It took Hong Kong billionaire Gerald Chan a decade and two design makeovers before he felt ready to launch this country-house hotel at the heart of a 400-acre estate. A luxury spa followed in 2023. 'It was worth the wait,' says a Guide insider. Everything about the Georgian mansion breathes nature and a sense of place. Beautiful interiors have a touch of farmhouse informality. Bedrooms mix antiques with 20th-century furniture, raw natural fabrics with modern artworks, books with Bang and Olufsen TV, corn dollies with cocktail cabinets. Most master rooms have a terrace for outdoor dining. The rustic-style restaurants, under pioneer of seasonality and sustainability Skye Gyngell, use produce from the estate, walled garden and biodynamic farm. Hearth, with its open fire and bare brick, serves the simpler fare – maybe wood-fire flatbread with mussels, garlic and parsley; grilled mackerel, gooseberries, horseradish crême fraiche. Marle holds a Michelin green star for dishes such as smoky aubergine, tahini, curry leaf oil; longhorn beef, courgettes, café de Paris. 'Everything was so fresh and full of flavour; the scallops were melt-in-the-mouth delicious.' Breakfast on Dutch pancakes with meadowsweet cream, fennel sausage with pickled mustard, or potato rösti with courgette relish and poached egg, and take a picnic for a day of fishing or wild swimming.