Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, A Belmond Hotel

For four decades Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons has been the standard against which British country-house gastronomy is measured. Raymond Blanc opened his honey-stone 15th-century manor near Oxford in 1984, and the restaurant's two Michelin stars have been held ever since—a run of consistency almost without parallel. Now under Belmond's wing, the property remains unmistakably Blanc's: a garden-first, produce-obsessed vision of French cooking rooted in English soil.

The gardens are not decoration but engine. Two acres of potager grow scores of vegetable and herb varieties for the kitchen, alongside orchards, a mushroom valley and sculpture-dotted grounds that guests are encouraged to wander before dinner. The Raymond Blanc Cookery School shares the estate, and the whole place hums with a pedagogical enthusiasm rare in luxury hotels.

The 32 rooms and suites, many designed around themes from Blanc's travels, range from cosseting manor rooms to flamboyant garden suites with private terraces. There is no spa and no pool; the point of a stay is the long, celebratory arc of aperitifs, a tasting menu of exceptional discipline, and breakfast the next morning surrounded by the gardens that grew it. As a one-night gastronomic pilgrimage, it remains close to unmissable.