Luxury garden holidays
Far from the madding crowds, with tangled trees, walled gardens, and fragrant rose arches, our unique luxury garden holidays are the stuff of green-fingered dreams.
Luxury isn't bound by bricks and mortar, and while velvet sofas and chandeliers make for a certain dose of enchantment, it's the landscape which really sets our souls on fire. Think dancing swags of purple wisteria, topiary mazes that might have been lifted from Alice in Wonderland, and age-old stone walls hiding behind scented roses that fill our noses with thoughts of summertime. Our luxury garden holidays celebrate the perfectly pruned and the deliberately rewilded. They pop a hot tub here, a maze there, and often a heated pool for good measure. These are paradisiacal lands where scrambling clematis reaches skyward and al fresco living is the name of the game.
These secret garden escapes are fit to be pulled from the imagination of Frances Hodgson Burnett herself. We’ve scoured the courtyards and stately grounds of sweet sleep-two cottages and large, luxury country homes all around the nation to find secret boltholes where the emphasis is on green… and pink, and yellow, and blue. Imagine walking barefoot across a dewy lawn with the morning paper and a basket of croissants, sipping a frothy coffee in the dappled light of your own private apple orchard. Or sending all the children (and the dogs, too) out to take turns on the wooden garden swing or get lost in a game of hide-and-seek among the topiaries. The secret's out.
Four Hundred Summers
Ablington, Bibury, Gloucestershire, The Cotswolds, UK
With an ashlar chimney that sends smoke signals curling above the gable roof, Four Hundred Summer is a luxury Cotswolds cottage with a hot tub that brings Nordic clout to Ablington.
Sleeps: Up to 2 guests
From: £1,350 per week, £995 per short break
Pets: Sorry, no pets
Features: Wood-fired hot tub
The Walled Garden
Dyrham, Bath, The Cotswolds, UK
Perhaps the most ornate vegetable store in the whole of England, The Walled Garden began life as a potato house for Dyrham Park. This romantic retreat sits on the western edge of the Cotswolds, not far from Bath and all its gleaming treasures.
Sleeps: Up to 4 guests
From: £1,750 per week, £1,295 per short break
Alternative Group Option: Up to 2 guests
Pets: One small well-behaved dog is welcome
Features: Fire pit, use of the owners´ tennis court
Midsummer Wood
Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, The Cotswolds, UK
This magical Cotswolds millhouse calls you to run wild in private woodland, get lost amidst secret wildflower meadows, dive into a 12-metre indoor pool and unfurl within lavish Jacobean interiors.
Sleeps: Up to 8 guests
From: £5,995 per week, £4,495 per short break
Pets: Sorry, no pets
Features: Indoor heated swimming pool, two steam rooms, tennis court and games room with ping pong, gym and large TV
Dandelion
Kempsford, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, The Cotswolds, UK
Traditional on the outside, but with flamboyance and flair within, this luxury Grade II listed manor with a hot tub near the Cotswolds has a rambunctious makeup of rich colour, bold patterns, and unteachable taste.
Sleeps: Up to 14 guests (12 adults and 2 children)
From: £5,995 per week, £4,495 per short break
Alternative Group Option: Up to 18 guests
Pets: Pets are considered on request
Features: Wood-fired hot tub and DJ decks
