This Fairytale Manor Near Birmingham Wants You to Make Yourself at Home, Literally — "Hospitality Is Joyful When It's Richly Tangible"

A golden-hued hotel lobby is filled with textural fabrics through a vividly patterned, vintage-looking sofa, styled alongside a wooden coffee table and round, industrial sconces.

It's past 11 PM when, finished the luscious, creme fraiche-dotted chocolate marquis that wraps up my dinner at Kynd, Hampton Manor's latest restaurant opening, my partner and I make our way back to the hotel's Library Bar. Coming from the packed-with-flavor meal enjoyed at the eatery, where a casual environment defined by copper lighting, distressed brickwork, bold leather accents, and textural wood lets "small farms' brave stories" take center stage in meticulously balanced, smoky seasonal plates, I feel pleasantly full. Blame it on the wine, but filled with warmth, even. When we get to the room, tucked in a ground-floor corner of the destination's beautifully restored 19th-century Manor House, only another couple is sitting on its scalloped, coral-hued sofas, immersed in the colorful mosaic formed by the countless books and records that stack up the nearby shelves. "The bar is closing. Any final orders?", asks the bartender from behind the marble counter, only momentarily disrupting the 1970s atmosphere set by Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, which carries on playing on vinyl in the background. "If not, I'll leave you to it. Feel free to stay for as long as you please."

Located in the countryside village of Solihull, 11 kilometers southeast of Birmingham, in the West Midlands, and a couple of hours away from London by train, Hampton Manor is a five-star luxury hotel named after the Tudor Gothic-style building positioned at its heart, with three individually designed settings offering 24 suites and bedrooms. Once the family residence of Prime Minister Robert Peel's son Frederick, who built it in 1855, it served as a care home for half of the 20th century before being acquired by hoteliers Derrick and Jan Hill in the early Noughties. Part of a 45-acre estate that reveals itself to visitors over a winding lane punctuated by heavy-with-blossom cherry trees, the stay's regal façade doesn't exactly exude nonchalance. Still, the key to Hampton Manor's success, attested by the numerous accommodation and culinary accolades the destination has amassed over the years — including the Michelin Star awarded to its Grace & Savour restaurant and mentions in the Top 50 Boutique Hotels, SquareMeal, and Good Food Guide's Top 5 and 20 Restaurants in the UK lists, respectively — lies in its owners' desire to keep it real.