FEATURES

Starry-eyed newlywed Toby Sawday, MD of local travel experts and book publishing powerhouse, Sawday’s, picks 10 romantic retreats for the love-struck.

I always love escaping the cloying madness of an urban Valentine’s. The bizarre event is made all the odder by being pressed cheeked by jowl with other self-consciously romantic, candlelit couples in one of Bristol’s [overpriced – Ed.] eateries. No. What could be more genuinely romantic than beating a retreat from it all to spend a long weekend far from a TV but with every conceivable treat a couple needs, in a bonneted cottage in Gloucestershire? Or holing up in a converted windmill overlooking Dartmoor, where there’s a bath with one heck of a view? From a studio overhanging the River Dart to a spanking townhouse hotel via a Cornish shepherd’s hut, here are some of my favourite places to bag you some serious brownie points.

THE POST HOUSE AND THE OLD BAKERY COTTAGE

Bath Way, Chewton Mendip, nr Wells

• Four centuries old and listed, this was once Chewton Mendip’s post office and is now a delightful rural retreat with a French farmhouse feel. There’s a new luxury suite with an extra big bed and roll-top bath if you want a treat, or for extra privacy, you can hole up in your own gorgeous cottage.

Cost: From £90 per night for bed & breakfast in the Post House and from £100 per night in the Old Bakery Cottage, based on two sharing – www.sawdays.co.uk

SHERBORNE FORGE

Number 1 Sherborne, Cheltenham

• This is sanctuary in a quiet corner of the Cotswolds: your own restored cottage across the garden from the owner's 17th-century house and overlooking Sherborne Brook. You’ve got a big tub for long soaks, comfy sofas for relaxing evenings and a delicious organic breakfast is delivered to your door each morning. Stay put and just enjoy each other’s company or head off for wintry walks in the surrounding countryside.

Cost: From £98 per night based on two sharing, includes breakfast – www.sawdays.co.uk

ASPHODEL COTTAGE

Tarlton, Cirencester, Gloucestershire

• This Hobbity-looking shepherd’s cottage is hugely romantic. There’s a stone fireplace and woodburner to warm you, no TV to blight conversation and a cosy kitchen packed with vintage finds. Up the spiral staircase sits a claw-foot bath and fluffy towels with delicious toiletries. A huge chandelier hangs from the rafters to add to the mood plus Valentine’s visitors are treated to a bottle of bubbly.

Cost: From £394 for a two-night stay, based on two sharing – www.sawdays.co.uk/self-catering

LONG BARROW WINDMILL

Moles Lane, North Whilborough, Devon

• You can see for almost 20 miles across Dartmoor and to the South Hams from the top of this beautifully renovated windmill. Supremely romantic on a stormy winter’s night and equally as lovely on a crisp sunny day, this comfortable yet quirky resting place offers perfect peace in the Devon countryside – definitely one to impress.

Cost: From £300 for a three-night weekend break, based on two sharing – www.sawdays.co.uk/self-catering

NORTH BARN

Cornworthy, Totnes, Devon

• What could be more romantic than waking up bathed in light to the sound of the river lapping below? This is one of Alastair [Sawday]’s favourite places and the perfect escape for a couple wanting to reignite the romance. Paint, sketch, read, walk or lie in bed all day and gaze at the Dart. At low tide you can pick your way along the foreshore to the restaurant at Tuckenhay.

Cost: From £450 for a week, based on two sharing – www.sawdays.co.uk/self-catering

THE PIGGERIES

The Rib House, St Andrews St, Wells, Somerset

• A delightfully rustic little hideaway with a sweet kitchen, whitewashed walls, rough beams and warped wooden doors. It’s close enough to the cathedral to hear the choir – and just in case an impromptu wedding is on the cards! If you’re staying on 14 February, the owners hold a Valentine’s party in the medieval hall with poetry readings and songs on the theme of love.

Cost: From £240 for a three-night stay, based on two sharing – www.sawdays.co.uk/self-catering

THE MONTPELIER CHAPTER

Bayshill Rd, Montpellier, Cheltenham, GL50 3AS

• This hotel is seriously cool, stylish and full of new technology. Spend a chic Valentine’s break ordering off the iPad wine list, enjoying a cappuccino from a Nespresso coffee machine or raiding your complimentary mini bar. There’s a fabulous restaurant on site if you don’t want to venture out or an electric car to whizz you around town if you do.

Cost: From £140 per night based on two sharing, includes breakfast – www.sawdays.co.uk

THE HIDEAWAY HUT

Treworgey Farm, Looe, Cornwall

• You could happily while away a week without leaving this quaint little love-hut in its own corner of the farm. A to-the-door meal service will provide delicious fare – including Cornish cream teas – and therapists will come to your hut to carry out an array of lovely-sounding treatments. If you do wish to venture outside, there’s a riding school on site and walks in abundance.

Cost: From £66 per night, based on two sharing – www.canopyandstars.co.uk

THE GATEHOUSE

Moynes Court, Mathern, Chepstow, Monmouthshire

• You can sense history in the air at this remarkable listed gatehouse. Views stretch to the Wye Valley and your bed lies ethereally in the eaves up a steep spiral staircase with a grab rail and rope. On a dark night hide behind the thick curtains, close the world out and snuggle down by the fire, or for a treat head to the Michelin-starred Crown at Whitebrook.

Cost: From £100 per night for a three-night break, based on two sharing – www.sawdays.co.uk/self-catering

HARPTREE COURT

East Harptree, nr Bristol, Somerset

• It’s less than half an hour from the thrum and fizz of bustling Bristol, but Harptree Court, languishing in the serene walkers’ (and fishers’) paradise, Chew Valley, feels like another world away. With four spacious, individually styled, chocolate-box bedrooms, as well as a recently added, apparently very successful treehouse (which is booked up for spring already) and a vast yurt available during the year’s warmest six months, there’s more than a little dash of quirk amongst the Georgian rural grandeur.

The house – which boasts its own tennis court, croquet lawn and idyllic, easily navigable grounds – combines both comfort and seclusion. You’re free to roam through lime tree groves and idly drift towards to a lakeside hideout, or you can unwind inside, where there are roll-top baths, roaring fires, and, most triumphantly, afternoon tea and moreish lemon drizzle cake is served (the recipe’s online – trust us, you’ll be looking it up).

These are just a handful of the little touches that make you feel you’re far more than just another customer here, and despite the splendour, Harptree Court is very much a home from home; current owners Charles and Linda live there too and are always on hand to dispatch invaluable local knowledge, or provide umbrellas, maps, walking boots and torches for after-dark adventurists. You’re on first-name terms from the outset.

Being a B&B, there are no evening meals provided, but breakfast is a feast in itself, combining impeccably locally-sourced credentials (the eggs are laid mere metres away, the honey’s fresh from the Harptree apiary and the yoghurt arrives from the famous Yeo Valley up the road) without scrimping on taste and quality (our salmon, eggs, cereal and yoghurt breakfast negates the need for any kind of lunch during our stay).

When darkness descends, there are plenty of options for an evening gambol, and Harptree, Chew Magna and Litton all boast some fine pubs, including the notoriously good (and Michelin-starred) Pony and Trap in Chew, which takes homely gastropub fare to the next level and beyond.

Back home, a huge chaise longue/armchair hyrid provides a perfect hideyhole to curl up with a midnight movie, cup of Belgian hot chocolate in hand, before piling into our 6ft wide, cushion-strewn monster bed for some hardly well-earned, but nonetheless welcome canyon-deep sleep. (Joe Spurgeon)

Cost: From £95 per night based on two sharing, includes breakfast – www.sawdays.co.uk Treehouse from £175 per night, based on two sharing – www.canopyandstars.co.uk

WITH MANY THANKS TO THE POUTINGLY GORGEOUS EMILY ENRIGHT AND THE DIEHARD ROMANTIC TOBY SAWDAY FOR THEIR HELP WITH THIS FEATURE. FOR INFORMATION ON ANY BREAK AT SAWDAY’S, SEE WWW.SAWDAYS.CO.UK

Copyright Venue Publishing 2012