There is a groundswell forming in luxury travel, and it leads straight to the farm. Discerning travellers are opting to depart the city for green spaces where hospitality and agricultural heritage meet in a tangle of roots, wellness facilities and garden vegetables. 2026 is the year of the luxury UK farm stay.
Based on the idea that a working farm could also be a place of welcome, agritourism has long piqued the appetite of the global traveller. Agriturismo has been baked into the Italian imagination for decades, from the fortified masserie of Puglia to the vine-wrapped poderi of Tuscany. These are the escapes that capture the spirit of place: farm-to-fork in its most connected form.
That very spirit has sown seeds closer to home with notable momentum, with the UK's agritourism market projected to reach £685 million by 2030.* Yearning for a taste of pastoral life, travellers are seeking a form of reciprocity with the land.
From one of the UK’s last remaining hop farms to a humble Gloucestershire dairy farm turned sprawling luxury estate, these seven farm stays speak the language of the land through every season’s turn.
Morwell, Cornwall
Through Morwell's heavy doors steeped in 400 years of layered history, refined countryside luxury awaits. This is the quintessential Cornish farmhouse: wibbly walls tracing the craftsman’s chiselled mark, time-worn flagstones underfoot and a secluded location tucked into a verdant river valley on the edge of Dartmoor. A rolltop bath overlooks an ancient orchard through one window, the kitchen garden brimming with seasonal vegetables, beehives and native flora through the other. Within the 50-acre garden, over 100 varietals of heritage fruit trees provide dappled shade and an opportunity to gorge, a glassy natural pool invites contemplative laps and a pontoon reaches into a private slice of the River Tamar AONB. Here, the owners encourage scrumping and foraging within the grounds; perhaps for apple and blackberry pie or wild garlic pesto.
The Hop Store, Herefordshire
Located in Herefordshire’s bucolic countryside and encircled by 150 acres of rippling hop yards, The Hop Store sits within one of the last remaining hop farms in the UK. Its layout, like a root vegetable just turned from soil, is delightfully inverted; opening living spaces onto views across the Malvern Hills. In spring, guests are afforded a bird's-eye view of the farm's most industrious season, as bluebells thread the field margins and the air is filled with the tender call of newborn lambs. Come autumn, the hop harvest begins in earnest. Year-round, guests can savour the farm's bounty in the form of sparkling cider, award-winning apple juice and hop-spiked cheese. Children will love the year-round swings and ride-on tractor; but there’s something to be said for slipping into a bubbling hot tub after a day wandering the land.
Gulliver’s Hall, Stroud
Settled within 320 acres of Gloucestershire farmland near Stroud, this has-it-all Cotswold farmhouse is woven with maximalism and ancestral lore. Owners Martin and Kate now tend the same land as Martin's parents before them, having built a pedigree herd of Welsh Black cattle that graze the species-rich meadows beyond and transformed a disused agricultural building into a vaulted stone barn barn fit for lavish banquets. Operating at the highest tier of the National Environmental Stewardship scheme, Gulliver's Hall also hosts a thriving outdoor education enterprise for budding naturalists. Water is drawn from a valley spring and the showstopping dining table was carved from the trunk of an oak felled on the grounds 50 years ago. Whether your intentions are to rejuvenate in the south-facing spa, revel in a competitive game of on-site Padel or simply succumb to the pull of nature’s call, this UK farm stay warmly obliges.
Little Inka, Bodmin Moor
Little Inka is tucked within a working alpaca farm on the edge of Bodmin Moor and built from the granite of its own ground; forming the sunken courtyard with a fire pit inviting inside-outside living. By night, stargazers can trace the Milky Way as its unreachable road stretches overhead; from the cedar soaking tub or cocooned within the walls of this glass-roofed hideaway set against nature's canvas. Owners Wendy and Tom offer a bespoke alpaca experience, whether you'd like to feed the alpacas breakfast, take them for a walk or practice yoga in their company. Wine lovers might amble down to nearby Camel Valley, just 20 minutes away by car, where award-winning English sparkling wine has placed Cornwall at the forefront of the UK's burgeoning wine industry.
Anthology Farm, Cheltenham
A fourth-generation farming family have brought their decades of agricultural knowledge to Grade II listed Anthology Farm, located a stone’s throw from the Regency town of Cheltenham. The cluster of agricultural barns, dating back to 1740, were originally built to dry and preserve grain harvested from the surrounding fields. Today, the sleeps-18 country estate has been lovingly restored into a rural idyll complete with a private tennis court, a heated indoor pool as if lifted from a members-only luxury spa, an al fresco patio complete with Gozney pizza oven and a network of fairy trails connecting the surrounding 500 acres of farmland. Romantic as these trails may be, they also serve a deeper purpose, including the conservation of the rare Bee Orchid via a countryside stewardship scheme.
Figgy Court, West Sussex
A sensitively restored 700-year old grain barn, this couples’ retreat in West Sussex affords a slice of country living on thoroughly luxurious terms. Approached via a winding path and etched upon a sylvan backdrop, Figgy Court is nestled equidistant between the High Weald and South Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – and within short commuting distance of London, making it a natural choice for a weekend in the country for two. Within, honey-hued oak beams and hand-crafted furnishings whisper of an agricultural past, with little luxuries like the mezzanine king-size bed dressed in 600-thread count linens, walk-in shower and riverside hot tub lacing the home with rural romance. If you can tear yourself away, amble down to Cranleigh farmers' market, when local producers come together to share artisanal wares and locally grown produce.
The Marlings, Stroud
Tucked into the foliate fringes of Stroud, The Marlings is a centennial grain store cradled by a landscape of ancient hedgerows and honey-stoned hamlets. If its walls could talk, they would tell tales of seasons stored and spent. Today, rare-breed Mangalitza pigs and ducks roam the grounds, serving as living reminders of a time-honoured heritage that tethers this modern retreat to its agrarian roots. The cluster of celebratory barns bring a taste of a bygone era to multi-generational trips of the here and now; its working function softened into a serene Cotswolds retreat. The private estate is comprised of a five-bedroom farmhouse, three-bedroom barn, two cottages, and a banquet hall fit for layering long tables with seasonal fare from the surrounding valleys. A heated outdoor pool edged in local stone evokes a languorous Tuscan afternoon; a tennis court, hot tub and pizza oven inviting gathering on clement evenings.
*https://www.grandviewresearch.com/horizon/outlook/agritourism-market/uk
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