Get out of the big smoke to these countryside retreats

It’s been 20 years since Babington House reinvented and revived the concept of the English countryside retreat, igniting a new generation of country house hotels such as Cowley Manor, Limewood and, most recently, The Pig chain, designed to appeal to sophisticated urbanites – or just exhausted townies escaping the big smoke for some much needed R ’n’ R. And while new ones are still being created in landmark properties, such as Beaverwood, so too are grand dames being resurrected with extensive (and expensive) renovations bringing a dash of metropolitan glamour. Here are three of the best revived British classics.