With its blousy Queen Anne’s-lace-framed hedgerows, rolling sapphire fields, thatched stone cottages – and now art galleries, fashion insider interiors shops and artisan purveyors – Somerset has rightly gained its place as the south’s most talked about county. The metropolitan émigrés, with their new-season Celine and Roth Bar totes, can jar with the born-and-bred locals, but there is much for all. The grande dame hotel is still The Newt, with recent additions of the family-friendly Gate Lodge and wondrous Roman Villa. One of the most hotly anticipated openings in the region is upstairs at Holm – run by restaurateur, Nicholas Balfe, and offering lodgers the choice of seven bedrooms from November. Known for its bountiful produce, from Westcombe Dairy cheddar to The Newt’s ciders and Landrace’s sourdough, the culinary scene is ever-evolving. Rustic feasting abounds. Horrell & Horrell is a Friday and Saturday night trestle-table banquet, where dishes can include potato and honey flatbread, Montgomery’s Ogleshield or labneh, garden cucumber, borage and mint. In a similarly rootsy, communal style, Pennard Hill Farm will open the doors of its 150-year-old barn this autumn for monthly feasting nights amid herb gardens, festoon lights and the scent of wood smoke (try the buttermilk partridge with smoked quince aïoli) and the revered Osip is moving to a new home with a garden, living space, dining room and bedrooms. Book ahead for a table or light-filled bedroom at the much-lauded Three Horseshoes, from Rochelle Canteen co-founder Margot Henderson – earn the rabbit pie after a roam through hollyhocked pathways and the Norman churchyard. Opening next year are further rooms at south Somerset inn Barrington Boar, along with a bakery and community garden. Don’t forget Bath, which is shrugging off its twee image. The exclusive-use 8 Holland Street is an aesthete’s dream for an art-filled sleepover, and hipster eatery Landrace has just branched out with a new bar serving its signature Bee’s Knees, melded with Circumstance barley, honey and lemon. – Jemima Sissons
Beaminster, Dorset in England
Go for: a literary weekender spotlighting homespun design
