RESCUED FROM SURE DECAY IN THE 1980s, MIDDLETHORPE HALL & SPA WAS ORIGINALLY BUILT DURING THE REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY.

Thank goodness for its loving restoration, as today it’s a lovely country house overlooking the York racecourse and near some of the most impressive urban architecture in the British Isles – from York’s Castle to the medieval street of The Shambles. Recharging and renewing comes easy here in 20 acres of gardens and parkland – including a fragrant rose garden and small tree-lined lake. Each bedroom is outfitted with the latest technology, yet gives a definitive nod to the past with individual period decoration – the rooms are situated both in the main house and in the restored 18^th-century courtyard beside it. Guests are invited to indulge in spa treatments, play croquet in the gardens, venture out on horseback rides and tee off at several golf courses nearby.