A storied hotel where history meets heartfelt hospitality

Hungerford sits quietly poised on the edge of West Berkshire, brushed by the River Dun and serenaded by the slow meander of the Kennet & Avon Canal. At its very heart stands the Three Swans, a most graceful Georgian coaching inn with tales as rich as its beams are old.

The inn’s story begins in the early 1600s, a time when travellers rode on horseback or in jolting mail coaches along the famed Bath Road, seeking warmth, sustenance, and perhaps a gossip or two. The Three Swans became a cherished haven, a place to rest one’s boots and take a glass of ale by the fire. It was said to be a posting house of great repute, with stables and staff ready to welcome the weary with genuine hospitality.

By the 18th century, its elegant façade was added, all handsome symmetry and classical lines, elegantly Georgian and just divine.

It became not just a place for travellers, but a social heart for the town, where local affairs were discussed beneath flickering chandeliers and the scent of roast beef wafted through snug parlours as it does today.

When the railway arrived in 1847, many such inns faded into memory, but not the Three Swans. Adaptable and spirited, it flourished once again as a hotel for Victorian passengers, offering the new convenience of rail with the time-honoured comforts of tradition.

Today, its legacy endures, where ancient oak meets crisp linen, and modern visitors are greeted with the same warmth once extended to coachmen, merchants, and passing poets. A place of gentle charm, of stories whispered through centuries.