THE BOUTIQUE FARM STAYS TO KNOW
Where to go for the ultimate winter getaway

Fowlescombe Farm, Ivybridge, Devon Cradled in a valley at Dartmoor’s fringe, Mother Nature’s ever present at Fowlescombe Farm. The ruins of the estate’s 16th-century manor — said to have inspired the Hound of the Baskervilles — swathed in ivy so thick it’s turned arboreal. Now home to a 600-acre regenerative farm where rare breed and native livestock are reared, as much care goes into the land here, as looking after guests at a new ten-suite retreat. Equal parts rural English charm and refined Alpine cosiness, bedrooms — inside a revamped Victorian-era farmhouse and stone dwellings — are restorative retreats, sporting sylvan colours, sheepskin touches and log burners. At The Refectory restaurant, chef Elly Wentworth brings Fowlescombe’s ethically-reared meats and garden produce to the plate in delicious style, during convivial communal suppers of sage butter agnolotti, and beef with hispi cabbage. Visitors can feed the chickens and harvest veggies from the greenhouse, or relax during yoga and floristry sessions.

Outbuildings, Bridport, Dorset Home of The Whitehead family for decades, this former dairy farm in West Dorset has been transformed into one of the UK’s best farm hotels. Two generations (and their dogs) live on-site, and cheerful bonhomie’s extended to all. Pups are fussed, fireplaces roar, and rooms and cabins — spread across a reimagined barn, and contemporary-style outbuildings — deliver upcycled, agricultural-chic pizazz. Think copper pans turned sinks, reclaimed timber flooring, William Morris textiles, and flea market curio. Plus, new bolthole-for-two, The Shelter, gives seventies sultriness with an olive and pink palette and brass William Holland bathtub. Delivering the Good Life in grown-up style —  Outbuildings is adults only — expect ‘text for a tipple’ drinks, hay barn cinema screenings, stellar, locavore food at The Cart Shed, plus locally-made Oleo toiletries and Goose & Badger coffee. There’s really no need to leave, but if you must, the Jurassic Coast’s beaches aren’t far.

RESTARIES, Westhall, Suffolk For farmyard frolics that’ll keep the whole family beaming, RESTARIES at Paradise Farm is the one. Centred around a 16th-century ruddy pebbledash and thatch cottage, the farm’s new owners have — after swapping city life for the rural dream with their young family — crafted a clutch of self-catering boltholes in former farm buildings in the grounds. Impeccably stylish, decorated in mushroom and olive tones which mirror the leafy landscape, vintage furniture and ceramics, each has its charm. In The Gate House adorable alpacas peek over the garden wall, while The Tack Room’s Japanese soaking tub is heaven. During gleeful explorations in borrowable Chameau galoshes, discover a covered swimming pool, light-dappled woodland — for hedonistic cocktails or wholesome meditation sessions — and a menagerie of charismatic pets, including chonky pigs Prada and Plucky. Flint wine and and ready-to-cook Brick pizzas can be ordered, and wellness retreats zone in on everything from career pivots to fertility journeys.

Tillingham Winery, Rye, East Sussex Ringed by woodland and hills criss-crossed by vines just outside Rye this renovated farmstead is an oenophile’s dream. Planted with 21 grape varieties including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Bacchus, as well as producing brilliant, biodynamic wines, there are also eleven suites, designed by McCully & Crane, to bed down in. Housed in an overhauled hop barn, rooms with raffia lampshades, mid-century furniture and abstract artwork deliver muted, agriturismo-cool. Tours and tastings zone in on the farm’s terroir, regenerative practises, and winemaking techniques — some wines are fermented in Georgian qvevri (clay amphoras). Green Michelin-starred Restaurant Upstairs at Tillingham (open Wed-Sun) packs arty irreverence, with oil-paint covered tables adorned with posies, menu packed with produce from the walled garden, while sourdough pizzas are wood-fired in the casual Dutch Barn. While over 10s can stay, the atmosphere suits adults, as does the industrial-feel bar where candlelit wine flights, and DJ sessions take place.

Thornfalcon Winery & Press, Somerset Many a happy family vacation travelling through Europe’s wine regions left Sophie Brendel and Panu Long inspired to create their own vineyard haven home. Over the last couple of years the couple have revved up and regenerated a 42-acre smallholding, backdropped by the rolling Quantock Hills, into a boutique winery with burgeoning vineyards. Now folk can reboot in nature in three beautiful self-catering digs, dressed with brocante finds and vibrant textiles in the midst of meadows and cider orchards. Grape-side view The Vine Hut nails uplifting cottagecore, with nasturtium-patterned wallpaper, and a well kitted-out kitchen which makes mealtimes, incorporating pick-your-own veggies, breezy. There’s an al-fresco copper tub for birdsong-accompanied baths, and swims in the property’s bullrush-fringed lake — alternated with waterside wood-fired sauna warm-ups — awaken the senses. Soon Thornfalcon’s first wines and keeved ciders will be ready, and artistic retreats are on the cards.

Guardswell Farm, Perthshire, Scotland In the low-lying farmland of Perthshire’s Carse of Gowrie, a patchwork knit of greens and browns punctuated by the River Tay and soundtracked by bleating sheep, slipping into wind-down mode comes swiftly. Grazed by cattle and sheep, 200-acre Guardswell Farm, run by the Lamotte family with a regenerative approach for nearly fifteen years, has a series of eco-minded, off-grid, self-catering huts — equipped with solar-powered lighting — and larger farmhouses rich in sheepskin rugs, and exposed stone details to retreat to. Huts have cosseting larch-clad interiors, and one even has its own above-bed stargazing window. No wi-fi encourages go-slow time in wood-fired hot tubs, sipping homemade cider on orchard rambles, and cooking up BBQ feasts of Guardswell’s Hebridean hogget and Jerusalem artichokes. As well as farm tours and supperclubs in the stone Steading barn, cultural powerhouse V&A Dundee is an easy drive away.