Ilkley named best place to live in the north for 2025!

Ilkley is the regional winner in the 2025 Best Places to Live guide, published this weekend by The Sunday Times.

Our town was previously was named the UK's best place to live three years ago and has been regularly on the list of hotspots across the region - but this year tops a table of 8 locations across the North and North East. The Sunday Times judges said:

“Our national winner in 2022 is back and proof that you can’t keep a good town down. It’s not just the fresh air, fantastic scenery, excellent schools and direct trains to Leeds that make Ilkley this year’s pick of the north and northeast. It’s the get-up and go of a community that tackles every challenge with gusto.”

‘Ed Sheeran’ comes to Ilkley!

Thank you Bradford Theatres - The Kings Hall often has some surprises and last night hosted another great event!

‘Shape of You’ had the trademark loops, heartfelt singalongs, beatbox raps, emotional acoustic compositions, a great band and visuals. Top night and just 10 minutes walk from Westwood Lodge!

Ilkley’s New Fountain

The new Ilkley fountain - at the bottom of our road has been filled with water direct from Ilkley Moor and switched on! Built on the site of the original Victorian fountain and now illuminated, the new one looks stunning! The official opening will be carried out by Alan Titchmarsh CBE on 30th April at 11am. #ilkley #ilkleymoor

If you're planning major improvements at home...

 

Now is perhaps a great time to plan for work to be carried out at home? If you need to move out whilst all the tradespeople and contractors take over for a few weeks, why not book to stay with us? Many of our guests are doing just that! "It's like being away on holiday!" is how it's often described! 

Just about everything is included in your accommodation with us. Our cottages and apartments are fully furnished and have essentials such as high speed wi-fi. Stay on a 4 weekly basis, so you can monitor how work is progressing and - if things get delayed - you can always stay on a bit longer. We just need 28 days notice. Check our current availability here and send us an email, What's App or text if you've any queries.

Preparing compost bays for a beautiful 2024

Our long-standing gardener Mat Morritt has been busy preparing our compost bays for the year ahead. 

See his useful reel and guidance notes for preparing compost on Facebook click here

 

After a long period of being full (or virtually full), we now have a choice of availability coming up. Whether you need a one bedroom apartment or a four/five bedroom cottage, we should be able to help! Guests are staying with us for a wide variety of reasons. We've had a lot of people house hunting locally. They tend to have 'sold up' and want to be cash buyers when the right property comes up! We've also got lots of people having work done at home and needing a place to stay for a few weeks or months. Then there are people here on business and folk who have sadly had issues at home (fire and water pipe burst for instance) and needing a bolthole for a while. We've also guests visiting relatives and wanting a base for them and other family members.

Remember that our cottages welcome dogs but our apartments are kept pet free.

Our minimum stay is always 4 weeks but if you need longer (12 weeks or more), your stay can be open-ended. This is particularly useful if you're in a house chain or if you just don't know how long you'll have the builders at home! Just give us 28 days notice of moving on.

Do email us if you think we can assist. The easiest way is by completing our enquiry form. We'll get back to you quickly - usually later the same day.   

25 years and still going strong!

We can't believe it's 25 years today since Paula and I - with 8 week old baby Alice - were handed the keys to the (then) Glenmoor Centre. We knew Bradford Council's training centre well as customers, but were like 'lambs to slaughter' as we quickly learned about all the mounting losses, structural issues and sheer amount of work needed to restore Westwood Lodge to its' former glory. 

Thank you to everyone - guests, staff, contractors and suppliers - who have supported us over the years and looking forward to many more years as Ilkley's premier self-catering accommodation. 

2023 and beyond!

This year marks 25 YEARS since we first acquired the buildings at Westwood Lodge - then known as The Glenmoor Centre. We've been through a few changes over the years. initially we were a day and residential conference centre with one self-catering cottage and offering B&B in our 10 bedrooms. After Foot & Mouth Disease closed large areas of the countryside in 2001, we limited ourselves to day meetings and then stopped catering operations altogether in 2003. We were totally self-catering stays from then, until the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to virtually close down in 2020. 

Since the easing of Coronavirus restrictions - given our increasing age and energies - we've now switched to longer lets. Generally these are for a minimum of 12 weeks and aimed at people who live elsewhere, but need accommodation here in Ilkley for a few months. Examples include people moving house, carrying out major home refurbishment or needing to be here because of work or the needs of elderly relatives. 

Rest assured, we're not going anywhere! Whilst we're sorry that our regular holiday cottage guests - many we regard as good friends - have had to find alternatives, we are pleased to continue to operate and to invest in the fine Grade II Historic Listed Buildings, that are the wonderful Westwood Lodge Ilkley Moor.

Availability

We have decided not to return to short stay breaks and weekly holidays. Instead, we will continue offering longer lets (rolling 28 nights). These have proved very popular with people moving house, enabling the housing "chain" to be broken, or to sell-up and then be ready as cash buyers when the right house comes along. Our longer lets are also ideal for a place to live whilst carrying out major projects/ building work at home. Such work always seems to take longer than planned! We've also had people stay from around the world (Australia, Canada, Spain etc) wanting to visit relatives not seen since before Covid-19 and for people working locally on projects or secondment for several months.  

Summer Update

We have been very busy with extended stays this year. It seems that everyone is moving house at the moment! We've proved to be a useful tool to help "break the chain" on several house moves.  People have been able to sell-up and move in with us for a few weeks, whilst seeking a suitable property, or stay here whilst carrying out major refurbishment work on their own house before moving in (or back in!) 

We will continue with longer lets (months rather than weeks) and won't be returning to offering weekly stays or short breaks. We currently don't expect to have any availability until early September. 

Looking ahead, we hope to be able to offer off-season "winter lets" at a further reduced rate from November until Easter.

Summer Availability

We are only able to offer extended stays (28 to 180 nights) this year.  We currently have two apartments coming available in July - The Moorview (1 bedroom) and The Glenmoor (2 bedrooms).  We currently don't have any cottages free. Please click here for more details.

Lifting the Lockdown - Spring update

Non-essential stays are now allowed. However, we are not attempting to return to our normal self-catering model this year. Sorry, but only longer stays will be possible (months rather than weeks) and only booked up to around 28 days before arrival. All stays will be at a heavily reduced rates but won't include things like mid-stay housekeeping services. Accommodation will be fully furnished and prepared to the highest “We’re Good To Go” standards with all essentials included (pots, pans, cutlery etc). Our stays this year are aimed at people needing to be in Ilkley for an extended period - maybe a job move, moving house or having major work done at home. Click here for more details.

Lifting the Lockdown

The current situation - due to the continuing lockdown, we remain closed except for essential stays in line with Government directives. All our cottages and apartments are occupied by people who have been staying with us through the winter. New essential stays are possible - where we have availability - for a minimum of 28 nights. The Main House remains closed.

Spring/ Summer 2021 - non-essential stays can resume from 12th April (single household) and 17th May/21st June (more than one household). From these dates, there will be no limitations on the reason for staying here. However, the target dates set by the Government are provisional and might change (again). After careful thought, we have decided to continue to only offer stays of at least 28 nights in 2021. It will not be possible to book weekly or short breaks. We currently have some longer stay availability. 

Click here for more details about longer stays at Westwood Lodge.

Thank you for your ongoing support during the pandemic.

Tim and Paula

Winter 2021 Lockdown

We confirm that, due to the current lockdown measures covering all of England, our normal business will remain CLOSED until further notice. All future holidays and short break bookings have long since been CANCELLED and guests fully refunded. 

In accordance with lockdown rules, the only people staying here are those using us as their main residence (such as in between houses or major work taking place at their usual home, rendering it inhabitable), or for self-isolation, work or education/ training.

We are reviewing prospects for reopening later in 2021, but regret that we cannot take any provisional bookings or reserve dates in the hope of things getting back to normal anytime soon.

Thank you for all your support during the pandemic.

Tim and Paula

Tier 3 from 2nd December 2020

We are currently in Tier 3, for the first time, after England moved out of lockdown on Wednesday 2nd December. We remain CLOSED for all holidays and short breaks. In accordance with Tier 3 rules, the only people staying here are those using us as their main residence (such as in between houses or major work taking place at their usual home, rendering it inhabitable), or for work or education/ training.

We regret that we will not be open at Christmas/ New Year and no bookings are currently being taken for 2021. We will remain closed for holiday lets until at least Easter. Further updates will follow.

Thank you for all your support during the pandemic.

Tim and Paula

Winter Lets at Westwood Lodge

Following the Government second lockdown announcement we are only able to accept extended residential stays, known as Winter Lets. This might be for key workers, essential business or someone stuck in a house move, for example. We cannot accept holiday bookings at this time. Our earliest availability is likely to be February 2021.

Winter Let accommodation will be fully furnished and prepared to the highest “We’re Good To Go” standards with everything included. Unless you wish to bring your own bedding, we will make up all the beds and leave a spare set of linen. Your bills will be included in the one price – heating, electric, Virgin Media cable TV etc.

We have acquired the Industry Standard mark “We’re Good to Go” from Visit England for our cleaning protocols and social distancing measures. You must observe all current national and local restrictions.

The minimum/ maximum stay is 28/ 155 nights.

For further details click here

West Yorkshire WILL NOT now move to Tier 3 on Monday 3rd November

The UK Government had announced that the entire county of West Yorkshire would transfer to Tier 3 of the Coronavirus local restrictions from Monday morning - 2nd November. However, this has now been superseded by the England-wide government lockdown announcement. See this statement

It's Autumn Half-term!

If you've not yet booked an autumn break, now's the chance!  The clocks will be going back soon and the night's drawing in. At the moment, we've sunny mornings (most days!) and the trees are all in the most gorgeous autumnal shades. 

We've some late availability deals arriving Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd and Monday 26th.

Ilkley is in Tier 2 for Coronavirus.  This means you can come away as a single household plus any members of your support bubble.  You can dine out and visit pubs, both inside and out. You can also visit family and friends in. their garden or outdoors. We've got the Visit England "We're Good to Go" certification demonstrating that we have good social distancing and cleaning protocols in place.

Friday 30th October is your LAST CHANCE for a 2020 stay with us. We are only offering extended, winter lets until Easter.  If you're looking for somewhere to live this winter, see our winter lets page.

Thanks for your continuing support during the current pandemic.

Last chance to book your Autumn Half-term stay!

The media coverage of the pandemic is concerning us all and we get calls everyday asking for the latest position. Yes, there are areas in the north of England and the Midlands that are seeing big increases in the number of Covid-19 cases (Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham). Numbers vary widely though and are still low locally. Reported new cases in our area (Ilkley Moor and Addingham) in the past 7 days is 7 and a further 18 in Ilkley and Ben Rhydding.  That's out of a population of around 14,000.

If you've not yet booked a stay for half-term, do consider us!  We've put together reductions across all our remaining cottages and apartments. Click here for the best deals! In particular, because we can't accept group bookings, The Old Gallery is (unusually) available and a special rate for up to six people staying.

Yet further changes

All parts of Bradford District (which includes Ilkley), may not socialise with other people outside of their own households or support bubble in private homes and gardens. Some wards (such as Ilkley) had been exempt from restrictions on gatherings introduced at the start of August, but these wards are now also subject to the ban.

Pubs and restaurants are now required to close at 10pm. You MAY still meet other people (up to 6) in public places, such as pubs (inside and out!)

Click here for the latest Government advice

There is also further advice here

This is the SIXTH different regime we've had to operate under since the beginning of July.  We are all doing our best to stop the spread of Covid-19 but the number of community cases in Ilkley remains relatively low.

Further Changes to Coronavirus Restrictions from UK Government

Since Monday 14th September groups larger than 6 (unless from one household or one household plus a social bubble) have been unable to socialise together. From this date, the maximum number of guests in one of our cottages cannot exceed SIX (unless from from one household or one household plus a social bubble). You can book more than one property but cannot then socialise as more than six (indoors or out).

Some good news! As we cannot allow larger groups, we are offering special low rates for The Old Gallery in September and October for up to SIX people staying!

Click here for the latest Government guidance

Coronavirus Temporary Local Restrictions

Local restrictions introduced on 31st July no longer apply to Ilkley.  National (England) restrictions will continue.

The official guidance is being regularly updated and can be found here

Great news! We're re-opening!

Great news!  We’re reopening in time for the summer! Bookings are getting confirmed and we look forward to everyone - old and new - staying with us.

There will be a few changes due to Government directives, but we’re confident these won't spoil people's stay. Indeed, most of Ilkley is getting back to normal with many shops fully open and pubs, tea-tooms and restaurants re-opening in early July. Trains and buses are running.

Go to:
your log-in page for the latest information (if you have a booking with us)
Ilkley Chat for what's happening locally
What you can do from 4th July for Government guidance

We need to ensure everyone is safe. We will be working to the new official Visit Britain Coronavirus acreditation scheme "Good to Go".  We will be writing to everyone booked but, based on our thorough risk assessments, we know that:-

• We will be Good to Go acredited by Visit Britain before we re-open. This is the official UK mark to signal that a hospitality business has worked hard to follow Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines and has a process in place to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing. To comply means we need more time on changeover days, so check-in time is now slightly later.
• Government guidance about who can stay, and social distancing rules must be followed by guests.
• Shared facilities will be closed to comply with Government guidelines and to reduce risk. This means our hot tub, sauna, workout room and Wendy house and trampoline etc. are, unfortunately, not going to be available.
• If anyone becomes ill with possible COVID-19 symptoms during their stay you must follow NHS guidance and you let us know immediately, so we can discuss the implications and take appropriate action.

• On departure day, we will ask for your help with a few tasks to minimise risk for all. We will need you to strip the beds and place dirty linen and towels safely into our enclosed laundry bags. In the kitchen we ask that all crockery, glassware and cutlery is washed in the dishwasher and put away. We will need all rubbish carried out to the designated area and recycling split into the different bins. 
• Before you leave us, we will ask you a few quick questions about the health of your group, to check for any possible coronavirus risk.

​We're so pleased to be re-opening safely and really look forward to everyone staying with us.


Tim, Paula and the team at
Westwood Lodge Ilkley Moor
 

WE'RE RE-OPENING ON 4TH JULY!

The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has confirmed that we can re-open on 4th July. We are studying the details and implications and will post more information as soon as we can.