Soho Farmhouse

Ideally placed for the Chipping Norton set (whose country boltholes are 10 minutes away). The nearest village is Great Tew – a gateway to rolling hills and characterful towns that have come to define the Cotswolds. Trains from London, Oxford or Hereford stop at Charlbury, which is a 15-minute taxi ride away.

Created by the Soho House group, this is not your standard rural retreat: a boutique hotel meets Canadian wilderness cabin meets American country club. What was once a derelict farm has been transformed with some 40 reclaimed timber cabins flanking four man-made lakes and the original 18th-century farmhouse buildings. Electric milkfloats whisk guests around the estate, while families pedal by in matching dressing gowns and cow-print wellies. If feels more Truman Show than true country living (our driver even apologised for the puddles and bumps).

The service is professional, with a refreshingly conversational approach, though this can feel a little affected among the younger staff. The milk floats are a welcome addition but at busy times expect to wait a while for delivery.

The facilities are without peer – from the Cowshed spa with sauna, hammam, hot tubs and a broad range of treatments, to the luxurious cinema, cookery school and spacious gym and spinning studio. Add to this an indoor and outdoor pool, boating lake, tennis courts, football pitch, horse riding and the outstanding “Teeny Barn” kids' club (an old horse box is the library, kids can collect real eggs from the coup and so on).

The cabins offer rustic interiors with creature comforts: untreated floorboards, hurricane lamps, wood-burning stoves, huge beds, turntables with vinyl records (you can take the brand out of Soho…) and well-stocked kitchens for the self-caterer. The sizeable bathrooms are a highlight with an array of full-size Cowshed toiletries and roll-top baths, as are the private decks complete with copper bathtubs, rocking chairs and waterfront views.

The cavernous space that is the Main Barn offers three restaurants in one – the main restaurant built around a rectangular cocktail bar with two mezzanines offering child-free dining (Fancy Farm is the more formal of the two) – and is surprisingly atmospheric. Sustainability is a key theme with the menus celebrating the best of British.

Other dining options include Japanese sushi grill Pen Yen, al fresco dining in the central courtyard and the farmshop-cum-deli for light bites. The Mill Room pub stays open until the last person leaves, with DJs at weekends and guest encouraged to “jam on stage” (if that is the right word for the unlikely duo in red chinos and oh-so-skinny jeans) even on school nights. If that feels like too much effort the milk floats deliver a mean cocktail.
 

Studio cabins are from £350 per night in low season; rising to £380 in high (non-member rates), excluding breakfast. Free Wi-Fi.

Yes.

If you can afford it, this is the ultimate family retreat, with a stellar kids' club offering a huge range of activities, and accommodation ideally set up for families. And all that cycling doesn’t half wear them out.