Homewood Park Hotel & Spa

Character and identity

A Georgian country house set in over 10 acres of award-winning gardens near Bath, Homewood Park trades on a self-described "eclectic, luxurious, and slightly eccentric" mood that mostly delivers. The scale is intimate at 19 rooms, each individually dressed from ultra-modern to lux-country with statement artworks, vast double beds, Smeg coffee machines and Dyson hairdryers, some with private hot tubs. The spa runs to saunas, steam rooms, a hydrotherapy pool and a heated outdoor pool long enough for proper lengths. Olio, the restaurant, plates British classics with a Mediterranean accent.

Who's it for

Bottom line

The pull here is the combination of a properly heated outdoor pool, individually styled rooms with genuine character, and gardens that justify a slow weekend. Book if you want countryside seclusion with Bath on the doorstep, and pay up for a room with a hot tub if you're travelling as a couple; spring and early autumn catch the gardens at their best.