Think of anything you might want from a luxury hotel – ‘friendly, professional staff’, ‘well-appointed bedrooms’, ‘delightful’ public spaces, a ‘memorable’ breakfast with peerless granola. Chances are, at this family-friendly country house hotel, it’s already been thought of. There’s the house: Regency, with a collection of lodges and cottages in extensive grounds. The situation: the peaceful heart of the New Forest. The style: ‘stunning’. No wonder it’s a favoured celebrity retreat, liked for its ‘lack of airs and graces’. Bedrooms of every size have restful decor, fluffy bathrobes, a pantry of goodies and views into greenery; even the smallest room is well conceived, with a ‘lovely’ bathroom. In the restaurant, chefs Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder cook dishes with an Italian accent and bravura – perhaps hare lasagne; hake, Salcombe crab, sweet onion. (A grazing menu of good-for-you foods is available in the glass-encased Herb House Spa.) Loaf if you must, but there’s plenty to do: forest foraging, yoga in the rooftop herb garden, a crash course in crustacea at the cookery school, bicycle rides down wooded paths. (JW)