Discover our recommendations of the best countryside members' club retreats and weekend boltholes...
Described as 'the countryside companion' to London's Maison Estelle - the private members' club set in a Grade-1 listed Georgian pile down on Grafton Street in Mayfair. The manor is also penned as a 'hosted home' - and joins Gleneagles in Scotland as part of the growing portfolio owned by the group who are also behind Hoxton hotels. The palatial Eynsham Hall is a Grade II-listed landmark house set on a 60-acre estate, surrounded by over 3,000 acres of beautiful parkland in Oxfordshire. The manor has 110 bedrooms and four restaurants, a Roman-inspired Bath House and a gym with class studios and padel courts. Plus, there’s a crèche for the little ones and a workspace and riviera-styled heated outdoor pool with panoramic garden views. Pictured.
Paris-based Experimental Group acquired Cowley Manor in the Cotswolds, marking the group's first UK property outside of London. The property comprises 31 rooms in the main house and surrounding stable buildings, and offers 55 acres of lakes, Victorian cascades and woodland to explore. Cowley Manor is also known for being one of the UK’s first luxury rural hotels with a destination spa; including indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna, steam room and gym. Following a huge makeover by designer Dorothée Meilichzon, who has worked on Experimental Group properties across Europe - expect chic new rooms, a cocktail club and a restaurant by Brunswick House's Jackson Boxer.
Nestled in 3,500 acres of organic farmland set in the heart of the Cotswolds countryside at the Lady Bamford's Daylesford Farm is this new wellness-focused members’ club. Spread across the bespoke property - that melds harmoniously into the countryside - this refined outpost by sustainable-bodycare experts Bamford takes a holistic approach to wellbeing by dovetailing nature with health and fitness. Features include a state of the art gym, steam, sauna, plunge pool, club space, cryotherapy chamber and a 25 metre lap swimming pool. There's also a spin studio and an outdoor training area that revolves around more raw, high-intensity strength-and-conditioning exercises.
The team behind the much-admired Sessions Arts Club in London have opened “a sanctuary for creatives” on Scotland’s northern coast. Boath House - a Grade A listed Georgian mansion, near the rural town of Nairn, east of Inverness, houses two restaurants, rooms, a walled garden, and cabins set within “extensive grounds”. It's the second project from one of the most lauded trios in modern hospitality – chef Florence Knight, the artist and restaurateur Jonny Gent, and architect Russell Potter – and one which has been “built on the pillars of art, food, music and supplies”, an announcement said, “mirroring the practice and ethos of Gent’s Studio retreat”.
Less than three hours from London - the guest house is from Groucho Club alumni Mary-Lou Sturridge and Tony Mackintosh. Set on the cliffs overlooking the sweep of Dorset's famous Chesil Beach and the wide expanse of Lyme Bay, the Victorian cliff-top villa (a former retirement home) has been dramatically transformed to bring a splashing of Groucho Club’ hedonistic glamour to the Dorset coast. The seven-room clubhouse consists of a restaurant (with seasonal, local produce – Mark Hix is one of the advisors), a snug library, a bar and a dance floor with the aim of creating a vibe that ‘is Edwardian beach house meets an Edward Hopper painting’.
Billed as "your own private country estate" - 10 Castle Street is a Grade II country house (also in Dorest) with glorious formal gardens and ancient woodland (former hunting grounds of medieval kings) that has been remodelled by Alexander and Gretchen Boon. Opened in September 2015, the club comprises 9 bedrooms (rising to more than 20 upon completion of a spa), three bars, restaurant dining rooms, drawing rooms, a billiard room, play room for children and a heated outdoor terrace. Members enjoy significant discounts to published room rates and fare, have designated private areas throughout the property and have the option to store personal effects at the club in their absence.
Soho Farmhouse is a new-build hotel (on the site of a current farm) set in 100-acres of countryside near Great Tew, in Oxfordshire (5 miles from Chipping Norton and 20 miles north of Oxford). This rural member's club-cum-country house hotel spin-off of Soho House boasts a Cowshed spa, multiple restaurants, a pop-up pub, an indoor-outdoor pool and sauna, boating lake, horse stables, clay pigeon shooting - you name it, it has it. Accommodation includes "timber cabins” for guests (spread around lakes), four-bedroom cottage and a seven-bedroom farmhouse.
Cherkley Court is a Grade II listed French (neo-classical) Chateau style property dating back to 1894 - formerly the country home of newspaper magnate and WWII-era government minister Lord Beaverbrook. The actual estate - a quintessential British Country Estate, a peaceful haven just 20 miles from London - comprises 380 acres, including 120 acres of woodland. In 2011 entrepreneur Joal Cadbury acquired the estate and spent £30 million vision to create the estate as a lavish hotel with interiors by Susie Atkinson (of Soho House fame) and Nicola Harding, and a Japanese restaurant is run by an ex-Nobu chef. Not strictly a members-only club but this sprawling Surrey Hills bolthole has a stunning spa where membership gives you access to all the facilities, personal training, treatments and the use of their tennis and paddle courts.
Soho’s infamous Groucho Club - now owned by Hauser & Wirth co-founders Iwan and Manuela Wirth - are opening their first ever venue outside of London and heading up north. Named for the building it sits in, Bretton Hall, The Grade II listed building, built in 1720, sits in the heart of Wakefield’s 500-acre Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The hall will be converted into a club and hotel with about 60 rooms. The expansion is part of plans to revitalise the 39-year-old Soho members' club - a favoured hang-out for British celebrities, artists and media personalities.
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Weekend retreats
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Clubbable Boltholes
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Out of Town
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