Best Country Retreats In The UK
- Nick, Editor
- Nov 1
- 9 min read
Updated: Nov 5
Our top 10 all-year-round luxury country retreats in the UK
Article summary>>
In this article, we take a look at our top 10 retreats in the UK Countryside.
(in no particular order)
Estelle Manor
Grantley Hall
Four Seasons Hampshire
Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.
The Newt In Somerset
Beaverbrook
Cliveden House
Cleneagles
Lucknam Park
Chewton Glen
Booking
Estelle Manor.
Estelle Manor. Set on a 60-acre estate near Bampton, this Grade II-listed pile has been reborn with cinematic swagger, moody palettes, velvet and lacquer, contemporary art glinting against carved oak. Bedrooms range from firelit chambers with four-posters to sleek suites with marble-and-brass bathrooms and bay windows that frame parkland like a painting. Every detail feels curated, from cloud-soft linens to trays that turn nightcaps into ritual.
Days unwind between spectacle and sanctuary. The Romanesque bathhouse is a subterranean fantasy, with tepidarium, caldarium, vitality pools, while the spa layers high-tech facials and restorative massages with hushed lounges and garden views. Outside, padel courts, woodland trails and heated pools set a languid, Riviera-in-the-Cotswolds pace. Dining spans mood and moment: a wood-panelled Brasserie for refined British classics, a glass-walled greenhouse for hyper-seasonal lunches, terrace cocktails that catch the last flare of sky.
The vibe is members-club opulent yet playfully unbuttoned, weekending couples, fashion folk, multi-gen gatherings, held together by service that’s anticipatory, warm and wonderfully discreet.
Location is a sweet spot: deep countryside calm, within easy reach of the Cotswolds’ prettiest villages (Burford, Bibury), and Oxford, at a scenic drive away. You arrive to the ceremony and leave recalibrated, perfumed faintly with cedar, a little more grand than when you came.
Grantley Hall.
Grantley Hall. A 17th-century Palladian mansion near Ripon, framed by formal lawns and the River Skell, it pairs stately-home splendour with an unabashedly modern gloss, marble halls, crackling fires, fresh flowers, and staff who arrive feel like ceremony rather than check-in.
Rooms cocooned in silk and velvet, cloud-soft beds, sash windows over gardens, marble bathrooms with soaking tubs and proper water pressure. Suites add drawing rooms for nightcaps and the quiet thrill of pretending the place is yours.
Days find a delicious rhythm between pleasure and performance. The Three Graces Spa is a serious sanctuary: an 18-metre pool edged by daybeds, outdoor hydrotherapy, sauna, steam, snow room, and treatments that marry botanicals with results. Next door, the ELITE Performance Centre brings pro-level fitness (think altitude chamber and Technogym toys) to the Dales.
Dining is a little theatre of its own: Shaun Rankin at Grantley Hall for Michelin-starred tasting menus tuned to Yorkshire’s larder; Fletchers for refined comfort; Bar & Restaurant EightyEight for glossy, Pan-Asian sparkle; afternoon tea in salons that were built for it; Valeria’s for late-night, Champagne-lit mischief.
The vibe is grand yet gleeful, celebrations, spa-weekends, discreet regulars, underwritten by service that’s warm, exact, and quietly proud.
Location: on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Fountains Abbey minutes away, moorland drives on your doorstep, Harrogate and York within easy reach, England at its greenest, with a gilded key to it all. Read the article & review>>
Four Seasons Hampshire.
Four Seasons Hampshire. Set on a 500-acre estate near Dogmersfield, the restored Georgian manor mixes honeyed stone, crackling fires and fresh flowers with a light, contemporary hand. Rooms are calm and generous, panelled accents, cloud-soft beds, wide-open views of lawns and hedgerows, and marble bathrooms with soaking tubs and walk-in showers; suites add drawing rooms and window seats made for misty mornings.
Days slip into an English-pastoral rhythm. Ride across meadows from the on-site equestrian centre, try falconry on the front lawn, or follow footpaths down to the Basingstoke Canal. The spa, a glazed modern barn, wraps a 20-metre pool, vitality pool, outdoor hydrotherapy, saunas and steam, with therapies that sway between botanical and high-tech; the gym and studios keep intentions honest. Young explorers decamp to the Kids For All Seasons club and outdoor adventure zone, leaving adults to the conservatory’s hush.
Dining ranges from refined, estate-led plates in the main restaurant to sun-splashed lunches in the glasshouse and fireside cocktails in a clubby bar. Service is Four Seasons at its most human, unflappable, anticipatory, quietly warm.
Location: a straight shot from London (about an hour), close to Winchester, Highclere, and South Downs walks, deep countryside with the city at arm’s reach.
Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.
Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. In the Oxfordshire village of Great Milton, Raymond Blanc’s honey-stone manor is wrapped in orchards, herb beds and an immaculate potager that seems to exhale thyme and warm earth. Interiors are quietly sumptuous, with silks, toile, fresh flowers, while bedrooms and suites (each with its own personality) cocoon in cloud-soft linens and marble-clad bathrooms; several open onto private garden nooks for dawn coffee among lavender.
The two-Michelin-star restaurant is the heartbeat: seasonal, witty, and exquisitely precise, vegetables lifted straight from the soil, sauces that land like a final brushstroke, desserts that read as small architecture. Between meals, wander the 11 acres of gardens, play croquet on the lawn, or dive into the Raymond Blanc Cookery School (and gardening workshops) to bottle a little of the house philosophy. Afternoon tea unfurls with old-world grace; the bar mixes pitch-perfect classics and herb-forward signatures. Service is warm, instinctive, and delightfully proud of its patch of Eden. A top contender on the best country retreats in the UK list.
The vibe is gourmand romance with a scholarly streak, food lovers, celebrants, and design eyes sharing the same contented hush.
Location is ideal: about an hour from London, minutes to Oxford, with the Cotswolds an easy dawdle, rural England at its most edible, and a manor that makes time feel beautifully slow. Read the article & review>>
The Newt In Somerset.
The Newt. Centred on honey-stone Hadspen House near Bruton, this Georgian beauty sits within a cleverly reimagined estate of orchards, walled gardens, and woodland trails that smell of apple blossom and damp moss after rain. Bedrooms, split between the main house and chic, rustic-polished outbuildings, mix linen and oak, hand-thrown ceramics and deep, dreamily quiet beds; bathrooms in marble and stone make unhurried rituals inevitable.
Days fall into an agrarian rhythm. Wander the parterre and apple Parabola, taste estate-pressed cyder, or dip into the quietly immersive Story of Gardening and the on-site Roman Villa experience. The spa is a cocoon of pale stone and glass, with pool, sauna, and hamman; bikes and boots wait at the door for lanes and leafy footpaths. At the Botanical Rooms and Garden Café, menus pivot around what’s just been harvested, vegetables with real personality, herbs clipped to order, estate lamb and trout in season; breakfasts arrive with honey still warm from the comb.
The vibe is modern rural, tasteful, tactile, quietly hip, where gardeners and sommeliers speak the same language of terroir.
Location is a gift: moments from art-forward Bruton, close to Hauser & Wirth, and an easy countryside amble from hilltop churches and hedgerow-stitched views, Somerset at its most edible and serene.
Beaverbrook.
Beaverbrook. Set on a 470-acre estate in the Surrey Hills, the former home of press baron Lord Beaverbrook blends grand-manner history with a playful, modern gloss. The main house is all sash windows, sweeping views and story-soaked salons; bedrooms, tailored by Susie Atkinson, mix chintz and velvet with cloud-soft beds and marble bathrooms. In the garden-wrapped Garden House and family-friendly Village, rooms skew rustic-chic and sunlit.
Days loosen their collar quickly. The kaleidoscopic Coach House Spa (a stained-glass dream) folds an indoor-outdoor pool, thermal circuit and seriously good treatments into a cocoon of colour and light. Tennis, croquet and woodland walks start at the door; there’s a dapper private cinema for rainy afternoons, and a lively kids’ club when little travellers need their own adventure. Dining is split by mood: refined Japanese Grill in the main house; seasonal, Mediterranean-leaning plates at the Garden House; Sir Frank’s Bar for jewel-toned cocktails that stretch dusk into night.
The vibe is country-house glamour with a wink, weekending couples, multi-gen gatherings, art-and-fashion folk, glued together by service that’s warm, nimble and unfussy.
Location: near Leatherhead, an hour from London, with the South Downs and vineyard country in easy reach, rolling England at your feet, city temptations an effortless return.
Cliveden House.
Cliveden House. Set high above a shimmering bend of the Thames near Taplow, this Italianate mansion, once the Astors’ fabled salon, arrives wreathed in National Trust parterres, statuary and scandalous lore. Inside, it’s candlelit staircases, wood-panelled salons, and bedrooms that feel like richly upholstered time capsules: four-posters, velvet and silk, garden views that soften even a Londoner’s pulse; marble bathrooms turn bathing into a ceremony.
Days drift between pleasure and performance. Borrow a vintage launch from the boathouse for a languid river putter; wander the geometric parterre and woodland trails; then disappear into the Cliveden Spa, a hushed cocoon of stone and light with indoor pool, outdoor hot tubs, a famed listed outdoor pool, thermal suite and deft, results-driven treatments. Tennis on the lawn, croquet, and vast grounds keep appetites honest.
Dining spans mood and moment: the Cliveden Dining Room for gilt-edged, seasonal British plates with proper theatre; the Astor Grill in the old stables for brasserie comforts; afternoon tea in sunlit salons where tiers arrive like sculpture. Service is polished, warm, and quietly proud of the house’s legend.
Location is fantastic, just minutes to Windsor and Bray’s Michelin temples, about 45 minutes from central London, yet wrapped in 376 acres of green, a grand stage where English heritage plays on, and you, happily, take a starring role.
Gleneagles.
Gleneagles. Set amid Perthshire’s rolling hills near Auchterarder, the 1920s baronial “Riviera of the Highlands” marries heathered romance with handsome, sporting polish, tweeds, open fires, polished wood, and a hum of merry purpose from dawn to last nightcap. Bedrooms blend estate calm with contemporary craft: supple leathers, soft plaids, cloud-soft beds and marble bathrooms; suites gaze to hills that change mood with the weather.
Days unfold like a country-house wish list. Three championship golf courses, the King’s, Queen’s and PGA Centenary, fan across the estate. Beyond fairways, there’s falconry, gundog lessons, off-road driving, riding, fishing, clay shooting, cycling and wild-swim dips when the lochs behave. The Spa soothes with a chandeliered pool, thermal suite and results-driven treatments; a sleek gym and studios keep good intentions honest; Little Glen and The Den charm younger guests.
Dining spans the ceremony to crackle. Scotland’s only two-Michelin-star restaurant, Andrew Fairlie, whispers luxury; The Strathearn brings white-jacketed theatre; The Birnam leans Italian-mod; The American Bar shakes velvet-lit martinis; Glendevon stages afternoon tea with parkland views.
The vibe is country-sporting glamour with a wink, weekenders, families, golfers, and celebrants, held by service that’s warm, deft and genuinely proud.
Location: an hour or so from Edinburgh or Glasgow, with the Highlands beckoning north, Scotland’s great playground, perfectly arranged.
Lucknam Park.
Some country houses impress at the door; Lucknam Park begins its seduction a mile earlier, down an avenue of lime and beech that funnels you to an 18th-century Palladian mansion wrapped in 500 acres of parkland. Inside, it’s all stone fireplaces, polished antiques and fresh flowers, with bedrooms that cocoon in soft heritage hues, cloud-soft beds, sash-window views over lawns and woodland, and marble bathrooms made for unhurried rituals. Suites add firelit sitting rooms and the quiet thrill of staying in a real country house.
Days find an easy rhythm between pleasure and pasture. The equestrian centre (one of Britain’s best) offers saddle rides through the estate; tennis, croquet and woodland trails keep appetites honest. The light-filled spa is a true sanctuary: a 20-metre pool, indoor-outdoor hydrotherapy, thermal cabins and treatment rooms that lean botanical over bombast.
There’s also a cookery school, kitchen garden and handsome walled grounds to wander.
Dining spans ceremony to comfort: the Michelin-starred Restaurant Hywel Jones for linen-clad evenings of seasonal British finesse; The Brasserie beside the spa for wood-fired, field-to-fork plates; afternoon tea in panelled salons where time slows.
The vibe is stately yet warm, couples, multi-gen families, discreet celebrants, underwritten by service that’s polished, proud and genuinely kind.
Location: on the edge of the Cotswolds near Bath and Castle Combe, rural England, perfectly framed.
Chewton Glen.
Chewton Glen. On the edge of the New Forest with a secret path to the Hampshire coast, this ivy-draped country house unfolds across 130 acres of lawns, woodland and kitchen gardens. Bedrooms are classic-English plush, silks, antiques, cloud-soft beds, while the show-stealers are the elevated Treehouse Suites: glassy, cocoon-like perches with hot tubs on the terrace and birdsong for room service.
Days fall into a delicious rhythm. The spa is a destination in itself, serene pool and hydrotherapy circuit, aromatherapy saunas and steam, an outdoor hot tub, and treatment rooms that swap bombast for real results. There’s a nine-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor tennis, croquet on the lawn, bikes for forest trails, and a direct footpath to Highcliffe Beach for a salty reset.
Food swings from ceremony to convivial: The Dining Room for linen-clad seasonal British cooking; The Kitchen, the hotel’s glass-and-steel, garden-facing hub, for wood-fired comfort, cookery classes, and an all-day buzz. The walled garden and greenhouse keep plates hyper-seasonal.
The vibe is polished but playful, multi-gen families, spa weekenders, discreet celebrants, held together by service that’s warm, anticipatory, and never stiff.
Location is the quiet luxury: minutes to ponies and heathland in the New Forest, a stroll to the sea, and easy access to Dorset’s coast, rural England, with a salty wink.
Tours & activities>>
The Best Country Retreats In The UK. Article. 2025
All hotels & resorts on The Five Star Edit are independently selected by our editors. However, as an affiliate partner, we may earn small commissions when you complete a booking made through our links. This is paid to us by the advertiser, not by you and does not affect the price of your booking in any way.
Comments