Get out of the big smoke to these countryside retreats
Pack your weekender for an escape to these revived rural 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.