Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa

The place

First the parkland, then the house. Lucknam Park occupies an early seventeenth-century Palladian mansion in Wiltshire, in the Cotswolds, set within 500 acres of park and garden. Its 42 rooms and suites keep to the house's Victorian manner — restored antique furniture, quiet detail.

The spa is a destination in its own right: a 20-metre indoor pool, hydrotherapy pools inside and out, eight therapy rooms. Days fill easily with riding, tennis, croquet, archery. In the evening, Restaurant Hywel Jones holds a Michelin star for its modern British cooking.