Even if you’re a diehard urbanite, enthralled by London’s bright lights, busy streets, never-ending stream of new galleries/restaurants/shops to visit and even the crowded tube, sometimes change is good. Enter the weekend break.

Countryside air is good. Coastal air is even better. Fields, hills, beaches and birdsong can invigorate even the most listless among us. It’s also the best feeling to, quite literally, leave your quotidian life behind, casting off responsibility and to-do lists in favour of cocktails, fine dining, little luxuries and spa treatment menus.

If, like us, are in need of a getaway this spring, but don’t want to cast the net too far from your urban nest, here are some of our favourite hotels for first-class weekend breaks, all within a three-hour drive or train journey of London.

FARNCOMBE ESTATE, BROADWAY, WORCESTERSHIRE

Foxhill Manor

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 2 hours 30 minutes or take the train from London Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh (approx. 1 hour 30 minutes)

Whatever your mini break requirement, we’re as sure as can be that the 500-acre Farncombe Estate can satisfy it (and we’ve done our research). A magnificent, chic manor house with just eight rooms, an ‘eat where/what/when you like’ dining policy, a snack pantry that’s worthy of an Enid Blyton midnight feast, and complimentary house champagne? That’ll be Foxhill Manor. A rural Cotswolds retreat that’s as stylish as a London hotel, with a spa to match? Dormy House. A treehouse, complete with hot tub, to delight the kids, or a self-catered house that’s perfect for a weekend with family or friends? Book The Fish for the former; a Hillside Hangout for the latter.

A cosy, stylish private dining space at The Fish

This place is just dreamy and it ticks all the boxes effortlessly, whether you’re coming with children in tow, for a couple’s weekend, en masse or by yourself for some zen. Allow time to pop down the hill to Broadway; it’s often bustlingly-busy and with good reason – it’s a postcard-perfect quintessential Cotswold village.

For room rates and Hillside Hangouts rates, visit www.farncombeestate.co.uk

THYME, LECHLADE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 2 hours 15 minutes or take the train from London Paddington to Swindon (approx. 1 hour) then request a chauffeur-driven transfer for the final 40 minutes to Southrop.

When the pace of London has worn you out, take some respite at Thyme, where slowing down is practically mandatory. Stroll and ramble, rest and reconnect, gather and grow; in this peaceful corner of the English countryside is a village within a village, by the aptly evergreen name of Thyme, where the bounty of the local land takes centre stage. The enclosed assortment of restored historic buildings has expanded over the years to encompass hotel rooms and cottages, a spa, a cookery school, a farm and kitchen garden, pub and restaurant. Here, in the Ox Barn, renowned Head chef Charlie Hibbert concocts clever menus that feature what’s in season, and local. That’s it.

Inspired by the changing seasons, the Calendar of Happenings includes classes, workshops and events from cookery and floristry to soap making and painting. This is an ideal place for romantic weekends away; there is a polite note on the website reminding guests that Thyme is a ‘grown-up destination’: children 12+ are welcome for breakfast and supper; if you bring younger ones to lunch, they must remain seated so you might be better off enjoying Thyme’s gorgeous village pub The Swan, just minutes’ walk away.

Rooms from £430 per night, visit thyme.co.uk

THE FEATHERED NEST, NETHER WESTCOTE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

How to get there: Drive from central London in 2 hours 15 minutes or take the train from London Paddington to Kingham (approx. 1 hour 30 minutes)

We recently visited the Feathered Nest and, while some of the hotels on this list are justly proud of their epic stately home setting, enormous grounds or palatial rooms, this rather more understated country inn is firmly focused on the food. Head Chef Rene is a culinary wizard and you’ll enjoy every mouthful. Book-end your evening meal with long, leisurely country walks, cocktails by a roaring fire (or outside on the terrace with glorious Evenlode Valley views, depending on the timing of your visit) and a breakfast that will make your own weekend brunch offering pale into comparison.

Rooms from £155 per night, visit thefeatherednestinn.co.uk

The Retreat at Elcot, Newbury, Berkshire

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 1 hour 45 minutes or take the train from London Paddington to Hungerford (between 50 and 90 minutes, depending on whether you take a direct train)

If you’re into hotels that have a prestigious accolade or two – and specifically, one that nabbed the prime spot on The Times & Sunday Times’ list of the Top 100 Places To Stay in the UK within a year of opening – you won’t go wrong with the Retreat at Elcot Park. Gorgeous grounds, magnificent suites, great restaurant, compact-and-perfectly-formed spa, a wine shop, nail salon, and Highclere of Downton Abbey fame just down the road.

Rooms from £150 and suites from £360 per night, visit retreatelcotpark.com

Port Hotel, Eastbourne, East Sussex

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 2 hours 40 minutes or take the train from London Victoria (approx. 1 hour 25 minutes)

As far as arty seaside towns go, Eastbourne is bigger than many but doesn’t attract chaotic troupes of hens or stags. Its typically south coast shingle and pebble beach stretches more than three miles and it’s the sunniest place in the UK. No wonder boutique hotel Port decided to open up here, minutes from Eastbourne’s postcard-pretty pier with its peeling white paint, swooping starlings and charming, faded ‘World’s Best in Europe’ signage.

Thanks to the distinctive black façade of Port, you won’t get lost on your promenade walks; it can be spotted from miles away. The tone is set by a text that declares Happy Hour well and truly open, at 4pm; and so three hours of great music and cocktails made by an amiable bartender commence. A focus on sustainability chimes throughout: cork floors, Faith in Nature products and restaurant ingredients sourced from within 30 miles. Of its 19 rooms (with room service via WhatsApp), all are designed with minimalism and sustainability in mind – a clothing rail instead of a wardrobe, for example – and five look seaward, including a suite with sea views from the bath. End your visit with another sea view while you enjoy a traditional English breakfast, equally good here whether you fancy full, veggie or vegan.

Rooms from £105 per night, visit porthotel.co.uk

The Gallivant, Rye, Sussex

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 2 hours 30 minutes or take the train from St. Pancras (approx. 1 hour 10 minutes)

The Gallivant had us at ‘Bamford Spa Escape’. We’re already enamoured with Carole Bamford’s beautiful spa at The Berkeley and her Daylesford outpost in the Cotswolds, although a “Cali-cool beach hotel” endorsement from Conde Nast Traveller also helped. Sign us up immediately for the overnight stay which includes – wait for it – two Bamford treatments, a private yoga class, a Bamford gift box (worth more than £200) and a three-course dinner, breakfast, a Drift Off Sleep Well tray and ‘English Wine at Five’.

Then there’s The Gallivant’s ideal location: an hour or so from central London, 10 minutes from the picturesque town of Rye, a mere stroll from the rolling dunes of Camber Sands and on the doorstep of the UK’s wine country (hence the English Wine at Five offering). Keep an eye on the events page for its 2024 series of soul-nourishing activities, including community beach cleans, runners’ retreats, wine tastings and Pink Moonrise Yoga.

Rooms from £253 per night, visit thegallivant.co.uk

Four Seasons, Winchfield, Hampshire

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 1 hour 30 minutes or take the train from London Waterloo (approx. 1 hour)

We need to talk about the pool first. You’ll find it in the Four Seasons Hampshire’s original 18th-century stable block, as the 20-metre centrepiece of its luxurious spa. Its conservatory-style roof means you can swim with the elements as an artistic backdrop to your workout (backstroke will be best for sky-gazing).

If that wasn’t enough, there’s an outdoor jet-filled vitality pool and, if you plan to bring small guests, they will be delighted – and thoroughly exhausted – by Sharkie’s Reef, the family pool. There’s also the not-so-small matter of 500 acres to explore – choose from croquet, tennis, clay pigeon shooting, horse riding, fly fishing, falconry and bird watching – or, perhaps, just relax with a glass of champagne…

If you do really, really love London and find it hard to leave, you could always start with a night or two at the Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane before travelling on to Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire for a blissful countryside retreat. Here, it’s couples-friendly, family-friendly (yes, these can peacefully coexist) and pet-friendly, for those who will not contemplate leaving Fenton behind.

Rooms from £550 per night, visit fourseasons.com

The Grove, Chandler’s Cross, Hertfordshire

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 1 hour 30 minutes or take the train from London Euston (approx. 20 minutes)

Winning the award for closest to London on our list is The Grove: just 20 minutes from Euston on the train (plus a 10-minute cab journey), this lush, landscaped hotel celebrated its 20^th birthday last year. Where to start? With a Segway exploration of 300 acres of beautiful grounds? A round on the immaculate championship golf course? Family archery? Or, really, will only an epic and relaxing day in the Sequoia Spa, with its black mosaic-tiled pool, do?

If you want to be thoroughly spoilt at mealtimes, and at any point in between, The Grove can deliver everything from afternoon tea or sushi in the Lounges, ‘theatrical feasts’ in The Glasshouse to gastro-pub fare in The Stables, which champions regenerative agriculture, and Indian fine dining at Madhu’s.

Perhaps best, and certainly most uniquely of all, is the hotel’s Feast on Cloud 9 experience. Available from 25 May to 1 September 2024, between two and six of you will be seated in your own vintage-style wicker dining basket, hot air balloon floating above, in the Formal Garden, either for afternoon tea or a nine-course gourmet tasting menu. Yes please.

Rooms from £420 per night, visit thegrove.co.uk

Lime Wood, New Forest, Hampshire

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 2 hours 15 minutes or take the train from London Waterloo (approx. 1 hour 30 minutes)

So we’ll be honest: it was the name Angela Harnett that got our attention. We love the talented, down-to-earth gastronomy star (we imagine she’d hate the word celebrity) and at Lime Wood, the 13th-century forest lodge turned five-star hotel in the heart of the New Forest National Park, she has teamed up with the equally acclaimed Luke Holder to present Hartnett Holder & Co. It promises ‘character and fun’, as far as can be from stuffy, pretentious dining, orchestrated around locally sourced Italian dishes with a ‘respectful nod to the seasons’. Alternatively, for those who want the winning combo of delicious-but-also-uber-healthy (we, personally, are fully on board with however much butter, cream or salt HH&Co want to use), Raw & Cured is the spa’s restaurant run by Ria Rhodes and Luke Holder.

Photography: Jake Eastman

Photography: Jake Eastman

Once you’ve booked your table, relax, and explore. There are just 33 bedrooms – 16 in the main house and 17 throughout the grounds – which we feel is the perfect number for a country house hotel. Herb House is Lime Wood’s award-winning, three-floor, forest-neighbouring spa, complete with everything you’d expect (indoor lap pool, hydrotherapy pool, yoga, treatments by the likes of Bamford, Voya, Sarah Chapman and Ground Wellbeing) and more (outdoor pool, forest sauna, sound healing, rooftop herb garden). Make sure you emerge from the spa for long enough to pull on some wellies, courtesy of the hotel, and take a refreshing walk in the grounds before your next drink, meal, swim, nap or treatment. Decisions, decisions…

From £675 per night, visit limewoodhotel.co.uk

No. 131, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 2 hours 30 minutes or take the train from London Paddington (approx. 2 hours)

For those who are happy to leave London behind but would really prefer to be in the centre of an energetic, charming town rather than gazing over green fields or the moody British sea, No. 131 is The One. Its three elegant, listed Georgian townhouses can be found in the heart of Cheltenham, the spa town in the Cotswolds that’s known and loved, in particular, for its horse racing and literature festivals.

If either or both appeals to you, you’ll need to book well in advance to snap up one of 131’s Cosy, Very Good or Excellent rooms during March or October. Across the 36 rooms, a lively fusion of cool contemporary art and British design elements – wooden panelling, tweed headboards and luxe woolen bedspreads – no doubt reflects the style of owners Julian Dunkerton (of Superdry) and fashion designer and entrepreneur Jade Holland-Cooper.

You’ll also soon discover that 131 is a local hotspot for dinner and drinks, with an enviable, and convenient, central location right by the town’s Imperial Gardens. Enjoy a ‘Japanese sushi and Asian dining experience’ in Yoku (noting the dress code: smart chic, dress to impress) and cocktails to match in Bar Tokyo, or find a new favourite tipple at the winner of the 2022 Best Hotel Gin Bar in the UK award. Gin & Juice stocks a remarkable collection of more than 400 gins, while Rum & Fizz champions the darker spirit. Sip to the sound of live DJs from Thursday to Saturday and don’t give a second’s thought to your visit coming to an end – there’s plenty to enjoy before then.

Rooms from £152 per night, visit no131.com

Danesfield House Hotel & Spa, Marlow, Buckinghamshire

How to get there: Drive from central London in about 1 hour 20 minutes or take the train from London Paddington (approx. 45 minutes – 1 hour)

Robert William Hudson was one lucky man. The Danesfield House you see today, as you drive down the immaculate tree-lined avenue and under its elegant white arch, was his family home more than 100 years ago. He also enjoyed 65 acres of formal gardens with views over the River Thames and the Chiltern Hills beyond, and so too can you. It’s a lovely size; 55 bedrooms, with a focus on the best of British design, service and facilities, and unsurprisingly this makes it a popular wedding venue. Just imagine the photos.

Although you’ll need to allow plenty of time for walks on the estate, afternoon tea, fine dining and wine, as Mr Hudson surely did, perhaps with the addition of a massage and swim, Danesfield is also brilliantly located for a number of half or whole days out. The spectacular Stonor Park, skippered river trips, scenic horse riding, Henley Regatta, Bicester Village and… Legoland. If you have kids, they may well already have spotted the signs on the way into Danesfield, and resistance is futile. At least you know you’ll be returning to the calming luxury of Danesfield with not a coloured brick in sight.

Rooms from £197 per night, visit danesfieldhouse.co.uk

Read more: The UK’s best spa hotels