The 8 best farm stays in Europe

GUARDSWELL FARM

PERTHSHIRE, UK

A proper family affair, this 150-acre grassland estate, and its lovely, rough-luxe hideaways, is looked after by the Lamotte and Wilson clans. Great-grandmother Nana founded one of Scotland’s first milk bars at Inveralmond, and grandfather Robert went from growing herbs in his farmhouse to supplying restaurants across the UK with everything from tarragon to lemon verbena, chives to fennel. It is from these charming stories that Guardswell was born, and now the current incumbents have achieved their dream of creating an escapist space that combines digital detoxing, sustainability and rural experiences. The pared-back farmhouse, cottage and hilltop cabins come with panoramic views over the Carse of Gowrie, Dundee and south Angus, across to north Fife and towards the Bridge of Earn.

The look inside is Scandinavian restraint meets cottagecore – cosy and eco-considered with lots of wood cladding and sheepskins. There are workshops on vegetable growing and wild cooking, plus foraging rambles for the best mushrooms. Spend your days feeding the Hebridean sheep or walking to the giant swings at the highest point of the grounds where you can fly above the patchwork quilt of land and sea. Evenings are for as-good-as-it-gets suppers, cooked on an open fire with regeneratively grown produce picked up from Guardswell’s ‘wee horsebox’ shop, and drinking under the stars on the deck. This Scottish escapade, about an hour from Edinburgh, may be without lochs and turrets and even tartans, but the gentle, homespun, mud-under-the-fingernails ethos makes for a ruddy-cheeked, feel-good long weekend. Isabel Carr

Address: Guardswell Farm, Kinnaird, Perthshire PH14 9QZ
Price: One-bedroom cabin from £100. Farmhouse from £350 (sleeps 10)
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7 brilliant farm stays in the UK

7 brilliant farm stays in the UK