Dormy House Hotel & Spa

Dormy House sits high on the escarpment above Broadway, part of the 500-acre Farncombe Estate, and started life as a seventeenth-century farmhouse. The conversion has been handled with restraint: flagstones, beams and deep window seats survive, while the newer wings bring in the light and the views down over the Vale of Evesham.

The House Spa is the strongest card. There is an infinity pool with a long window onto the fields, a hydrotherapy pool, a terrace hot tub and a Scandinavian-inspired thermal circuit that ends, if you are brave, in a snow shower. Treatments use a mix of established British and European ranges, and the spa has its own relaxed dining area so a full day there requires no decisions.

Broadway village is a short drive downhill, Broadway Tower is a walk away across the fields, and Chipping Campden, Snowshill and Hidcote are all within twenty minutes. The hotel's 39 rooms are spread across the old farmhouse and adjoining buildings, so it is worth asking about the character of each when booking.