Occasionally, a trip to a country hotel with little planned except a bath and dinner is exactly what the doctor ordered. But Blighty’s luxury hotels offer an impressive array of workshops and courses worth knowing about. Many of them tap into your inner creative, allowing you the luxury of focusing solely on the task in hand, and nearly all are set in soft, inspiring countryside or landscaped gardens, helping to clear the lungs of city soot.
Then there’s the estate-to-plate food, the spas and sumptuous bedrooms to retreat to after days spent capturing lemon trees with oil paint or plucking herbs from the gardens and studying their remedial powers with a medical herbalist. Less upskilling, more creative soul food, here are the best hotel retreats in the UK to book now.
Arniano Painting Retreat With Amber Guinness And William Roper-Curzon at Lime Wood, The New Forest
The remedial benefits of painting are well-documented, and the Arniano School of Painting’s new two-day Lime Wood retreat offers plenty of material to work with. The charismatic William Roper-Curzon will take both budding and experienced artists through the strokes and motions of capturing Lime Wood’s best botanical angles, with expert tips and plenty of Pink Wink, easel-side cocktails along the way.
Lime Wood’s idyllic countryside and sun-dappled gardens really come into their own for this course, not simply to paint but for the al fresco lunches too. Partnering with HH&Co’s Luke Holder, Amber Guinness will be cooking up an Italian storm, using local ingredients and recipes inspired by her book ‘A House Party in Tuscany’ to feed hungry artists. Guests can also look forward to balmy aperitivo on the terrace and relaxed, candlelit dinners with good conversation. The retreat also includes a re-balancing spa treatment in Lime Wood’s award-winning Herb House, and two nights of deep sleep in the rooms’ heavenly beds, where you’ll wake up to the faint chirp of birds outside.
Details: Two-night retreat, July 8-10 from £1565 pp (based on double occupancy) including painting classes and all food and drink. limewoodhotel.co.uk
Wild Weed Medicine Heroes Workshop at Beaverbrook, Surrey
Heard the tales of nettle soup? Led by Medical Herbalist and author Jo Dunbar, Beaverbrook’s one-day wild weed medicine workshop will amaze guests accustomed to hoiking these alleged horticultural riffraff out of flowerbeds and walkways, and into the compost. Jo will educate the group on the healing powers of UK garden weeds such as ground elder and nettles, as well as wilder herbage of the hedges such as ribwort. In highlighting their remedial properties, Jo hopes to shift views on weeds, and to demonstrate how some of the most powerful plants are hiding in plain sight. The workshop is rounded off with dinner in the Deli, where likeminded course-goers can share their thoughts over heavenly slices of stone-baked pizza. There is also the opportunity to enjoy stewing in Beaverbrook’s vast, light-filled Coach House Spa.
Details: Multiple dates at Beaverbrook from £195. beaverbrook.co.uk
Floristry and Cooking workshops at Thyme, Cotswolds
This bucolic, village-like hotel in the Cotswolds will wrap you in its embrace the moment you edge up its drive. The air is sweeter, the buildings prettier and what is grown in the soil here influences almost everything, from the seasonal menus in the Oxbarn to the botanical wallpaper in the farmhouse rooms, originally illustrated and painted by Caryn Hibbert. Even the spa drafts in the garden herbs and lathers them in oils over weary muscles. Thyme’s cooking, floristry and wellness workshops all complement a stay, particularly as none feel overly demanding, more something to look forward to when not tucking into cocktails in the Baa Bar or wallowing in the walled garden pool. Highlights include a seasonal centrepiece workshop where Thyme’s house florist takes a group through the grounds to the cutting garden, then back to the kitchen to guide budding florists through a statement bouquet; and the jam and cordials classes, where beginners are shown the ropes with seasonal ingredients in just two hours, whether it’s gooseberry jam, vanilla marmalade or meadowsweet cordial.
Details: Dates and duration vary depending on the workshop or course. thyme.co.uk
Pottery Workshop with Martha Freud at Ham Yard Hotel
Martha Freud will be bringing her distinctive irreverent ceramic style to Ham Yard Hotel this April for a creative one-day workshop. Across a full day of making, mingling and feasting, Martha will take the group through the artistic process of crafting their own personalised ceramic plant pot out of clay. Guests will be treated to a delicious lunch at Ham Yard Restaurant, where Martha’s illuminated ceramic pots adorn the walls. The pots will be fired and glazed after the session, so they can be taken home or delivered to your home to cherish.
Details: Saturday April 27, 10am-3pm, Ham Yard Hotel, £350 per person including all materials, morning coffee, lunch and your ceramic pot to take home. firmdalehotels.com
Grit & Grace Day Resilience Retreat at Bingham Riverhouse, Richmond
A sojourn to Richmond for those living more central is akin to a real holiday. The riverside antics feel worlds away from the urban jungle, with its punting and Pimms energy, the pretty houses and people who generally look happy to be alive. Bingham Riverhouse is the new place to check into in the area, particularly with its well-curated programme of various workshops, talks and courses.
The resilience course really speaks to busy Londoners, with World Record Holder, Ted-X Speaker, explorer and athlete Vicki Anstey divulging her tips in a one day retreat. Alongside holistic practitioner and entrepreneur, Sama Trinder and Bingham Riverhouse’s owner Vicki, the group is equipped with the key skills and tools needed for building resilience, as well as testing the concept in the Contra Spa. It is the UK’s first hot and cold spa, with immune-boosting, fatigue-busting contrast therapy. Along with a nourishing lunch overlooking the water at the Riverhouse restaurant, guests can look forward to Somatic movement, stretches and meditation led by Sama, to restore a sense of inner calm.
Details: Sunday May 12 at Bingham Riverhouse, Richmond, £150 per person. binghamriverhouse.com
Cooking classes at Daylesford
With its earthy-luxe credentials and linen-on-linen aesthetic, Daylesford is a sure-fire place when it comes to tapping into your inner artisan. Any stay in one of the tastefully dressed cottages and reimagined pubs scattering Daylesford Farm, Kingham and Daylesford Village comes with access to the prestigious Daylesford Cookery School. Whether it’s an afternoon of ‘quick and simple suppers’ or a bread making and pasta masterclasses, they here are run by engaging, passionate chefs who draw on Daleysford’s organic bounty and make all levels of culinary upskilling fun.
Details: Daylesford pubs from £160 per night. Daylesford Cottages from £375 per night. daylesford.com
Al Fresco Supper Club with Ana Ortiz at Boys Hall, Kent
Brad Lomas, owner of the reimagined Jacobean school in Kent, Boys Hall, has a thing for wine — English wine in particular. Lucky then that his hotel can be found in the viticultural tickets of South East England, where he’s curated a cellar of over 4,000 bottles. Lucky for his guests that he’s willing to share his passion (and open his cellar) with a string of wine events throughout the year. Of these, the al fresco supper club with Ana Ortiz (Brad’s wife) is the standout. Up to 40 people can look forward to a fiery feast rolling out along banqueting-style tables in the garden, paired with some of Kent’s finest wine, which Brad will take his guests through. The couple know a thing or two about outdoor cooking, with their kitchen best known for its asado-style grill, so look forward to some cooked-to-perfection meats and a buzzy, delicious afternoon in collaboration with Firemade UK and Wine Garden of England.
Details: June 20, £160. boys-hall.com
Deepak Chopra Longevity Retreat at The Lakes by YOO
The Cotswolds’ chichi lake retreat (more Como than muddy countryside) is making quite the splash this summer in the workshop department, with Deepak Chopra jetting in to provide some holistic healing. The world-renowned integrative medicine pioneer and Clinical Professor of family Medicine and Public Health is the authority on personal transformation. Those lucky enough to bag a spot on this three-day course can expect some deeply tailored one-on-one sessions with the wellness maestro, along with a whole bunch of holistic experiences, taking place waterside and making the most of the fresh country air. This is the paragon of mind and body wellness retreats, so register early to avoid disappointment.
Details: June 13-16 at Lakes by YOO, price TBC. thelakesbyyoo.com
Botanical Linoprint Weekend Workshop at The Cavendish, Chatsworth
Situated in one of the Peak District’s most idyllic villages and forming part of the sweeping Chatsworth Estate, The Cavendish has the cosy, traditional character of a zhuzhed up pub-with-rooms. It’s the ultimate rural weekend away without heading too far into the sticks.
This summer, the hotel will be hosting a botanical linoprint weekend workshop, where guests can tap into their inner creative through carving and printing plates, using flowers from the Chatsworth cutting garden as inspiration and sharing anecdotes from the day over a hearty lunch. Under expert guidance, they’ll learn the key rudiments of botanical lino printing (drawing, design principles, lino preparation and various printing methods), and by exchanged prints with fellow artists, can compile their own concertina book of designs. Then there’s the privilege of wandering around one of the UK’s most beguiling estates, guiling in that fresh Peak District Air and channelling the Duchess of Devonshire on a balmy July afternoon.
Details: July 20-21 at The Cavendish, £185 per person including garden entry and lunch. visitpeakdistrict.com
Foraged Cocktail Making Workshop at Heckfield Place, Hampshire
Known for its lavish yet subdued interiors, alluring art collection and beautiful countryside, Heckfield Place bowls over newcomers, particularly those accustomed to travelling further from London for this style of home-from-home country stay. The hotel has made quite a reputation for itself in the food department, with Sky Glyngall’s Hearth restaurant acting as a masterclass in radically seasonal, simple-yet-sumptuous cooking, and the cocktails aren’t half bad here either, particularly with herbs plucked from the forest floor. That’s exactly how the Foraged Cocktail Making Workshop begins here, with guests foraging the wood like truffle pigs, in search of herbs, plants and flowers that can be used in cocktails. They then head back to base, where Heckfeld Place’s knowledgeable bar team will teach them what to do with their foraged treasures, and whether these work for house-made liqueurs and tinctures too.
Details: Multiple dates from April - November. heckfieldplace.com
