Just outside of London is a pretty  market town home to the best hotel in the UK. Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, about 17 miles south of London. 

Known as ‘The Gateway to the Surrey Hills’, Leatherhead blends the bustling atmosphere of a historic market town with its peaceful natural surroundings. In the town’s high street are major retailers and independent businesses as well as a 600-year-old pub, the Running Horse, and post office-turned pub, Penny Black.

There is also a range of restaurants and cafes for visitors to enjoy. The local Beaverbrook Hotel has recently been named one of the world’s best hotels in Conde Nast Traveller’s Gold List 2026. The magazine called the hotel “picturesque”, that “blends English worldliness with modern finesse”. It also praised Beaverbrook’s spa, which it called “something of a marvel”, with a stained-glass ceiling and “innovative experiences”.

Also in the town is the Leatherhead Museum, which was opened in 1980 by the Leatherhead & District Local History Society.

It features a range of displays that explain the town’s history from its origins to present day. Hampton Cottage, the building on which the museum is based, dates back to before 1682.

A local tourist site is Bocketts Farm, which covers an area of 52 ha (128 acres) to the southwest of the town and was formerly part of the manor of Thorncroft.

Both the farmhouse and the timber-framed granary date from around 1800 and are Grade II listed. The farm was purchased by the Gowing family in 1990 and was opened to the public two years later.

Also nearby is River Mole local nature reserve, a 58-acre protected corridor that stretches along the banks of the river. It was designated in 2005 for its diversity of plant and animal species.

Leatherhead is easily visited by train from London, is close to the M25 and a short driving distance from the airports of Heathrow and Gatwick.