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From farm-to-table restaurants to opulent spas, these innovative stays are changing the face of rural chic
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By general consensus, the country house hotel was born in 1949 in the pink and frilly shape of Sharrow Bay, on the shores of Ullswater. The Second World War was over; people were looking for new ways to spend their time off and keen to explore their country. There had been leisure hotels in Britain before, of course, both in cities and on the coast, but this was the first where you could be pampered by solicitous owners in beautiful surroundings.
Presided over by a splendid couple, Francis Coulson and his partner Brian Sack, a stay at Sharrow Bay came complete with a gargantuan afternoon tea, Sack’s famous icky sticky toffee pudding and Coulson’s equally sickly bedtime poems. Guests felt at home, and that, in the beginning, was what it was all about: a home from home offering attentive service, good food, rest and recuperation.
For the next half century, owning and running a country house hotel was almost exclusively a private affair. Nowadays, many of them are part of chains and groups, or are the playthings of hands-off millionaires. Back then, they flourished like their owners did and they withered and died as their owners did the same.
As guests, we used to be so much less demanding, but by the millennium we started wanting more. In 1998, Nick Jones opened Babington House. Suddenly, hanging out in the Somerset countryside was as cool as flying to New York for the weekend and the new-wave country house hotel was born.
As the current century began to unfold and the original owners of country house hotels retired and sold their properties, so more and more money-makers and millionaires made appearances, creating addresses such as Beaverbrook, Heckfield Place, Estelle Manor and the Newt, which are as luxurious, glamorous, giddily expensive and full of attention-grabbing features and contemporary design as they are restful.
Seventy-five years ago, special treats at Sharrow Bay amounted to dessert and poems on your pillow. Not so today: consider everything the Newt offers, including a reconstructed Roman villa, Heckfield’s organic farm and market garden, or Beaverbrook and Estelle Manor’s ice rinks for winter fun to name but a few.
The addition of spas was, of course, a natural one and demand continues unabated. Cookery schools sprang up too, and although their appeal seems to have died down, “experiences”, whether vineyard visiting, foraging or floristry, are still popular. Some classic establishments, from Chewton Glen in the south of England to Gleneagles in Scotland, as well as the Luxury Family Hotels group, have embraced families, with children no longer left behind.
A few longstanding country house hotels continue in the old style and retain much of their original spirit. One is Plumber Manor; another is Gravetye Manor; and another is Hambleton Hall, about to celebrate 45 years of ownership by Tim and Stefa Hart. I once asked Tim if he felt the need for a spa: “Heavens no,” he replied, “a cup of tea in the garden, that’s our spa.” A more recent country house hotel that, to me, retains the spirit of its predecessors despite its stylish looks and spa is Lime Wood, perhaps also because its key staff have been in place since it opened 25 years ago.
One problem in the country house sector has always been the lack of good mid-price options, especially if you want a spa. Lainston House in Hampshire and its sister hotels Pennyhill Park and South Lodge in Surrey and Sussex respectively, are solid, well-run choices here.
Luckily, what the mid-market does have, of course, are the Pigs. Starting out with the Pig in Brockenhurst in 2011, Robin and Judy Hutson changed the face of rural British hospitality with their litter (now amounting to nine, with two more to come soon). By creating an easy-going, rustic-chic ambience and putting the kitchen garden at the heart of the story, they started a trend for sustainable hotels that truly reflect their locations. Yes, spas are still important, but they are becoming much more holistic; kitchen gardens are becoming ever more productive; interior decoration is leaning once more toward homely comfort.
Wildhive Callow Hall in the Peak District is a good example of a new country house hotel: it has a dazzling all-glass restaurant but also has rooms that are “hives”, secreted in the trees for getting back to nature. All the produce is local; the small spa offers gong bath therapy and the emphasis is on wellbeing and relaxation. One to watch: Louma Farm in Dorset, embedded in a working farm and vineyard, opening soon. The country house hotel continues to evolve, and perhaps in some ways return to its roots as a quiet sanctuary from the storm.
The country house hotel has been reinvented here in a way that is design-forward and feels totally contemporary, while seamlessly blending in classic elements. The gorgeous grounds feature a farm that really does go straight to table at Skye Gyngell’s Marle, awarded a Michelin green star.
Attention to detail here is paramount, to the extent that even the useful is beautiful – for instance their wooden key cards. On the walls you’ll find art from the private collection of the billionaire owner Gerald Chan. The Bothy spa lets guests continue to enjoy their surroundings, whether from the outdoor hot tub or through the glass walls on the infinity (chlorine-free) pool and sauna.
Doubles from £600, B&B (01189 326868; heckfieldplace.com)
A petite, buttercream-coloured hotel located within the New Forest National Park, Lime Wood is more fun than frills and fuss; think Bridgerton over Downton Abbey. Classic decoration, such as black-and-white checkerboard floors and heavily gilded frames, plus Regency proportions have been updated with some modern fixtures, funky patterns and up-to-date colourways (tangerine bar stools next to a marble-topped central bar), giving the place a glossy and stylish sheen.
The Herb House spa is an emporium of indoor and outdoor hot pools and rooms, surrounded by foliage. Bedrooms in the main house are joined by romantic cottages and cabins, while Italian restaurant Hartnett Holder & Co – by Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder – is a destination in its own right.
Doubles from £425, room only (023 8028 7177; limewoodhotel.co.uk)
The roaring Twenties have been revived for Surrey’s elite at this bucolic hotel just 20 miles outside of London. The stirring hilly views, Italianate gardens and expansive grounds may steal the show for some, but the stained-glass roof spa is one of the finest in the country and the Japanese restaurant is also a standalone destination.
While it’s certainly grand, there’s a homely feel to the main house. Complimentary tea and cake is served in the morning room in the afternoons and there are three film screenings a day in the little cinema (with popcorn, of course). There are plenty of other diversions in the grounds. Try your hand at padel, pickleball or petanque, take a tennis lesson or borrow an electric bike.
Doubles from £610, B&B (01372 571300; beaverbrook.co.uk)
One of New York’s most celebrated design studios has worked magic on a historic building on the edge of the Cotswolds to create one of the most luxurious country retreats in Europe. It’s a mix of grand patterned hallways and staircases, gloriously ornate ceilings, contemporary art and heavy drapes, while the malachite emerald and copper mirrors of the Billiards Room Chinese restaurant make for one of the most spectacular dining rooms in existence. You can spend half a day in the huge, gleaming white Roman-and Inigo-Jones-inspired Eynsham Baths (though, controversially, guests have to pay extra for this).
Doubles from £450, B&B (01993 685800; estellemanor.com)
Scholarship, authenticity and money-no-object attention to detail underpin the attractions at the Newt, central to which are its vast, impressive gardens and farm (which supplies the kitchens), home to a cyder press, mushroom house, farm shop bakery and butchery, ice cream parlour, treetop walk, wild swimming ponds and more. It is owned by the couple behind South Africa’s Babylorstoren: Karen Roos, the former editor of Elle Decoration, who is responsible for the Newt’s interiors, and her partner.
There is plenty to admire in Roos’s refreshing take on a period English country house, especially the simplicity: no curtains at the lovely sash windows, nor pointless cushions on the blissful beds; the rough-hewn walls of the natural, unadorned spa; the unfussy, almost Scandinavian style of the bedrooms and bathrooms; the juxtaposition of modern and old.
Doubles from £625, B&B (01963 577777; thenewtinsomerset.com)
Enter hog heaven at this quirky idyll in Devon’s peaceful Otter Valley. The Pig’s charmingly informal yet exquisite take on the traditional manor house hotel experience is a formula not to be messed with. Take your wellies and a good appetite.
Every room is bespoke, with vintage furniture, reclaimed wood, antique glassware and personal touches such as the Pig’s own “hit the hay” herbal tea bags left on pillows at bedtime. Every day, the head chef takes his pick of fresh ingredients from the huge kitchen garden bursting with salad leaves, vegetables, fruit and herbs to incorporate into the ever-changing seasonal “25-mile” menu. Some favourites, such as the pork crackling with apple sauce, will never change.
Doubles from £285, room only (01404 540400; thepighotel.com)
The first acquisition for hotel group Wildhive is a thrilling reimagining of a stalwart country house hotel. It now combines glamour and comfort, as well as a back-to-nature sensibility with its quirky, earthy cabins, hives and treehouses hidden in the woods above the main hotel.
As your eye travels along the lovely entrance hall to the stunning glass cube extension that houses the restaurant and bar, you may marvel that you are in a quiet (though lovely) corner of the Peak District, not trendy Somerset or the Cotswolds. The Coach House is home to the small spa and a map room for walkers; bicycles, including electric are available to hire for the day.
Doubles from £209, room only (01335 300 900; wildhive.uk)
Slow weekends at this Georgian beauty are spent tucking into wholesome food, wallowing in the steamy spa pool, wandering the grounds and relaxing in rustic-luxe rooms. It’s a wildly romantic setting – and word is spreading fast, especially since its recent Michelin green star award.
Owner James Allison grew up on this estate and has spent the past 20 years sympathetically restoring the main house (built in 1780 by architect John Carr) and 18th-century outbuildings, working alongside creative director Rebecca Tappin to shape Middleton Lodge Estate into what it is today: a dreamy escape that leans into a farmhouse-chic aesthetic. Original features such as wonky wood beams mingle with fires, natural linens and chunky handmade furnishings to create the warm, homely feel of a Yorkshire country pile.
Doubles from £235, B&B (01325 377977; middletonlodge.co.uk)
The delight is in the detail at this wildly romantic, sublimely comfortable, uniquely fascinating passion project from international art dealers Hauser & Wirth. You’ll like it for the location and because it’s a great hotel, but you’ll love it for the extraordinary imagination that makes art an immersive experience.
Interior designer Russell Sage uses period bric-a-brac as objets d’art, with sumptuous fabrics and acres of antiques creating meticulously realised, light-hearted design drama. Recover from the bracing outdoors in the Albamhor treatment rooms with a hot Cairngorm-stone foot massage. And don’t miss dinner in the Clunie Dining Room, decked in traditional country house style but for the striking “cubistoid” mural by Guillermo Kuitca entirely covering the walls. There will be good Scottish ingredients on your plate, ditto at breakfast; consider eggs Hebridean, a Benedict with black pudding.
Doubles from £434, B&B (01339 720 200; thefifearms.com)
The Grove of Narberth team has now unveiled a new hotel, Penmaenuchaf, but the Grove remains the rural-escape blueprint, blending destination dining with relaxed, country house chic. The property pairs history with stylish contemporary design; new glass extensions added to the suites are a lovely, light-filled touch.
Interiors include a sitting room with chunks of Welsh coal beneath a glass-topped table, a blue-themed entertaining room with an open hearth and a bar area with Welsh chapel benches and bobbins of wool within the tables. A pretty walled kitchen garden, free for guests to explore, provides a bounty of herbs and vegetables, used in the main restaurant for its 10-course tasting menu, as well as the more relaxed brasserie.
Doubles from £390, room only (01834 860915; grovenarberth.co.uk)
Additional contributions from Telegraph Travel experts. To browse our full collection of more than 10,000 hotel reviews, visit telegraph.co.uk/tt-hotels
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