The farm-to-table restaurant at this cluster of cottages in the
Cotswolds takes centre stage here, with a menu of irresistible,
locally grown grub sourced from small-batch farmers. Each of the
cottages offers up quintessential English quaintness and then some.
Expect time-warped beams, rattan furniture and wobbly handmade
ceramics, all kept toasty by wood-burning fires.

With a prime location in the heart of Oxford, this grown-up
hotel is a strong option for city breakers. Rooms are painted in
lacquers of charcoal paint and outfitted in Scandi-style furniture
– there are only seven so make sure to book well in advance – while
the moody charcoal-powered steakhouse on the ground floor is a
local hero. Vegans will cringe and steak lovers will drool.

This elegant hotel tucked in the somnolent grassy folds of
Letcombe Regis gives the somewhat unappetising phrase “pub with
rooms” a glossy panache. At the pub, elevated versions of
old-school classics are served on antique wooden tables dressed
with vases of freshly cut flowers. Upstairs, a warren of creaky,
characterful rooms speckled with retro fittings make homely
cubbyholes to bed down for the evening.

Not one corner of this 16th-century bohemian bolthole hasn’t
been considered: artfully dishevelled is putting it lightly. From
whimsical four-poster beds built from higgledy-piggledy tree trunks
to the reclaimed wooden door frames and time-weathered ceramic
plant pots, this boutique hotel is an exercise in British
eccentricity. While the country pub restaurant, The Mason Arms, was
designed in collaboration with artists The Connor Brothers.

This romantic hideaway occupies the thick-set wooden shell of a
Grade II-listed coaching inn right in the heart of Abingdon. Rooms
are lavished in silks, underscored by dark wooden floors and
speckled with Victoriana antiques. In the bar and restaurant next
door, open fires crackle beside gleaming chesterfield sofas
offering perfect conditions for slowly munching your way through
the brunch, lunch and pizza menus.

It’s the grand dame of English countryside hotels, famed for its
impeccable service, two Michelin-starred restaurant (it’s the only
British restaurant to have clung on to two stars in three decades)
and phantasmagorical kitchen garden. The entire experience, from
the food to the turn-down service, is the vision of Raymond Blanc.
Rooms are wallpapered and dominated by attention-seeking but
beautiful old furniture, though you’ll likely spend most of your
time pootling about the extensive grounds. You’ll find us in the
botanic glasshouse.

Appearances can be deceptive. While from the outside Crazy Bear
Stadhampton might look like a vine-covered cottage from time past,
the interiors are outrageous in a so-bad-they’re-great kind of way
that feels refreshingly modern. After you’ve checked in at
reception (which sits within a London
Routemaster bus, naturally), expect to find walls quilted with gold
lamé, outlandish furniture, leopard-print carpets and gleaming,
standalone copper bathtubs.

Americana meets British grit at this simple yet stylish motel
which sits alongside a rather unglamorous service station just off
the A420. It being a motel, it’s easy to mistake this down-to-earth
outpost from Soho House as just a roadside pit stop, but it makes
for a lip-smacking affordable base from which to drive either into
Oxford or the tumbling countryside surrounds.