Cliveden House

Cliveden's history reads like an English epic: built for a duke in the seventeenth century, rebuilt by Charles Barry — architect of the Houses of Parliament — after fire in 1851, and later the seat of the Astor family, whose salons made it the centre of political society between the wars. The Profumo affair began at its swimming pool in 1961, sealing the house's place in national folklore. The estate belongs to the National Trust, with the hotel occupying the mansion itself.

Arrival remains one of British hotel-keeping's great set pieces: a long drive past the Fountain of Love to a honey-stone palazzo above 376 acres of gardens and woodland running down to the Thames. Interiors are properly stately — panelled halls, tapestries, portraits — and each suite carries the name and character of a figure from the house's past.

Guests take vintage boat trips on the river, walk the parterre and water garden, and dine in a grand dining room overlooking the lawns. The spa, built around that famous pool, adds modern indulgence to the history. Half an hour from Heathrow and less than an hour from London, Cliveden is the definitive English country-house escape.