Lympstone Manor, Devon
Opened by star chef Michael Caines, this elegant manor on the banks of the Exe Estuary is the archetype of a dreamy foodie getaway: lavish Michelin-starred food, polished service, knock-out scenery stretching into the distance. Wine fans can wander through a picturesque acreage of ripening grapes, planted for use in the estate’s own fizz, while art collectors can browse myriad sculptures dotting the rolling grounds. When dinner hour arrives, order the Taste of the Estuary multi-course seafood menu – with Caines’s masterful touch, you’ll see just how diverse British fish can be.
From £355, lympstonemanor.co.uk
Coworth Park, Berkshire
The chic country sister to Park Lane’s elegant Dorchester hotel, Coworth Park is turning foodie heads with the opening of its new restaurant, Woven by Adam Smith. In the few short months since launch it’s already bagged a Michelin star and with dishes like Cornish turbot with lobster and truffle, it’s not exactly hard to see why. If you’ve got time to stay on for a gourmet sequel, the hotel’s chilled out brasserie space The Barn does a mean Sunday roast – for example, salt-aged Waterford Farm beef, or chicken with chanterelles (and more truffle).
From £545, dorchestercollection.com
Coombeshead Farm, Cornwall
Even if there is much to celebrate about this 66-acre Cornish stay – the country-chic stylings, the quaint honesty bar, the divine breakfasts taken on a communal wooden table – the most memorable thing about Coombeshead Farm is probably the most simple: the bread. The onsite bakery turns out fantastic, game-changing loaves. A thick slice with golden butter is the perfect opener to chef Tom Adams’ down-to-earth five-course menu, starring farm-grown and reared produce. Bright bedrooms with relaxed fabrics and fresh flowers invite you to slip further into the bucolic life.
From £180, coombesheadfarm.co.uk
The Gunton Arms, Norfolk
To call this a ‘pub with rooms’ rather oversimplifies things. Set in a thousand-acre deer park near Cromer and furnished with a eye-catching contemporary art collection from collector Ivor Braka, this historic 16-room stay balances capital cool with Norfolk rural surrounds. Ex-Mark Hix chef Stuart Tattersall cooks estate venison and local beef over open flames in the heart of the restaurant’s moody Elk Room; it’s theatre as much as lunch service. Meanwhile, beamed bedrooms evoke just the right amount of country nostalgia.
From £105, theguntonarms.co.uk
The Black Swan at Oldstead, Yorkshire
The Banks family has farmed in the area around Oldstead for generations. But it was just about a decade ago, when then-24-year-old Tommy Banks took over reins at the family pub, that the Black Swan became a must-visit culinary getaway. The vast garden plot next to the restaurant grows all sorts of niche goodies for Tommy’s Michelin-starred dishes, from rare beetroot varieties to plump sweetcorn. Meanwhile, nine bedrooms with woolly throw blankets provide suitable comfort for sleeping off dinner’s indulgences.
From £330pp including dinner and breakfast, blackswanoldstead.co.uk
Moor Hall, Lancashire
At Moor Hall, a grade-II* listed 16th-century gentry house in Aughton, they really pay attention to the details. It’s not just the glamorous bedrooms, nor the manicured kitchen garden – in which you can enjoy a herb-fragranced aperitif before dinner. It’s chef Mark Birchall’s on-site cheese aging room, filled with creamy roundels, and his multi-course breakfasts featuring homemade black pudding; every bit as good as the two-Michelin-starred meal in The Restaurant the night before. If you have any belly space left, book in for next-day lunch at onsite sister venue The Barn, Michelin-starred in its own right.
From £350pp including dinner, moorhall.com
Number One Bruton, Somerset
The chef who launched London’s acclaimed Portland and Clipstone restaurants – Merlin Labron-Johnson – upped sticks to Somerset to open Osip in 2019, a chic farm-to-fork experience in the arty village of Bruton. Bag a table in its white-washed environs and you’ll be treated to a parade of ever-changing bites driven by the local micro-seasons. Upstairs, the rooms at Number One Bruton come with soft palettes and architectural quirks reflecting the building’s centuries-old history. Nearby, Labron-Johnson’s sister wine bar and Durslade Farm Shop carry on the top-tier culinary standard.
From £160, numberonebruton.com
Updown Farmhouse, Kent
With just a clutch of rooms, this 17th-century listed farmhouse outside Deal is intimate and romantic – and furnished with a terrace restaurant that evokes nostalgic Secret Garden vibes. On sunny days it’s harder to imagine a better place to be, especially when you’re tucking into a shared platter of roast chicken with black truffle and chips, or grilled monkfish with lardo and rosemary. This is an escape that feels cool enough to be in Hackney – but (blissfully) isn’t.
From £250, updownfarmhouse.com
Bingham Riverhouse, Surrey
The most satisfying foodie escapes are those that come with minimal travel time. Bingham Riverhouse might be skirting the boundaries of London, but between the leafy locale on the Thames and the discreet atmosphere, it feels much further away. Start with a cocktail out on the little terrace then move into the book-lined interiors of the Steven Edwards Restaurant to sample what could be the world’s best dippy egg (duck yolk, nasturtium root, onion; delicious). Bedrooms hold just as much wow-factor, with vast copper tubs and big bottles of La-Eva toiletries you’ll want to steal.
From £130, binghamriverhouse.com
Whatley Manor, Wiltshire
Cotswolds country escapes don’t get much more classic than Whatley Manor, a stone-fronted expanse covered in ivy and ringed in bloom-filled gardens. You can spend the afternoon pootling through the 12 acres of greenery, frothing away in a spa hydrotherapy pool or chilling in your suite. And gearing up for the main event; that is, a multi-course affair in chef Ricki Weston’s The Dining Room, which has been awarded a Michelin Green Star for first-rate sustainable gastronomy. Sunday lunches at sister restaurant Grey’s or afternoon teas in the grounds round out your scrumptious stay.
From £379, whatleymanor.com
The Suffolk, Suffolk
When it comes to Suffolk towns, Aldeburgh is right up there in the culinary ranks, thanks in no small part to its buzzy food festival each September. The latest addition to the scene is this cool restaurant with rooms, with laidback coastal stylings and a dining room that sources from local fisherman Dean Fryer and Pinneys of Orford. Expect fat native lobster with garlic butter, dressed crab with pickled cucumber – and croquettes made with black ham and gooey Baron Bigod cheese. Just as well you have the nearby beachfront for walking it all off…
From £180, the-suffolk.co.uk
The Idle Rocks, Cornwall
Warm summer evenings don’t get sweeter than sitting out on the restaurant terrace at this St Mawes hotel, watching the sky pinken behind the bobbing boats and tucking into a seafood feast. Chef Dorian Janmaat, who previously worked at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, jazzes up the likes of Newlyn cod or sea bass with miso beurre blanc or fragrant shiso. Once plates are cleared you need only scale the stairs to the coastal chic rooms, overlooking a lick of beach, and count down the hours until breakfast.
From £260, idlerocks.com
The Three Chimneys, Skye
If you want a true escape from London city life, this is it – a waterside inn on the remote Scottish isle of Skye, where emerald hills plunge to meet blue coast and journey times slow to a crawl as herds of sheep block the road. It’s worth the long trip, though, not only for the serene setting and pretty clutch of comfortable bedrooms, but the cookery. Chef Scott Davies puts the finest of islands produce (freshly landed langoustine, earthy lamb haggis) through its paces in his tasting menu, paired expertly with a selection of quirky whiskies.
From £395, threechimneys.co.uk
The King’s Head Inn, Gloucestershire
Fronted by honey-hued Cotswolds stone, The King’s Head in Bledington blends ye olde pub features – stone slab floors, sturdy wooden tables – with a smart restaurant space made for long, lazy weekend lunches. Fish battered with Hook Norton beer; roasted hispi cabbage with bean cassoulet; the dishes are the epitome of gastropub cuisine, and perfect fuel for an afternoon nap in one of the charming onsite bedrooms. What’s more, Bledington is a Scotch egg’s throw from other Cotswolds foodie favourites like Daylesford Organic and The Kingham Plough, so you can easily turn your visit into a gourmet tour.
From £120, thekingsheadinn.net
Summer Lodge Country House Hotel & Restaurant, Dorset
Tired of Insta-chic hotels that are all cut from the same cloth? This long-running Evershot stay – partly designed by famed novelist Thomas Hardy – provides unashamed retro glamour with silver-pot afternoon teas, kitsch floral prints and suited servers. But while the fine-dining restaurant might feel lifted from another century, the menus are thoroughly now, employing the best of local Dorset produce from Rampisham smoked meats to North Cadbury cheeses, as well as foraged goodies. The wine list is extremely special, too, with vinous one-offs that’ll get booze nerds excited.
From £395, summerlodgehotel.co.uk
L’Enclume, Cumbria
Lauded chef Simon Rogan’s triple-Michelin-starred Cumbrian trailblazer isn’t a traditional ‘hotel’. Rather, its 16 characterful bedrooms are scattered across various buildings in the village of Cartmel, a picturesque hamlet of stone cottages cut by a meandering river. The restaurant itself is housed within a centuries-old forge; thick-walled, beam-ceilinged and cosy. Rogan’s cookery, which has inspired a generation of chefs, makes use of produce from his own farm and never fails to delight, right up to his signature copper-hued ‘anvil’ dessert finale.
From £129, lenclume.co.uk
Hampton Manor, West Midlands
This regal Solihull country house says it’s ‘designed for food lovers’ – and is it ever. Besides an onsite cookery school, bakery, kitchen garden and 15 bedrooms dressed in delicious botanical prints, there are two acclaimed restaurants. At laid-back Smoke, chef Stuart Deeley’s roasted Hereford beef strip loin with bone marrow and Madeira sauce knocks socks off. But the headliner is Grace & Savour; its 15-course tasting menu bagged the restaurant, nestled within the estate’s Victorian walled garden, widespread acclaim shortly after opening in 2022.
