From James and Sophie Perkins, the couple behind the madcap party pad Aynhoe, is a 16th-century Grade-I listed Dorset manor house. In the west wing are five bedrooms to take over with friends and family and at the far end of the walled garden is a restaurant run by Sophie’s sister Harriet. You can visit the elegant greenhouse without staying in the house and feast on Dorset crab toast, dived scallop sashimi and, in spring, wild garlic with everything. 

The Newt in Somerset is part rural retreat, part horticultural fever dream, part cyder-soaked Somerset fantasia. You wander through apple mazes, deer parks, Victorian gardens and glossy farm shops while impeccably dressed staff glide about offering tastings, tours and spa serenity. The estate folds together Georgian grandeur, farm-to-fork dining, woodland rambles and near-militant devotion to apples. It’s wildly polished yet oddly earthy – like a country manor that discovered design magazines, fermentation science and extremely chic wellington boots all at once.

Vines have been here for over 50 years, but it was in February 2021 that Lexa Hunt and David Bailey took on the vineyard, cleverly injecting a buzz with the glass fronted The View@Wraxall wine bar nestled amongst the vines. There are tempting small plates (salt baked beetroot with goat’s cheese perhaps or charred hispi cabbage) but your best bet is a sharing board stacked with Somerset cheese (grazing land for Barber’s Cheddarsurrounds the vineyard) to scoff as you work your way through Wraxall’s wine list.  

Stroll down this quaint little street with lovely independent shops. Pop in or simply window shop and people watch.