5 GartmoreHouse
StirlingScotland’s Loch Lomond comes to life
in autumn – the views across the water
from the top of Ben Lomond in particular
reveal an oak woodland ablaze with
colour. Overnight opportunities are rightly
limited in the national park, but the 75-acre
Gartmore Estate provides a historic base on
the south-east corner.
The house dates back to the 18th century.
It was the former home of Scottish Labour
Party founder Robert Graham, while
Robert Burns wrote poetry in the lounge.
The estate is now run as a not-for-profit
charity with the focus on educational
holidays, so you can learn everything from
millinery to spoon carving during a stay.n(^4) The Hare and Hounds
Gloucestershire
You have to give some serious props
to the interior designer of a hotel that
so wholeheartedly commits to a theme
throughout. At this comfy Cotswolds inn,
you will find hare patterns on bed cushions,
hound paintings in the lounge and a hunting
frieze featuring both animals above the bar.
If that isn’t proof enough that you are
deep into the Gloucestershire countryside,
then wander less than a mile down the road
to Westonbirt, the National Arboretum
[above], which backs on to Prince Charles’s
Highgrove Estate. Home to more than
15,000 labelled specimens, including
some of Britain’s tallest trees, it becomes
a blanket of reds, golds and greens from
late October onwards.
http://www.limewoodhotel.co.uk http://www.gartmorehouse.com
http://www.cotswolds-inn-hotels.co.uk
© NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/JOHN MILLAR/JAKE EASTHAM/ PHIL CROWDER/ VISIT ENGLAND/WESTONBIRT ARBOTETUM, FORESTRY COMMISSION
3 Lime Wood
Hampshire
Lime Wood is a Georgian country house
given a Regency-era makeover on the
façade, so it is every bit the rural English
dream. There’s a lush spa and pool for
Indian summers, whereas bedrooms in the
Coach House have wood-burning stoves
ideal for cooler autumn nights.
The hotel is perfectly situated for
exploring the New Forest and they will
even loan you a complimentary pair of
Hunter “wellies” (wellington boots).
This 219-square-mile national park [left]
was proclaimed a royal forest by William
the Conqueror. Heather and bracken add
purples and greens to the kaleidoscope
of autumnal leaf colours.
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