Westward, the countryside becomes increasingly unspoiled and you begin to sense the continuance of older rhythms of English rural life.
From London, it is a two-hour drive down the M3 motorway to the city of Salisbury. For me, this is where the West Country begins.
The protagonist of “Jude the Obscure” — a novel published in 1895 by Thomas Hardy, the region’s most famous writer — is a stonemason at Salisbury Cathedral. Whenever I travel to this part of England, I invariably make a pilgrimage to the exquisite 80-acre Cathedral Close. Completed in 1320 and the exemplar of Early English Gothic, Salisbury is perhaps the most distinctive of the country’s great cathedrals, with a delicate 404-foot spire that rises from the surrounding water meadows, exactly as it does in Constable’s famous paintings from the 1820s.
Salisbury is far enough from the British capital to be outside the commuter belt; westward from here, the countryside becomes increasingly unspoiled and you begin to sense the continuance of older rhythms of English rural life. The counties of the West Country — Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall — all contain serene landscapes that are quintessentially English.
On my recent trip, I decided to try a new hotel in the pretty Saxon town of Wareham in west Dorset, which is still surrounded by ninth-century walls erected by King Alfred the Great. (There is a delightful 40-minute stroll around the ramparts). The Priory (93) is a traditional, independently owned property that boasts an idyllic and secluded setting beneath the tower of the Lady St. Mary Church (founded in A.D. 800), amid colorful cottage gardens. From a shady terrace, lawns slope gently down to the bank of the River Frome — a notable trout stream in its upper reaches — and on a summer day, there are few more delightful places in England to sit outside for a leisurely lunch.
The Priory epitomizes the best of traditional English hospitality.
The property’s 18 rooms are divided between the main building and the Boathouse, which contains four suites with Jacuzzi tubs. All of the accommodations come with comfortable furniture and modern baths. An elegant and atmospheric lounge invites lazy mornings with a newspaper, while the cozy bar is exceptionally convivial. The adjoining Abbots Cellar Restaurant serves well-prepared, uncomplicated cuisine complemented by a varied wine list. I greatly enjoyed a ballotine of guinea fowl, followed by West Country duck breast with blackcurrant-mustard potatoes and honey roasted parsnips. Dinner concluded with a plate of English cheeses, accompanied by the remains of a sumptuous and reasonably priced Pomerol.
I had only two complaints during an otherwise memorable stay: the Wi-Fi in my Boathouse Suite was erratic at best; and an evening turndown service was missed. Overall, however, The Priory epitomizes the best of traditional English hospitality. Even some of the friendly and obliging staff are English: an unheard-of treat nowadays!
Wareham itself merits thorough exploration. An attractive and unspoiled market town, it contains two Saxon churches, the second of which, St. Martin’s, dates from 1030. Much of the structure is original; the north wall of the chancel has 12th-century frescoes. Six miles west of Wareham is Clouds Hill, the tiny cottage that was the last retreat of Lawrence of Arabia. Now run by the National Trust, it remains exactly as it was on the day of Lawrence’s death in 1935.
As well as being a destination in its own right, Wareham provides an ideal base from which to explore the so-called Jurassic Coast of Dorset — a UNESCO World Heritage site — so named because of huge numbers of dinosaur fossils that have been unearthed from its crumbly limestone cliffs. (Mary Anning of Lyme Regis was one of the world’s great fossil collectors. In 1811, she made the first correct identification of an ichthyosaur skeleton; subsequently, she unearthed the first two plesiosaurs, as well as one of the first pterosaurs.)
As is the case everywhere in the West Country, the Dorset coast becomes very crowded in summer and on public holidays. The best months for a visit are therefore June and September. This is particularly true of Lyme Regis, 44 miles west of Wareham, which, in July and August, is invariably overwhelmed by holidaymakers. At other times, however, Lyme is an evocative place. (The town features in both Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” and John Fowles’ “The French Lieutenant’s Woman.”) There, the Hix Oyster & Fish House, an offshoot of the London gastronomic empire of chef Mark Hix, provides a fine place for lunch overlooking the sea. Alternatively, The Anchor Inn, located in the nearby coastal hamlet of Seatown, serves excellent fresh shellfish in a simple pub setting. Other notable pubs on the Jurassic Coast include The Smugglers Inn at Osmington Mills (halfway between Wareham and Lyme Regis) and the wonderful Square and Compass, high on the limestone cliffs at Worth Matravers eight miles south of Wareham.
A mandatory stop for most travelers is the Swannery at Abbotsbury, which dates from 1393 and contains more than 600 mute swans. Personally, I relish the windswept solitude to be found on nearby Chesil Beach, an 18-mile spit of shingle running parallel to the coast that is renowned for its seabirds and migratory wildfowl.
Although Summer Lodge (96) lies just 31 miles northwest of The Priory, it offers an entirely different experience. The 18th-century house is set within the tiny (and exquisitely pretty) village of Evershot, surrounded by four acres of gardens. In 1893, it was enlarged in accordance with plans drawn up by Thomas Hardy, an architect, as well as a novelist and poet, by profession. The 20 rooms and cottages are serene and exceptionally comfortable; the public areas are lavish; the food is delicious; and the (mostly European) staff are unfailingly gracious and obliging. Summer Lodge is one of my favorite English country hotels, and on numerous visits I have never failed to be enchanted.
Summer Lodge is also an ideal place from which to tour rural Dorset (and the eastern edge of Somerset). The magnificent English Renaissance mansion Montacute House lies 13 miles north, while the romantic Jacobean manor of Mapperton, with its famous sunken garden, is just seven miles southwest. And 12 miles northwest, Sherborne Abbey is regarded by some as the finest church in England. The original eighth-century Saxon cathedral was largely replaced by a 12th-century Norman abbey. But it is the astonishing 15th-century fan vaulting that brings visitors from all over the world.
The 24-room property is tranquil, atmospheric and exceptionally comfortable, with oak-paneled salons and smoldering log fires.
After the Romans abandoned their colony of Britannia in A.D. 383, the land was subject to repeated invasions by northern European tribes, including the Angles and Saxons. The original Celtic Britons were pushed farther and farther west, down into the peninsula that now comprises Devon and Cornwall. (Cornwall still has its own Celtic language, which is enjoying something of a revival.) Eventually, some Britons gave up on their homeland and moved across the Channel into an area that subsequently became known as Brittany. Around A.D. 500, the Battle of Badon seems to have been a rare British victory over the Saxons, masterminded by a Celtic warlord whom history and mythology came to know as King Arthur.
A 71-mile drive from Evershot to Chagford in Devon brings you to Gidleigh Park (97) at the northern edge of Dartmoor National Park, the last remaining wilderness area in southern England. Much of Dartmoor is high and exposed moorland; Gidleigh, however, is located amid woodland at the end of a long, narrow driveway lined by high stone walls. The 24-room property is tranquil, atmospheric and exceptionally comfortable, with oak-paneled salons and smoldering log fires. Its chief claim to fame, however, is the superb Michelin two-star restaurant, supervised by executive chef Chris Simpson. The supporting wine cellar contains more than 13,000 bottles.
From Gidleigh, it is possible to hike or ride amid the inspiring landscape of Dartmoor. (On gloomy days, it can appear quite menacing; Conan Doyle chose it as the setting for his famous Sherlock Holmes story, “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”) Devon has dozens of charming villages to explore, providing you feel comfortable driving on the narrow and winding roads. The local village of Chagford is so absurdly pretty that you wonder at times whether it is actually real or merely a huge movie set. The small city of Exeter, the administrative center of Devon, lies 25 miles west. There, the lovely 12th-century Norman cathedral has a splendid vaulted nave.
Forty miles south, the attractive city of Dartmouth is home to the Britannia Royal Naval College and Dartmouth Castle. The latter comprises a pair of fortresses that have guarded the mouth of the River Dart since the 15th century and were even used for gun emplacements in World War II to safeguard preparations for the D-Day landings. The Seahorse in Dartmouth is a delightful place for lunch, where chefs Mitch Tonks and Mat Prowse oversee one of the finest seafood restaurants in England.
Thirty-three miles southwest, on the opposite side of Dartmoor, the 16-room Hotel Endsleigh (94) is housed by a former 19th-century fishing lodge surrounded by 108 acres of gardens and rose terraces that slope down to the River Tamar, the boundary between Devon and Cornwall. Tucked into a steep valley, the Regency house has an idyllic setting. The property was purchased and restored by the noted interior designer Olga Polizzi, and its public areas and paneled dining room are exceptionally attractive and atmospheric. The hotel’s menu of delicious New European cuisine reflects the best seasonal and local ingredients.
Just 15 minutes away, Tavistock is a lovely market town with a growing reputation for food shops. There is a covered fruit and vegetable market each week, and also a farmers’ market and art market each month. Restaurants in the vicinity include The Dartmoor Inn in Lydford, 10 miles northwest, and The Treby Arms in Plympton — a gastropub that recently acquired a Michelin star — 23 miles south. (The nearby city and naval base of Plymouth was heavily bombed in World War II, and today it is a utilitarian and unattractive place.) Halfway between Hotel Endsleigh and Plympton lies Buckland Abbey, a 700-year-old house once owned by the explorer, privateer and English naval hero Sir Francis Drake. Buckland also contains a notable Rembrandt self-portrait.
Olga Polizzi’s first hotel venture in the West Country was the 30-room Hotel Tresanton (97) in St. Mawes, an enchanting village on the exquisite Roseland Peninsula of the southern Channel coast of Cornwall. Aside from bright, comfortable rooms and a memorable seaview terrace, Tresanton offers exceptional seafood (including delicious local Cornish crab) in its justly acclaimed restaurant. The hotel provides a perfect base from which to explore other coastal towns and villages, notably the sailing center of Fowey and the postcard-perfect hamlet of Portloe (where The Lugger Hotel is an excellent place for a lobster or shellfish lunch). In general, the scenic and timeless Roseland Peninsula is one of my favorite places in England, not least because it contains some of the loveliest stretches of the South West Coast Path, the 630-mile footpath that runs along the coasts of Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.
The north coast of Cornwall offers spectacular walks along the coastline of Penwith, where the cliffs receive the full impact of the uninterrupted North Atlantic swells.
Cornwall is famous for its gardens, which benefit from the county’s mild winter climate, the result of the warm Gulf Stream transatlantic current. My personal favorites are Trewithen, Trelissick and Glendurgan, all of which are within easy reach of Tresanton. Although they are worth visiting at any season of the year, they are at their most spectacular in April, when the azaleas and rhododendrons are in full bloom.
The north coast of Cornwall offers spectacular walks along the coastline of Penwith, where the cliffs receive the full impact of the uninterrupted North Atlantic swells. Out of season, St. Ives is a pretty town, long a favorite of painters, with a branch of London’s Tate Gallery, plus a fascinating museum dedicated to the work of the English Modernist sculptor Barbara Hepworth. (In summer and on public holidays, however, St. Ives is best avoided.)
Forty-three miles north (and 33 miles from Tresanton), the attractive town of Padstow is situated at the mouth of the River Camel. One of its chief claims to fame is The Seafood Restaurant, a Cornish institution run by chef, hotelier, author and TV host Rick Stein. The quality of the local oysters and langoustines is superb. Stein also runs an acclaimed cooking school, and those who sign up may wish to stay either in one of the 16 comfortable rooms above the restaurant or in his nearby St Edmunds House, where six luxurious accommodations afford views across the Camel estuary.
Arguably the most beautiful city in England, it is famous for its Roman baths, its abbey and its neoclassical crescents, terraces and squares.
The 200-mile drive from St. Mawes to the glorious city of Bath takes at least three-and-a-half hours by the most direct route. Bath is at the northern edge of the West Country within sight of the Cotswold Hills. Nonetheless, it is possible to use Bath as a base from which to explore Somerset, including the medieval city of Wells, with its lovely cathedral (to some, the most beautiful in England). Certainly, its 13th-century west front is a sublime synthesis of architecture, decoration and figurative sculpture, and the stained glass in the Lady Chapel is exquisite. Seven miles south, the enigmatic Glastonbury Tor rises abruptly from the Somerset Levels. A conical hill, the tor is believed by some to be the Avalon of Arthurian legend. (By tradition, the place where Arthur’s sword Excalibur was forged, Avalon is also said to be where King Arthur recovered from his wounds after fighting the traitor Mordred at the Battle of Camlann.)
Bath itself merits several days’ exploration. Arguably the most beautiful city in England, it is famous for its Roman baths, its abbey (where Edgar was crowned first king of England in A.D. 973) and its neoclassical crescents, terraces and squares.
Although I recommend The Royal Crescent (91), which occupies two magnificent Georgian townhouses, the center of Bath is often crowded with visitors, so I generally stay at The Bath Priory (93), an 1835 manor on the city’s outskirts with a secluded garden and a Michelin one-star restaurant. A seductive alternative is provided by one of my favorite English country house hotels, Lucknam Park (96), nine miles northwest of the city.
From Bath, it is an easy 100-mile, two-hour drive along the M4 motorway to London’s Heathrow Airport.
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