United Kingdom
Chewton Glen
Country Classic
What it is
A 72-room, 18th century estate on 120 acres with a locavore food program (thanks to its own gardens and bee hives), cooking school, and an exquisite spa.
What it isn't
Forgettable. The manse was an inspiration for the novel “The Children of New Forest,” based on writer Captain Frederick Marryat’s many trips here in the 1840s.
What we think
If you weren’t to the manor born, you can feel like it at Chewton Glen. Here, the cozy, pattern-on-pattern rooms and suites are equipped as if for an anglophile’s fantasy; your options include Croquet Lawn Rooms (stocked with terraces overlooking the course), Hot Tub Hotel Suites (with your own private steeping pool on your garden patio), and even a Coach House set within its own walled garden, like something out of Narnia. Rather do something unexpected? Book a treehouse, lofted 35 feet over the forest canopy, with a wood burning stove and soaking tub looking out on the leafy splendor. Of course, if you stay in your room here, you’ll miss all the fun. Chewton Glen is renowned for its cooking school (this is the spot to learn to whip up everything from goat cheese, fig and honey bread to coconut braised duck panang curry.
You're here because
The property is a Relais & Chateaux, and you’ve never had a bad stay. Plus: you’ve been obsessively watching the Great British Baking Show, and their Breaking Greats course has you salivating (yes, you *would* like to bake a passion fruit yoghurt cake with passion fruit curd.)
The Moment
After a jog through the woodlands and dip in the spa’s hydrotherapy pool, you’re ready for your treatment: a body brush and cedar and wild blackberry oil rubdown. #Bliss.
Restaurants & Bars
The Dining Room - Head Chef Simon Addison, Executive Head Chef Luke Matthews and their talented brigade bring fine dining to life
The Kitchen - The place to cook & dine
Location
Straddling the verdant New Forest, just a two hour drive from London. Just across the water: the Isle of Wight made famous by The Beatles song “When I’m Sixty-Four.”