Two circular walks, of 2 and 5¼ miles, start at Bag Enderby and pass through Somersby, where Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born. The White Hart Inn at Tetford is about 2½ miles away.

When's the best time for a hot tub holiday in the East?

Any month works, because the tub's warm whatever the weather. Each season brings something different, though:

• November to January: grey seal pups at Winterton and Horsey, and frosty nights throughout winter.
• January and February: snowdrops at Anglesey Abbey.
• Spring: quieter beaches and longer evenings.
• Summer: day boats on the Broads and barbecues on the patio.
• Autumn: fossil hunting after the first storms on the Deep History Coast.

The seal colonies get very busy in the Christmas school holidays, so go midweek and get booking early.

Are cottages with hot tubs in the East of England dog friendly?

Lots of them are, including both Norfolk houses above. Tick the pet-friendly filter at the top of this page to see the rest.

Just remember the seal rules.

From flint cottages by the sea to barns beside a medieval moat, hot tub retreats in the East of England give you room to breathe and plenty to enjoy. Browse the listings above, or see all our cottages with hot tubs across the UK, and book yourself into some of the loveliest countryside cottages in England.