Get booking a country weekend break with your partner or paramour and embrace the hearty fresh air.
Make the most of hot tubs, king-size beds, love nest cottages and grand four-poster beds – there are so many ways to celebrate all the glorious hunkering down that can be done.
We’ve picked ten of the best to try for your go-to escape from the city...
Sail away on a weekend in Cornwall
Cosy up in Cornwall at the boutique St Mawes Hotel on the Roseland Peninsula, where nautical chic reigns and sea views come as standard.
Book the Superior Sea View Room and you’ll turn that dial up to 11 with a panorama straight across the water to St Anthony’s Head – plus creature comforts such as a super king-size bed and freestanding bath.
If you want to feel the tang of salt on your skin and the wind in your hair before it gets too cold then catch the last of this year’s Sailing Getaways at the hotel (ends 30 September), weekend breaks that combine the romance of a stay with lessons learning to tack together on the Fal estuary.
Rooms from £185 per night, stmaweshotel.com
Maroon yourself on Guernsey
Try a different kind of island life with your Man/Girl Friday - Guernsey is just 55 minutes from Gatwick, and a world away with its quirky combo of French and British sensibilities.
Check in to the Bella Luce, minutes from Moulin Huet cove; a quick stroll along the beach and you’ll see why romantic French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a regular visitor to this spot when he needed inspiration.
Then let the rest of your weekend pass in a decadent haze of afternoon teas, siestas in four poster beds and gin from the hotel’s own distillery, which uses rock samphire foraged from nearby cliffs as one of its botanicals.
Rates start from around £100 a night; bellalucehotel.com
Eat up chocolate box charm in Devon
Cottages don’t come more romantic and quintessentially English than Kiln Cottage in South Devon.
Tucked away in a flower-filled garden and surrounded by open fields, this 18th century bolthole has the perfect ingredients for a picture-book weekend: exposed stone walls, original beams, a wrought iron bedstead and a wood burner.
Stride out across the magnificent bleakness of Dartmoor or along the Upper Avon Valley and enjoy some big blasts of fresh air – both are within easy reach, as are the winding lanes, cafes, independent shops and boho vibe of Totnes, five miles away.
Rates start from approximately £100 per night; classic.co.uk
Get hands-on in the Cotswolds
It’s all hands on neck with a massage mini-break for two at Dormy House Hotel in The Cotswolds - a renovated farmhouse on the Farncombe Estate above picture-perfect Worcestershire village Broadway.
This overnighter includes a 60-minute face massage, a 30-minute back, neck and shoulder massage, dinner and a full English breakfast to see you off again.
Plus, use of the Scandi-glam spa facilities at the hotel including a salt therapy room, outdoor hot tub, infinity pool and private rasul mud room – where it’s infinitely more fun to have your loved one spread mud on you than to do it yourself.
Rates start from £255 a night; dormyhouse.co.uk
Float your love boat in Oxfordshire
As far as romance goes, a cup of tea together on the deck of a narrowboat wreathed in early morning mist is right up there.
Chug down Oxfordshire’s canals at the top speed of 4-6mph and you’re guaranteed to relax into some rejuvenating rhythms.
Narrowboats are easy to drive even if you’re a novice - you can almost steer the boat while looking into your other half’s eyes on a straight stretch (which they all are).
Just don’t do it while negotiating a lock – a tricky process of cranking handles, watching water levels and holding ropes that will help you to see just how well you work together as a couple.
One day hire starts from around £140; oxfordshire-narrowboats.co.uk
Embrace an Ecopod in Appin, Scotland
Part utopia, part James Bond fantasy, the two sustainable Ecopods near Appin on the west coast of Scotland are worth the trek.
Sharp-edged geodesic modernity is mixed with warm sheepskins, organic linens and natural wood - plus, memory foam mattress double beds, Japanese cedar hot soaking tubs, wood stoves and panoramic views of Loch Linnhe, the mountains of Mull and Kingairloch coastline.
Pretty much everything you need for a romantic weekend. Dive into the complimentary decanter of single malt and food hamper – containing local goodies from hand-dived local scallops to handmade chocolates - and you’re all set.
Rates are available online; domesweetdome.co.uk
Climb into the canopy in Somerset
You and him/her sitting up a tree…K.I.S.S.I.N.G…well one hopes, if you’re staying in a tree house together.
Arboreal romance is high here, in the branches of a magnificent gnarly oak in the grounds of Harptree Court. The twin-domed treehouse is reached by stairs that weave around the trunk, leading up to a country kitchen and log burner in the first pod and king-sized bed and copper bath in the second. So far, so fantasy.
Perhaps the only thing that’s better than the interior is watching the sunset together over rolling Somerset countryside from the stargazers’ balcony, glass of bubbly in hand.
Rates start from £260 a night; canopyandstars.co.uk
Book a divine B&B in Cheshire
Be among the first to stay in the restored North Wing of 12th Century Combermere Abbey in South Cheshire and get a touch of upper crust B&B.
The North Wing’s two bedrooms were designed by interiors doyenne Nina Campbell, in luxurious country house style; plus, you get a suite of other historic rooms to rattle around in, in luxury.
Privacy is guaranteed (rent both rooms if you want exclusive use). The only person to disturb you is a house butler – intent on granting your every whim as you relax in the study or grand dining room enjoying views over the Abbey’s estate, pleasure gardens and swan-flocked mere.
Rates start from approximately £140 a night; combermereabbey.co.uk
Visit the Sweet Shop in Essex
The only way really is Essex if you’re looking for a private island a deux within easy reach of London for a weekend jaunt.
Osea Island sits on the Blackwater Estuary with four and a half miles of its own beaches and a no traffic policy. Enjoy the silence with a stay in The Sweet Shop, one of the nine period cottages on the island.
This romantic wooden-beamed cottage for two was the island’s village store in Edwardian times. These days you can get a little sugar with the one you love here thanks to a four poster bed and open fire, perfect for cosying up in after all that fresh air.
Rates start from approximately £610 for four nights; www.oseaisland.co.uk
Join the caravan club on the Isle of Wight
Never thought of caravanning as romantic? Vintage Vacations’ fleet of 13 classic aluminium Airstream caravans from the 1940s to the 60s might make you think again.
Parked on a working farm on the Isle of Wight, each Airstream has been refurbished, with original features – so you can let your inner hipster run wild. The two-berth caravans are full of touches such as welcome cakes and Babycham, cocktail cabinets and deckchairs.
The caravans are well insulated, although the site recommends you bring warm pajamas when there’s a chill in the air. Better still, just cuddle closer together.
Rates start from approximately £250 for two nights; vintagevacations.co.uk
undefined
By signing up you agree to occasionally receive offers and promotions from Stylist. Newsletters may contain online ads and content funded by carefully selected partners. Don’t worry, we’ll never share or sell your data. You can opt-out at any time. For more information read Stylist’s Privacy Policy
Thank you!
You’re now subscribed to all our newsletters. You can manage your subscriptions at any time from an email or from a MyStylist account.