Grand British houses for a truly restorative retreat The Times Team Luxx Grand British houses for a truly restorative retreat Five private British homes to take over — from historic halls to forest retreats Broughton Hall in North Yorkshire Team Luxx Thursday October 15 2026, 4.05am BST , The Times Listen 0:00 / · 18:56 min Share Share this article Email Twitter Facebook Link Save Puzzles Challenge yourself with today's puzzles. W inter is the time to gather those you love around you — and revel in their company. In the UK there has never been more companies offering luxury pads which you can temporarily call your own — spaces in which you can hunker down by a fire, enjoy the home-owners' collections of art and furnishings, and (if you've opted for extra help) settle down while someone else cooks the turkey and lights the candles. Here, we review spectacular pads from four home-grown companies that specialise in renting out the very best: from stately piles in Yorkshire to contemporary, architect-designed glass boxes in a forest. Luxury newsletter The inside track on tech, travel, philanthropy and the hottest handbags, cars and spas. Sign up with one click You've successfully signed up to the Luxury newsletter Explore our newsletters An error occurred. Please use the link below. Luxury newsletter Explore our newsletters Burrow Farm, Buckinghamshire Burrow Farm is set on a 500-acre estate Luke White Photography We live in a compact three-bedroom flat with two teenage girls, which means they don't often get the chance to have sleepovers. So when we were offered the opportunity to spend a weekend at the 500-acre Burrow Farm estate, staying in the six-bedroom Burrow Farmhouse, we told the girls to bring their pals. Which is how we ended up having a posh mini-break with five teenage girls. Most commented 1 Pope Leo walking and eating after lung cancer operation Europe 311 comments The Burrow Farm estate was bought by the yachting and gaming mogul Richard Hadida in 2022. Over the subsequent four years the place has been transformed into a grand holiday rental. In addition to the grade II listed Burrow Farmhouse, the estate consists of the six-bed Shoot Lodge, various cottages and a romantic shepherd's hut with a hot tub overlooking a wildflower meadow. The houses can be rented individually or as a whole, sleeping 54 people in total, for parties, weddings and fancy shindigs. Top stories 1 Shopkeeper in Kelly Clarkson row 'fears for safety' as CCTV released US news 2 US inflation hotter than expected as Iran war stokes fuel costs Economics There are certainly enough activities to entertain big multigenerational groups. There's a pool, a tennis court (a padel court is also planned), a croquet lawn, a golf driving range and a bike barn with 12 mountain bikes on which to explore the woodland of beech and oak — above which soar red kites and where a herd of alpacas and a resident peacock can be found. There is a huge games barn, stocked with table football, pool, ping-pong and a pinball machine and an equally big party barn with a Yamaha piano on which reclines a statue of a unicorn. Here there is also a fully stocked bar and vast antique table at which it is said Lord Nelson once sat and which, the managers Dell and Sarah said, is insured “for a lot of money”. Hadida definitely had a no expense spared approach to the refurb — everything is top notch from the Sonos sound system to the wall-to-wall Le Creuset in the kitchen. The furnishings are mostly antiques, as befits the buildings, many of which date to the 16th century. The interiors are by the designer Fleur Liversidge, who specialises in superyachts as well as residential properties. There is gorgeous hand-painted wallpaper in the bedrooms, featuring extravagant jungle scenes and elephants. The golden freestanding baths are by Catchpole & Rye and the products are by L'Occitane. The girls were, suffice to say, very impressed, running around taking selfies and making videos. I suspect what they were most delighted by was the kitchen, which comes stocked with the sort of treats we don't often have at home: fizzy drinks, chocolate spread and seemingly endless supplies of posh crisps, as well as a hamper of pastries, bread, jams, biscuits and more. If I lost a child, I generally just went to the kitchen and found one burrowing in the pantry seeking snacks. Advertisement Dell and Sarah were on hand at all times to facilitate our desires. It was Perseid season, and we wanted to watch the shooting stars, so plush blankets and cushions were provided, and we were directed to the best spot on the estate — the Hidden Valley — for dark sky watching. But before that there was the matter of dinner. If you book the whole estate you will have a caterer, but this can also be arranged if you just take one of the properties. Menus had been checked with me before we arrived. If it had been up to the girls we would have had fried chicken and chips, but seeing as it was not up to them we had a smoked salmon, crab and apple salad, followed by local lamb with garlic mash, asparagus and blackberry jus and roasted peaches with chantilly cream and amaretti crunch. After this, it was all I could really do to lie down and watch the stars. Top stories 1 Budget 2026 predictions: when is it and what could be announced? Economics The next day my husband and I enjoyed a walk to picturesque Medmenham and along the Thames, admiring houseboats and geese and children more outdoorsy than our own paddleboarding. There are lots of local activities. Henley and Marlow are both nearby, and the next door village of Hambleden is so pretty that it has starred in many films, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Sleepy Hollow . Our girls, however, weren't interested in excursions. They were having too much fun in the pool and the games barn, or watching films on the massive TV in the snug, eating fancy chocolate spread direct from the jar. Now that's luxury. Gavanndra Hodge The six-bedroom farmhouse is available from ￡1,900 a night and the estate, with 20 bedrooms, from ￡53,000 a week, burrowfarmestate.com Broughton Hall Broughton Hall is now a spiritual wellness retreat embracing unconventionality Of all of the 800 or so grand countries houses that open their doors or gardens to the public in England, only about 80 allow visitors to stay in the main house. And, according to the non-profit organisation Historic Houses, only a handful — including Mapperton, Athelhampton, Upton Cressett Hall — encourage guests to interact with the owner. Which is why Broughton Hall — owned by Roger Tempest, the 32nd generation of Tempests to live in the handsome 16th-century hall outside Skipton in Yorkshire — is such fun. Since the 60-year-old alternative thinker took over the running of the estate in 1988, he and his yoga-instructor partner Paris Ackrill have not only transformed it from a traditional farm into a regenerative estate, planting 350,000 trees and turning pastures into wildflower meadows, but a spiritual wellness retreat that embraces unconventionality. Take over the main 17-bedroom family home, with its grand Palladian porticoed entrance, ornate gilded and brocade-lined rooms, and antique-adorned bedrooms, and you get access to all the extras Tempest created for guests who make regular forays here for retreats, which range from menopause to ecstatic dancing. Hike up towards the Yorkshire Moors and there's a bathing pond, barrels for cold-water immersions and a wood-fired sauna in a wood. Walk behind the house, and alongside idyllic green sheep pastures is a heated pool and all-weather tennis court. Head up a hill, and there's a yurt for dancing, an open-sided “Fire Temple” for storytelling and a stone labyrinth for meditation. And stroll up towards the walled garden designed by Dan Pearson around a contemporary glass café designed by Sir Michael Hopkins and you get Avalon: a modern wellness area, with yoga studio, 19m pool, sauna, steam-room and treatment rooms in which to listen to guided meditations, be zapped by crystal light, or just curl up by a fire with a book. For those whose aspirations are more Downtonesque, there's the house itself to enjoy: the sumptuous living rooms in which to sip fine wines by the fire, the romantic bedrooms in which to soak in big tubs with Moors views, the grand sage-green dining room in which to feast on delicious Ottolenghi-style vegetarian food. The house manager, who's been in service here for 30 years, says there is “no normal” stay. They've had weddings, ceilidhs, theatrical Christmas feasts — and even a few silent retreats. What Tempest hopes, he says, is for people “to come and feel connected and healed by the land, so they in turn want look after it”. From ￡9,000 plus VAT per night (with a minimum of three nights), sleeping 34, b&b, broughtonsanctuary.co.uk . Lisa Grainger Advertisement Secular Retreat, Devon Living Architecture's 4,000 sq ft Secular Retreat in Devon “Nobody puts a plaque on a house that says: 'This house has been built in the most efficient record time.' I've never seen this,” Peter Zumthor, the Swiss architect and 2009 Pritzker prizewinner, once said. The famously meticulous son of a cabinetmaker, widely regarded as one of the greatest living architects, is clearly not one to be rushed. It took ten years to build Secular Retreat, the 4,000 sq ft property that is the jewel in the crown of Living Architecture, a company co-founded by the writer Alain de Botton in 2006 to make superlative contemporary architecture accessible to the British public. It was well worth the wait. Situated on a promontory overlooking the Salcombe peninsula, the five-bedroom house commands a virtually uninterrupted view of the Devon coastline. Its sublime quality comes by way of a certain rawness, its solid pillars (which have been likened to the columns at Stonehenge) like congregating village elders and walls made from hand-rammed concrete. Thanks to large sheets of glass, a beguiling mix of light and shadow falls no matter the weather or time of day. The structure is, as Zumthor described it, all shades of “English rain colours”. Triple-glazed windows, which make artworks of the landscape, were shipped to the site from a German manufacturer via narrow West Country lanes and the structure's soulful aspect and sense of timelessness highlight the ecclesiastical tradition of Zumthor's work. There is nowhere better in the world to “just be”, however tempting the coastline walk from Prawle Point to Gara Rock. And glorious views can be found everywhere, from the bedroom corridors to the main living area. Almost every detail is bespoke, including the reddish timber wardrobes, which approximate the colour of the local earth and were made by carpenters in Austria, and even the shower drain. I'm willing to overlook the purple armchairs recalling an airport lounge because everything else is perfection. “You want people to sit down and feel they could stay here for another hour or two — then the building is successful,” Zumthor said. “That's the biggest praise a building can attract.” I very much doubt anyone would want to leave. Carolyn Asome Three nights for up to ten from ￡1,990, living-architecture.co.uk Newton Surmaville, Somerset Newton House was built in 1612 CHARLOTTE ARMITAGE At the Newton Surmaville estate, just outside Yeovil, you have the chance to stay as the guest of Robert Harbin. The Jacobean wool merchant built Newton House in 1612 and you can feel his genial, welcoming presence today as though he's just sitting in the other room. It has been recently renovated by one of his direct descendants and has just come on to the rental market through Loyd & Townsend Rose. It's probably the most perfect place in England for an intimate yet impressive and formal but immensely comfortable get-together. This is one of 80 very special houses and castles spanning the UK, Ireland and Europe represented by LTR, run by Andrew Loyd and Jonathan Townsend-Rose. They have everything from Scottish castles to Austrian schlosses and splendid French châteaux, some that can be booked without staff, others that can be taken with some of the world's most polished butlers, chefs and even nannies. All are highly experienced and well accustomed to dealing with the smartest families in the world and (lest you worry about any of your weirder peccadillos) the pickiest of the picky. The property has just been revamped by the celebrated New York decorator Jeffrey Bilhuber, and praise be for the American bathroom standards. The bathrooms are genuinely glorious with the most impressive showers you have ever seen, pink linen armchairs and, in the master suite, a hilariously decadent velvet chaise longue that makes you want to lock yourself in and shut the world out for a very long time indeed. The nine bedrooms are similarly wonderful; three have their original four-poster beds. But far from being dark and gloomy, each is decorated in fresh chalky tones with linen and velvet, neatly filling the shaded area of the triple Venn diagram of “entirely appropriate for a very grand English country house”, “contemporary and cool”, and “supremely cosy”. Advertisement The house has five reception rooms, including a grand drawing room and inviting snugs with open fireplaces, flagstone floors, ornate ceilings and splendid oak panelling. There's a formal dining room and — perhaps the most special room in the building — a smaller, cosier dining room that used to be the old kitchen with an inglenook fireplace of dreams. There's also a barn in which you could host a fabulous party, and an enormous games room that includes a pool and ping-pong table, darts, football, big screen TV and pub games. I think Robert Harbin is happy. Kate Reardon Two nights for up to 20 from ￡20,500, ltrcastles.com Verte, Chevithorne, Devon Verte's floor-to-ceiling windows frame views of the forest DAVID CURRAN/UNIQUE HOMESTAYS In the age of ease and smart screens, of the joys of WFH and Deliveroo, it's hard not to be slightly sceptical of reports that increased exposure to nature leads to a rise in wellbeing — both physical and mental. Is spending more time looking at leaves instead of at your iPhone really going to improve your cognitive flexibility? Is a weekend in a hillside house actually going to make you happier than one in a city hotel? Well, if the house in question happens to be Verte, the Riba award-winning treehouse in Devon, then the answer is a resounding yes. Set on the privately owned Chevithorne Barton estate, home to the UK's largest collection of oaks, it is a unique, ultra-modern treehouse built by David Sheppard Architects. Thanks to the designers' clever use of glass and larch cladding, the structure slips seamlessly into its green surroundings. The estate's long association with trees is also reflected inside: from the pleasingly precise birch plywood shelving to the warm oak floors, Verte is a celebration of wood and the undoubted showpieces are the bespoke staircase and dining table, both carved from a beech felled by a storm. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame views of the forest and the central, open-plan living space naturally becomes the heart of the house. With its ample built-in seating and modern circular fireplace, you can't help but relax here and feel the calming influence of being high among the treetops. Although beautifully designed, this four-bedroom house is also a family home that has been created for entertaining and living, rather than just admiring. There are meadows outside, a wood-fired hot tub, tree swings and two rowing lakes. It's only from here, when you look back at the house, that you can fully appreciate its scale and impressive height. Those not tempted to venture into the nearby Exmoor National Park or Blackdown Hills can book private chefs and at-home spa therapists through Unique Homestays, which has a portfolio of more than 180 can't-find-elsewhere luxury private rental homes across Britain and Ireland. Owned by the aptly named Green family, Verte is a place full of beauty, serenity and comfort, which gives you a feeling of renewal and optimism. Maybe there is something in spending time looking at those leaves after all … Lee Belcher Three nights for six adults and four children from ￡2,595, uniquehomestays.com Life & Style LUXX Hotels Hotel reviews Share Share this article Email Twitter Facebook Link Save