Foxhill Manor

Foxhill Manor is an Arts and Crafts house of honey-coloured Cotswold stone, built in 1909 to a design by the architect Joseph Lancaster Ball and laid out as four wings around a central body to catch the sun all day. It sits on the private 500-acre Farncombe Estate on the escarpment above Broadway, looking out over the Vale of Evesham, and was a private home for more than a century before it opened as an eight-bedroom private house hotel in March 2015. The Sunday Times named it Hotel of the Year that autumn.

The house keeps its sweeping staircase, high ceilings and stone mullions. Downstairs there is a panelled drawing room with an open fire, a well-stocked bar, a media room with a cinema screen, a wine cellar, a ballroom and a sheltered terrace with long views. There is no set dining room and no set meal time: the chef cooks to order, wherever guests choose to eat.

The whole manor can be taken exclusively, with all eight bedrooms for 16 staying guests and more beds at Dormy House, The Fish and the estate's self-catering houses. The ballroom seats 60 for dinner and takes 80 for the evening party, and the lawn below the garden front holds a ceremony. A dedicated events team, chef and hosts run the house for the stay, and staying guests can carry on after non-residents leave at 1am.